Dantes Inferno Analysis - Research Paper Example

Task Dante’s Inferno Introduction This volume commences on the late afternoon of Good Friday. It is in the year 1300. Dante is a starring personality in this volume. At the beginning of the volume, Dante is travelling in the dark forest and he is lost, and he starts to meander frightfully inside the woods. Moreover, there is sunlight that is directly above Dante on a mountain and he tries to reach it, but he finds obstructions. The obstructions are in the form of animals: a leopard, a lion, as well as a female wolf. These beasts present an extremely helpless situation for Dante and his fright escalates. Therefore, Dante goes back to the dark forest. While inside the forest, he bumps into the ghoul of Virgil, the prominent Roman bard. The intention of this ghost is to direct Dante to his appropriate route towards the peak of the mountain. Virgil asserts that their route takes them via hell but finally leads to their arrival in heaven. In heaven, Dante’s darling Beatrice is waiting for their return. Virgil further asserts that Beatrice and other holy females were the ones who sent Virgil to search for Dante and direct him in the correct route. Dante is an individual of fervently upheld views. He is extremely sentimental about the quandaries of the ruined people. However, he depicts himself as unpitying in his interactions with Mosca. His personality can be discerned by scrutinizing his interrelations with Florence. Moreover, his outlook on his native land is one of extreme sentiments. He also appears to like Florence and considers himself attached to the city. Similarly, he severely criticizes Florentines for their uproar mannerisms and thinks of the city as irreversibly fraudulent. Furthermore, hell frightens Dante to extreme levels, but he confides in Virgil who provides him with bravery. Consequently, he adores Virgil. The initial circle that Dante enters with his companion Virgil is Limbo. This circle houses unbaptized heathens who led respectable lives but never discovered Christ. The second up to the fifth circles are for the immoral, greedy, prodigal, as well as the enraged. In addition, sixth sphere is the location for reprimanding the heretics. Moreover, the seventh circle is serving the purpose of punishing the brutal. Furthermore, the eighth is for those individuals who are culpable of corruption, and the ninth was for the betrayers. Finally, in the last segment Satan is captive in a frozen sea. The expedition is difficult and packed of revelations, frustrations and questions, but they persist. The finality of their journey leads to Dante, as well as Virgil, to the foundation of hell. Lucifer appears in all his repulsiveness, and heaven draws the two characters towards it. They emerge to the surface, rising above the repulsiveness of transgressions and travel towards their objective as they catch a glimpse of stars inside the heavens. Their expedition finalizes on Easter Sunday in the base of the universe, in the hemisphere of water at the bottom of Mount Purgatory. Dante is an individual who loses his proper path, meaning that transgressions are an obstruction of his path to God. This elucidates the subject matter of disconnection from God that leads to misery. The volume, Inferno, exemplify this subject through Dante. It also explains that denunciation of the divine “affection that moves the sun as well as the stars” brings inevitable desolation. Moreover, the more intentionally an individual decides to damage himself and the community in trying to acquire happiness by concentrating on the ego, as opposed to divine affection, the farther he distances himself from existence and happiness. The organization of hell explicates this matter since it is an enormous pit that stretches from the exterior of the earth to its centre, and at each stage, the pit is constricted and murky. The farther downward Dante and Virgil explore, the tougher the noise and turmoil get until they reach the foundation where there is ice signifying absolute absence of existence. The people who gave in to lust, greed, materialism, and anger inhabit the highest stage. “View next the wretches, who the prickle left, the shuttle and the spindle… For now does Cain with fork of spikes confine in their circle…”. Dante’s personality in the book symbolizes everyman allegorical convection and his situations represent the entire humanity. Therefore, Dante does not appear as a definite individual. However, the audience is aware of Dante’s unspecified transgression and the ideology that he partakes in Florentine politics. “I was an occupant of Florence, that town which transformed her initial patron Mars for St John; for which rationale the revenge of the divinity hence slighted…”His characteristics are extremely extensive and general: always compassionate towards others, he nevertheless remains capable of rage. Moreover, he moans at the view of the tormented souls but responds with delight on his political adversary’s ruin. He depicts excessive arrogance but stays insatiable in varied regards: he upholds the ideology that he is as prominent as his counterpart bards in limbo are but intensely wishes to find Beatrice, his lover and the affection of God. Moreover, Dante is full of fright, but he demonstrates the development in courage through the leadership of Virgil. He is also extremely sentimental as depicted by his recurrent fainting when he becomes terrified or moved. As the narration develops, Dante must merge his sympathy for torment with the harsh aggression of God’s impartiality. Hence, as he proceeds in his journey, he becomes less agonized by the torment of the doomed. Moreover, Virgil motivates him to detest transgression and not sympathize with sinners in their impartial punishment for misdeeds. Furthermore, Dante must attain this stage of stringent ethical principles before commencing his expedition to heaven. Virgil is a prominent companion of Dante throughout the book. This character signifies human rationale, which directs and safeguards Dante, a representative of humanity in the universe of transgression. Therefore, the depiction of Virgil is that of a clear-headed, measured, determined and intelligent. He constantly safeguards Dante from antagonistic demons and monstrous characters such as Charon, as well as Centaurs. When he seems powerless at the exterior of the gates of the town, his powerlessness is extremely threatening. This demonstrates that the lower segments of hell are far murkier than the upper segments. Moreover, Virgil’s dependence on virtuous messenger also signifies the ideology the rationale is helpless without faith, which is a significant facet of Dante’s ethical philosophy. This ethical viewpoint is the one that creates the uniqueness of Inferno. Virgil is Dante’s director who demonstrates the corporeal route via hell but emphasizing its ethical lessons. In instances where Dante seems slow to synthesize the lesson, Virgil is intolerant of him which humanizes the otherwise inhuman appearance. In addition, the character of Dante depicts that even a faulty individual can confront hell and gain comprehension from the incident. This is via the willingness and desire to accept assistance. The receptiveness of this help emanates from the knowledge that help is essential and forthcoming. The portrayal of Dante is that of a hero, but a unique one. When Dante realizes that he is not on his correct route by finding himself in the dark forest, fear engulfs him, which is untypical of a hero. Now, Dante desires to escape by moving towards the sun immediately. Moreover, Dante cannot slay the animals that obstruct him from his endeavour of getting to the sun; he frighteningly goes back to the dark forest. Although Virgil salvages him, the second segment of the narration depicts Dante as an individual with varied doubts about his saviour. Therefore, he appears unfit for the adventure that he undertakes. However, he demonstrates that no faults prohibit him from learning through the adventure of travelling through hell. Moreover, there is an extremely significant portrayal of the ideology that, although human intelligence is necessary to making a breakthrough to happiness, it is not adequate. Thus, humanity must depend on divine affection and grace. Virgil, the only saviour of Dante, only appears through divine involvement by the holy women, as well as Beatrice. “For her I preserve it, the extra-terrestrial dame who knows all, if I arrive to her.” Read More