Dantes Inferno

Before Virgil arrives to guide Dante on his journey, Dante shares that he doesn’t recall how he lost his way. He tells “How I entered [the dark wood] I cannot truly say, I had become so sleepy at the moment when I first strayed, leaving the path of truth” (Inferno I.10-12). Because he strayed from the holy path, Dante finds himself lost and trying to find his way back on the right track. Dante’s ultimate goal is to to free himself from the dark wood of confusion and chaos. Looking up from the wood, Dante sees “the hilltop shawled in morning rays of light sent from the planet that leads men straight ahead on every road” (Inferno I.16-18). Dante begins to move towards the light, but is blocked from passing by three

Dante explains, “If I had words grating and crude enough that really could describe this horrid hole supporting the converging weight of Hell, I could squeeze out the juice of my memories to the last drop. But I don’t have these words, and so I am reluctant to begin.” On his journey, Dante states that he does not have the words to explain Dante believes that an individual has to see the circles of hell to understand it’s make up and importance. This is crucial to individualism because Dante believes that every person should have the chance to see the circles and form an opinion about hell based off of their own findings, not from what they hear from another individual. Dante understands that individuals should have their own intellectual development, their own thought process of thinking, learning, and questioning, by creating one’s own interpretations Dante questions his ‘master’ Virgil during the journey, which proves that authority figures, role models, or people of a higher status should not dictate how one lives their life.

“Midway along the journey of our life/ I woke to find myself in a dark wood, / for I had wandered off from the straight path” (1600). With these words, Dante opens the narrative and brings the reader in to see the point of view that he is lost. Dante is trying to connect with the reader that it is not just his life but the reader’s life himself that has gotten off the “straight path” and need to rediscover their own goal. He uses this connection time and time again within the narrative as he travels into the underworld and into the realms of the afterlife. He writes so the reader will have this connection to him and the feelings he is experiencing within this painful yet joyful journey.

Dante, the character, changes over the course of this journey. Dante begins his journey lost, and ignorant but then goes through a development when he travels through the inferno, purgatorio, and Paradiso. Experiencing the depths of Hell and light of Heaven, Dante’s life is then transformed.  The influencers and assistants that Dante comes across will change Dante and make him closer and more united with God in the end.

The role of religion, ancestry, and nationality are crucial in forming one’s identity. These items and more come together to create a sense of security for an individual. The narrative epic poem, The Inferno, by Dante Alighieri takes the reader with Dante on his journey through Hell and rediscovery of his identity. Dante’s journey commenced as a result to him falling into temptations whilst falling away from God. This led him to travel through the Dark Wood of Error which symbolizes the worldliness that occurs when one strays from the True Way, or God’s Way. The spirit of the poet Virgil, symbolizing Human Reason, appears and leads Dante away from the Dark Wood of Error and to the Divine Illumination with a journey through Hell. The need

Dante’s divine comedy focuses on the journey of a Pilgrim by the name of Dante from Italy in which he travels through the circles of Hell, the terraces of Purgatory and the spheres of Paradise. Dante the Pilgrim has lived his life the wrong way, in a way that goes against how God would live life and through this journey the pilgrim hopes to find a way to return to the path he was once on: the right path. Throughout his journey he encounters numerous souls who have either been placed in Hell, in Purgatory or in Paradise. At first the Pilgrim felt sympathy and compassion towards the souls for the punishments they had to endure but those feelings soon went away as he continued on. He no longer felt sympathy or compassion but instead felt merciless and hatred towards the souls. It then becomes apparent that Dante the Pilgrim changed as a human being because the way he saw others changed, as well as how he saw life.

