Deadly Sins In Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy

“We should guard ourselves against pride because pride leads to downfall.” This quote, by Sam Veda, perfectly sums up the short story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” by Edgar Allan Poe. The two main characters, Montresor and Fortunato, are burdened with the great curse of pride. Pride leads the way for both characters, to a personal downfall. The pride of Montresor led him to seek revenge upon Fortunato, who’s pride allowed him to agreeably walk into his own death trap. In this short story, Edgar Allan Poe illustrates that with pride the outcome will always be downfall of great measure .

Feuds and arguments between individuals who may disagree with or dislike one another are a common occurrence in everyday life, often varying in degrees of intensity, but rarely reaching a point of extremity. However, in Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Cask of Amontillado”, This threshold of extremity is reached by the narrator of the story, Montresor, who explains that his acquaintance, Fortunato, has repeatedly and irreparably insulted him over the course of years, and uses it as justification to take justice into his own hands and seek retribution through murder, despite there being no proof of Fortunato's guilt other than Montresor’s claims. His motive for murdering Fortunato can be attributed to his state of mind, as Montresor’s lack of guilt, empathy, or remorse highlights him as a character with psychopathic tendencies. As the story progresses, Montresor’s cold and calculating nature leaves the audience full of dread and suspense while he lures the oblivious Fortunato towards his inevitable demise. The employment of rhetorical devices such as irony, theme, and structure builds the suspense for the ultimate climax of Poe’s gothic masterpiece.

Edgar Allen Poe’s The Cask of Amontillado emotionally describes the exploitative and selfish nature of Montresor, a man who has been wronged one too many times by a wealthy and privileged man named Fortunato. Throughout the prose, Poe incorporates various props, which illuminate behaviours that one can adopt when they feel threatened or offended. Due to Fortunato’s insults, Montresor is pushed over the edge and uses wine to lure in his nemesis, and a mask to cover up his true feelings. Deep down, all humans have a natural tendency to hide their emotions and act in selfish ways when they feel wronged. Poe evidences these traits in Montresor and highlights how we can all turn something small, such as offensive statements, into something big,

Is this a confession done out of remorse, or a proud boast over an accomplishment? “The Cask of Amontillado” is a short story written by Edgar Allen Poe focusing on the ark themes of betrayal, murder, and revenge. The story is told from the point of view of the narrator, Montresor. He is insulted by a man named Fortunato and vows to get revenge on him. Montresor reveals his inner thoughts and actions while slowly unfolding his plan that ultimately leads to the death of Fortunato. The character, Montresor, is an unreliable narrator because he is vindictive, manipulative, and cunning.

In the “Cask of Amontillado,” the narrator Montresor takes pleasure in the murder of his friend without experiencing any guilt or shame. He takes the life of another human into his own hands, exercising godlike power. Montresor

The Divine Comedy is steeped with historical, political, religious, and philosophical context. It was written by a Florentine poet and politician, Dante Alighieri, while in exile. Unlike other major works that were not love poems, The Divine Comedy was written in a modern European language rather than Latin. On the surface, the Comedy is a story of Dante’s journey down into Hell, up the mountain of Purgatory, and into the realm of Paradise. On an allegorical level, it is a commentary on the political and religious conflicts of Dante’s time. This paper will focus on Canto 33 of Inferno exploring the historical background of each sinner Dante the pilgrim meets, as well as how each sinner’s punishment correlates with their sin.

“The Cask of Amontillado” composed by Edgar Allan Poe is one of the precise examples of Poe’s hypothesis of solidarity of the short story. Poe’s utilization of language helps the reader to understand the conflict between two men, Montresor and Fortunato. In the story, Montresor, cunningly, wants to take revenge from Fortunato. Although the two men are seen in an unexpected way, they both need a similar thing; to fulfill the desire for something that has long past due. Montresor is confessing his crime in front of someone. The story broadens Montresor character but limits Fortunato’s character. The theme of trickiness and revenge, is explained with the utilization of symbolism and irony, Montresor seeks peace

In Dante’s Inferno and his levels of hell there are many things that we have in common as a person today’s society. This essay will discuss the issues in Dante’s Inferno and The Divine Comedy that are still true to this day as they were back when Dante wrote this comedy. Some views Dante considers are not the same to everyone, but some views are still apparent in today’s society. With these views being common it can be said that Dante’s views are common for people in today’s society. Many people do not understand the journey that Dante describes in this comedy. Finally, many of the sins considered by people today, were sins worthy of hell in Dante’s time.

