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The Symbolism Of Justice In Dante's Inferno

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The “Inferno” is a story written by Dante Alighieri, about his spiritual journey through the circles of hell, with the help of his companion Virgil as his guide. Through the journey, they visit a total of nine circles; where they encounter many monsters. The characteristics Dante attribute to those monsters are drawn from classical Greek and Roman mythological creatures. They meet such mythical monsters like Minos in the second circle, Cerberus in the third circle and Minotaur in the seventh circle. Dante uses allegories or extended metaphors (“Topic: Allegory”), to illustrate those monsters he encounters throughout the journey as an instrument of punishment and symbol for sins based on their mythological history, in a way that Minos symbolize justice, Minotaur a symbol of violence in a form of self-punishment and Cerberus as an allegory of gluttony sin. To start, after going through the first circle, Dante and Virgil head to the second one. At the entrance of the second circle, they meet Minos, who stands as the “judge”, that sends the souls who appear before him into the depths of hell (Ralphs 4). The characteristics Dante attributes to Minos through his writings are drawn from his past life as a mythological character. Dante uses such attributes as a form of allegory to hide the significance of why he represented Minos as a symbol of justice. To understand such allegory, we first need to refer to Mino 's history before his death. According to

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