FREE ESSAY ON DANTE'S INFERNO

DANTE'S INFERNO

What Dante Gains By Going Through Hell
The Inferno is a work full of imagery that describes the horrors of hell through the
words of the author. What does Dante gain by all of this by taking himself through such
an experience? I believe Dante gains three elements of life. The character Dante gains
two of these and they are confidence and a clarification of his faith. The author Dante
gains the last element, which is a release from his own personal hell of isolation. 
In the beginning, we see Dante as a somewhat scared and untrusting individual. He
questions his worthiness and purpose several times. As Virgil leads Dante though hell,
Dante becomes less scared and more trusting of his guide. Dante never seems to become
synthesized to the horrors of hell. He becomes more confident and less scared but not to
the point where hell is no longer shocking to him. Dante allows himself to feel the
emotions of the inhabitants of hell without accepting their behavior. This final point
takes his confidence to a higher level. 
The faith of our character seems to be waning in the first canto. He has to trust in his
God and does not look to his God for support during the appearance of the three beasts.
On the appearance of Virgil, Dante questions why the mother of God would find him worthy
of a tour though hell. Dante claims he is not worthy of such an honor. Dante gains more
faith by allowing himself to see how his god has structured the punishments of hell. As
we read the cantos, Dante becomes less questioning and more accepting of the severity of
the punishments. He moves from being questioning the inhabitants to kicking ones' face
near the end of the book. I get the sense that Dante gains faith by seeing his god as a
more righteous one at the end of the journey.
So what has our author gained from this experience?
The pain of isolation from family, friends, and country must be equal to anything
punishment found in the Inferno. Family, friends, and country share a common thread. They
are where we gain most of our sources of love and that warm feeling inside us. I think
Dante expresses this by describing the pit of hell as a frozen lake. This lack of contact
with your sources of warmth and love must me emotionally wrecking for anyone. I think
Dante uses such graphic descriptions and imagery to provoke similar feelings in us. Dante
helps us understand his personal hell and this writing is the beginning of a way to
escape his hell just as his character did.
Kelli Koning
IDS 171
Fear vs. Reason in Dante's Inferno
Dante uses fear to communicate naivety. Every instance, excluding one, Virgil shows his
commanding power of reason, teaching Dante that fear is weak and unholy. Fear is based
upon the ignorance of God's power over evil, and throughout The Inferno Dante is
constantly learning the true power of God which in the end displaces his fear with
reason. Virgil's role is to illustrate God's omnipotent and controlling hand over all
factors of hell. Virgil counteracts Dante's fear by either chiding him or approaching the
object that is inspiring Dante with such dread nonchalantly. In each case Dante learns to
overcome his fears of evil by trusting in God's grace and control.
Not understanding evil in the beginning of The Inferno, Dante is completely rattled by
the fear of the three animals which are blocking his path. There are six stanza's in the
first Canto alone that are completely devoted to describing the fear that was consuming
him. Virgil comes to guide Dante past these animals and takes him into the abyss of hell.
The creatures of hell frighten him immensely but as he progresses through the different
circles of hell his fears subside as his ignorance of evil sloughs off. As Dante comes to
a conceptual and physical idea of God's power this replaces his fear of evil. Dante seems
to view fear as an absence of reason and reason is the knowledge of God's power.
Therefore, fear is an unholy attribute characteristic of someone who is not of accord
with Christ and his message.
Dante must learn to replace his fear with reason in order to become capable of
understanding God and acquiring reason. Through Virgil's example and instruction Dante
becomes more whole in his conception of God. Before going to deal with Malacoda, Virgil
tells Dante, whatever violence you see done to me, you have no cause to fear. I know
these matters. Thus Virgil reassures Dante that fear is unnecessary if you are armed with
reason.
Dante does indeed learn just how frivolous fear truly is. In comparison to the first
Canto where Dante is filled with dread looking at three mere animals, Dante, in the last
Canto, refutes his fear as he faces the Great Dis. There is only one stanza within the
last Canto in which Dante expresses fear of Satan. This in juxtaposition with the first
Canto which contains no less than six stanzas expressing fear, the reader can compare the
two in order to see how Dante's fear has been replaced with reason. 
In Canto XVII, Virgil senses Dante's fear of riding on the back of the beast Geryon,
monster of fraud. He chides Dante telling him not to be undaunted. In Canto XXI, Virgil
approaches the monsters without fear as Dante hides in the rocks. 
Kelli Koning
IDS 171- Portfleet
Dante is Every Human
In the Inferno, the fictional Dante is seen as a very compassionate and sympathetic
character. His admiration and concern for people is very obvious in this book. When the
fictional Dante encounters people in hell he seems to be taken aback by their stories.
For instance, in Canto five, Dante enters the second circle and he sees all of the people
that had abandoned themselves from the tempest of their passions. Among the many people
Virgil identifies a few such as, Cleopatra, Helen, Achilles, Paris, Tristan, and most
importantly Paolo, and Francesca. 
Seeing Francesca, Dante calls upon her to hear her story. She tells her story as she
cries, and Dante listens carefully:
 As she said this, the other spirit, who stood by her, wept so piteously, I felt my
senses reel and faint away with anguish. I was swept by such a swoon as death is, and I
fell, as a corpse might fall, to the dead floor of Hell. 
In those lines it is easy to understand his compassion and pity for the lovers. Dante
looses all sensibility and is overwhelmed by their story. His admiration for the two
seems untarnished by the fact that they are in hell. It is as if Dante can relate to the
forbidden lovers. 
In Canto fifteen, Dante encounters a former teacher, Ser Brunetto, whom he admires and
respects a great deal. 
Oh my son! May it not displease you, if Brunetto Latino leave his company and turn and
walk a little by your side.
 With all my soul I ask it. Or let us sit together, if it please him who is my guide and
leads me through this pit.
The love, respect and admiration that Dante feels for his teacher can be felt so strongly
by his response to him. Brunetto Latino is given the highest respect than any other
person in the Inferno from Dante. His adoration for the teacher is almost unimaginable. 
In conclusion I feel that, Dante's compassion and love for these people makes him seem
more realistic and human-like. His love is somewhat God-like, because he can be
compassionate but also harsh. Dante becomes a character you can relate with when you see
the compassionate side of him. Instead of seeing Dante as a higher being, we can see him
as a person like ourselves--a person we can relate to and identify with. 
All of us at one point can relate to the love, admiration, and respect that he holds for
these people. Maybe it is because each of us has experienced love in all these forms.
Love for a partner (Paolo and Francesca's) can only be understood and sympathized with we
ourselves have been in love and consequently can relate to it; if not, it would be
impossible to significantly understand how Dante feels. In the case of the teacher, we
can understand how Dante feels for this man only if we have met someone who has made such
an impact on our lives, that it made us the people we are today. Dante can best be
appreciated when we see him through our own experiences. Then we can see him in a vaster
light, making him very easy to identify with.
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