Often, we cannot see the good until we have experienced the bad. Dante Alighieri, a poet who makes himself the main character in his Divine Comedy, finds himself lost in a dark wood at the start of The Inferno. Though he sees a safe path out of the wood towards an alluring light, he is forced to take an alternate route through an even darker place. As the ending of the pilgrim Dante’s voyage is bright and hopeful, Alighieri the poet aims to encourage even the most sinful Christians to hope for a successful end. Thus, Dante the pilgrim goes to hell in The Inferno to better understand the nature of sin and its consequences in order to move closer to salvation; his journey an allegory representing that of the repenting Christian soul.

In Edgar Allan Poe’s Cask of Amontillado, the psychological aspects of revenge and reverse psychology are present. A maddening revenge is the driving force behind the narrator, Montresor’s scheme to murder his acquaintance Fortunato in the vaults below his home. The need for revenge is fostered by Montresor’s family motto “Nobody attacks me with impunity”, and his desire to uphold the motto. Fortunato has offended Montresor, possibly many times, “THE thousand injuries of Fortunato I had borne as I best could, but when he ventured upon insult, I vowed revenge.”

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;

I think Dante’s description of Hell is a wonderful work of literature. Dante uses numerous literary techniques to describe his envisionment of Hell to the reader. In my opinion, one of the most affective techniques used by Dante is symbolism. It would be a very difficult task to compile a brief list of significant symbols from the Cantos that we read in class. Dante utilized many symbols throughout each canto. Some of the symbols that Dante used in Inferno are well defined and easy to interpret, while other symbols are much more difficult to recognize and understand. For this paper, I will be analyzing multiple symbols from Dante’s Inferno. Some of the symbols came from the Canto’s that were included in class readings while others were depicted throughout the Canto’s that were not assigned readings.

The major themes in Dante’s Inferno are religion, punishment, and sin. The seven deadly sins: pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, and sloth originated from the Holy Bible. Dante Alighieri is a devout Christian; therefore Dante’s Inferno is based on his Christian theologian beliefs. “The visit to the underworld seems to say that, in the pattern of Christ, ascent first requires descent, a deeper understanding of the possibilities of degradation and of demeaned actuality before consciousness can be converted to conviction”(Quinones). Dante journeyed through the depths of hell in Inferno, then repents his sins in Purgatory, and finally reaches Heaven in Paradiso.

For centuries writers have used symbolism in literature to garner the attention of readers. One of the finest examples of this is La Comedia or The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri. Critics, in particular, recognize the first canticle of the comedy, The Inferno, as an unequivocal masterpiece of visual and allegorical imagery. Dante very skillfully weaves figurative language with tangible physical descriptions to achieve an unparalleled poetic work that continues to have immeasurable influence on western literature to this day. Every aspect of The Inferno is gravid with endless symbolism specifically referencing mankind’s sins and the subsequent retributions dealt to those who commit them by a wrathful God. This accords Dante’s poetic work with its iconic complexity and attaches deeper meaning to his adventurous journey through hell.

In his short story, “The Cask of Amontillado,” Poe tells the story of a man, Montresor, who is ridiculed and belittled by what initially appears to be the villain of the story, Fortunato. Poe is not often taken seriously as a writer because of his tendency to include his personal characteristics, experiences and feelings into his works. Thus, the expression of the man who “vowed revenge” REF appears to mirror vulnerability of that of an orphaned Poe. He uses this raw vulnerability to