Before Virgil arrives to guide Dante on his journey, Dante shares that he doesn’t recall how he lost his way. He tells “How I entered [the dark wood] I cannot truly say, I had become so sleepy at the moment when I first strayed, leaving the path of truth” (Inferno I.10-12). Because he strayed from the path of truth, Dante finds himself lost and trying to find his way back to the straight path, for ultimately he desires to free himself from the dark wood of confusion and chaos. Looking up, Dante sees the light, “[seeing] the hilltop shawled in morning rays of light sent from the planet that leads men straight ahead on every road” (Inferno I.16-18). Dante begins to move towards the light and is

"Abandon all hope ye who enter here./", the words etched into stone above the gate of hell, affirming arrival at eternal suffering and damnation (III 9). In Dante Alighieri's famous and extremely influential piece of literature, the Divine Comedy, Alighieri took real life people and boldly judged their sins. Alighieri then determined their doom based on the extent of their transgressions and damned them to one of the nine circles of hell accordingly. Each circle is home to a specific crime along with a corresponding and symbolic punishment. In the poem, Dante is being guided through hell by the poet he aspired to be like in life and author of The Aeneid, Virgil.

Dante’s Inferno: Rough Draft Dante’s world has a few major points: heaven, the dark wood, the gate of hell, and the 9 levels. This whole place is what makes up the afterlife, makes up the destination of all human life after death. In many religions, death and the life after is the main reason for living in the first place. In Dante’s universe, your life dictates what happens to you after you die. And there are many different destinations in which you could wind up.

First, Dante is a man who is trying to successfully travel through the path without getting tempted by the sin that lies within it. “Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, for the straightforward pathway had been lost. Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say

Virgil brings Dante to the Gates of Hell where the initiation part of the monomyth begins. The intertwined with the initiation is also the beginning of the long journey which related to the temple pattern. Dante begins this journey at the Vestibule of Hell, where he begins to see spiritual indifference of neutrality. He quickly passes through this level of upper hell to come to the River Acheron.

Dante’s Inferno begins in a dark forest, a place of confusion, because he lost his way on the “true path”. Seeking an escape, Dante finds a hill where the sun glares down on him. This light seen in Dante’s Inferno symbolizes clarity as the sun represents God. After encountering three beasts and turning back to the murky forest, Dante crosses paths with the great Roman Poet, Virgil. Virgil is an aid and guide to Dante to Heaven, the ultimate Paradise. He warns Dante he must pass through Hell and Purgatory in order to reach his salvation in heaven. Virgil is depicted as nature or human reason perfected by virtue. It is strongly emphasized that Virgil can only take Dante so far in his journey by guiding him to heaven. Much like St. Thomas Aquinas’ reasoning, nature or human reason can only bring you so far in the journey to God. As Virgil and Dante approach the mouth of Hell, Virgil preaches to Dante about a woman in Heaven who took pity upon Dante when he was lost in hell. The woman Virgil speaks of is Dante’s departed love Beatrice. After Dante hears that Beatrice is heaven he now sheds the fear of traveling through Hell and Purgatorio.

Paradise or Paradiso was the final book as well as the final part in Dante’s Divine Comedy series. Through this book we are taken on a journey through heaven where Dante is guided by Beatrice as he makes his way through the nine spheres of heaven which consist of the moon, mercury, venus, the sun, mars, jupiter, saturn, and the primum mobile. Through these nine spheres Dante meets new people and remarkable people who had a major impact on history at some point in time. The first three spheres talk about are all associated with things Fortitude, Justice, and Temperance and the next ones are Love. Faith, and Hope, and charity.

Dante's `Divine Comedy', the account of his journey through hell, purgatory and heaven is one of the worlds great poems, and a prime example of a most splendidly realized integration of life with art. More than being merely great poetry, or a chronicle of contemporary events, which it also is, the `Comedy' is a study of human nature by a man quite experienced with it. The main argument I will make in this essay is that Dante's `Comedy' is chiefly a work of historical significance because in it lies the essence of human life across all boundaries of time and place. I feel that such a reading is justified, nay invited, by Dante himself when he says;

It is necessary to state that a journey through Heaven fascinates readers and gives a complete vent to the imagination. I believe that it is the last great portion of poetry from the period of Dante’s maturity. In it, more than in other parts of the poem, it is possible to see small but perfect fragments of lyrics. While