Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri- Inferno

Dante the narrator of Dante Alighieri –Inferno gives the reader a show of the journey through hell. His goal is to show that the present affects the future. As he explains, the punishments each is dependent on the path taken while still living. He describes each sin’s punishment in Inferno as contrapasso. Dante gives an example of the fortune tellers whose punishment is to walk forward with their heads back ward so that they do not see forward. This is so because while alive they tried to look forward.

Dante’s journey starts on a Good Friday a day which Christians view as holy, and they celebrate the crucifixion of their savior Jesus Christ. He could have easily chosen any day, but he focuses on bringing out the meaning intended in the title which he describes as comedy. Comedy here does not mean comical as many interpret nowadays, but represents an ending of happiness. The poem ends with Dante finding his way on Easter sun; thus the comedy is the title is an allegory of happiness.

Dante categorizes the sins according to how he perceived their strengths. In the upper circles, he placed characters whose sins included wrath, violence and lust and in the lower circles he placed sinners who deceived, lied and committed treason. This if compared to the current world would be a reverse situation, but the story’s timeline is in the medieval Roman times. Dante thus classified the sins as they existed during his time.

Philosophers were sinless but non believers were in limbo, this is specific placement. While alive their sin was curiosity which lead to their doubts about God making them the brightest men alive, and they resided in a castle in limbo. The lustful had their souls thrown back and forth by the terrible winds of a violent storm. This is symbolic of the way lust blows one back and forth without reasoning. The glutton’s punishment was by overindulgence but not only in food but in other forms of addiction.

The first three...