Inferno di Dante Riorganizzato - Research Paper Example

26 April Inferno di Dante Riorganizzato LIFE – a word which takes a second to read and two to write but needs more than alifetime to comprehend its absolute meaning. Thousands of textbooks and literary works were written unveiling how man should live life to its full context and how to prepare for the afterlife. Truthfully, when afterlife is integrated in any conversation, argument and debates are inevitable for what I consider is an impulse of fear, anxiety and apprehension on what really is their next destination after this worldly life. Dante Alighieri, an Italian poet, wrote an extensive description of afterlife in his book “The Divine Comedy” wherein he elaborated the context of hell (inferno), purgatory (purgatorio) and heaven (paradise). Anyone of the right mind, when made to choose amongst the three, will certainly desire to end up in heaven or for some with conscious guilt of sins committed, it will be the purgatory but never the detrimental underworld. Alighieri illustrated nine circles of hell where the first five imprison those who committed egocentric sins, the sixth and seventh for those with violent sins, and the last two which are considered as the worst are for those with malicious sins. Evolution of culture through centuries made people contest the timelessness of Alighieri’s hierarchy of misdemeanor. Such as how murder became less evil against pertinacious actions of the hypocrites or how blasphemy is on a lower circle than heresy when both profess destructive testimony against God. In this paper, an attempt to realign the hierarchy according to personal visualization of hell had been made while taking into account the annotations made by Alighieri. Reorganizing a systematize diagram is a challenging task as one could believe that it is indeed a seamless creation. I considered the seven deadly sins as published in the Bible and deemed the inclusion of Pride and Envy as sins worthy of being punished in hell. Electing a sin to be eliminated from this hierarchy is not an option yet collation of sins that I contemplated as parallel has been my alternative. The first circle would captivate the people who lived with pride and disregarded humility. They are those who took greater regard of themselves rather that humble recognizing these gifts and sharing it to those in need. As the beatitude says “Beati pauperes spiritu (Canto XII)”, we are called to act in humbleness not in smugness for whatever we have is the work of a Greater Power and not merely of ourselves. I include the hypocrites in this circle for I see them as too conceited to acknowledge humility in its real essence. I placed this at first because I see it as the most common for the people to commit and with this roots the graver sins that will be mentioned on the later part of this paper. Subsequent to this are Envy and Prodigality. The two were collated for both covers one’s excessive desire for something that others have, be it material or immaterial, and what they yearn to acquire for themselves. Envious people are those who, if were unable to match what others have, will strive to ruin the lives of others or do ill things against them for his satisfaction. As what one soul expressed: "My blood was so afire with envy that, when I had seen a man becoming happy, the lividness in me was plain to see" (Canto XII, 82-84). This for me is the mother of Prodigality, for without the other, this one will not be born. Prodigality, as discussed, is act of spending all that he has to acquire the earthly things that he desire which, I recon, is fueled by coveting from what he sees from others. We cannot take our riches to our grave, that was the Bible said, and these earthly stuffs must never be our gods. Though Lust places second in Alighieri’s scheme, it ranks third in mine. The thing that sets us apart from the other animals is our free will and wisdom, this urges us to act reasonably and righteously take a stand against carnal craving. Indulging to this hunger and setting their reason aside creates further sins as adultery, passion crimes, uncommitted sexual acts, and even having unwanted child which maybe born or aborted later on. They are the souls who enjoyed the time of making love yet are doomed in this circle of hell. Too much of anything brings no good to anyone, just as any form of addiction does. Lies on the fourth circle are the greedy people who immoderately indulged in addictions of the world. Gluttony does not involved only foods and drinks or alcohol but also other forms of addiction such as smoking, gambling, drugs, pornography, sex, et cetera. Gluttony is a brother of Greed, where instead of self indulgence from addictive habits is an addiction to material possessions and this is what I placed in the fifth circle of hell. Greed’s consequence if theft as one, with the great urge to acquire possessions, may directly or indirectly steal from another just to feed his satisfaction. In the sixth circle dwell those who lived in wrath and violence. Anger starts from self and later evolves to acts harmful to others. Violence appears in numerous forms, either directed to oneself such as suicide or to others such as murder. The book encompassed sodomy and usury in violence which I reflect to as suitable. Alighieri’s description on the punishments given could be gross yet acceptable given the extent of the sins they have committed in their worldly lives. Fraud is the next circle subsequent to this which confines people who deliberately and consciously committed sins. Alighieri included ten people: panderers and seducers, flatterers, those who committed simony, false prophets, corrupt politicians, hypocrites, fraudulent adviser and counselors, schismatic, and all kinds of imposters. I agree to most except for the hypocrites which I as aforementioned included on the circle of Pride and the schismatic which I ought to be included in the next circle, Heresy. I placed heresy as second most atrocious sin to commit for it is the direct disrespect and disregard for faith and God. Acknowledging His presence and fearing His great power can salvage on soul from all these sins, and for some who did reconciled before their last breath, they had the chance to labor for their salvation in the purgatory. In heresy I place the schismatic and the atheist who even with ample stream of teachings maintained their minds blocked and stubbornly acted on their own belief. At the bottom of this reorganized hell is Treachery because I agree with full conviction that it is the worst sin of all for with treachery comes along several other sins such as pride, envy, anger, greed, violence, et cetera. At its core, as Alighieri described, lurks Satan who amongst others created the greatest treachery of all. If I were to design punishments to be given to each sin, I will accept what transpired in the book for these castigations were fitting to the wrongdoing they committed. More importantly, we must keep in mind that no matter how we rearrange this hierarchy, one fact still remains: Hell is a place for sinners of all kinds, sinners who did not acknowledge God and failed to repent for what they have done. No one truly knows what is in the afterlife unless one ends up there. Unlike Alighieri’s journey in his literature, there will be no one capable of going all the way to the core of hell and get back to earth to redo his life. He has given us a clear picture of what may become of our souls if we continue indulging on sinful acts and worldly things. This life is given to us only once, and if you consider the biblical lifespan of 70, where will you be? Are you in the midlife with still a lot of time to make things right, or are you nearing the end and your only way to bail is to repent? Life is too short, it is a cliché, yet the afterlife is eternal so we better pick the right way. Work Cited Alighiere, Dante. “The Inferno.” The Divine Comedy. 1314. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: Signet, 1982. Read More