Dante’s use of allegory in the Inferno greatly varies from Plato’s "Allegory of the Cave" in purpose‚ symbolism‚ characters and mentors‚ and in attitude toward the world. An analysis of each of these elements in both allegories will provide an interesting comparison. Dante uses allegory to relate the sinner’s punishment to his sin‚ while Plato uses allegory to discuss ignorance and knowledge. Dante’s Inferno describes the descent through Hell from the upper level of the opportunists to the most evil
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Comedy‚ Dante strays from his path and becomes lost in a dark wooded area. The Roman Poet Virgil is sent down to the lost Dante to guide him through the circles of hell and towards his end destination of Paradise. In the first canto The Divine Comedy of Dante’s Inferno the two main characters Dante and Virgil and made apparent. Dante Alighieri develops his character Dante‚ into a man by the end of the comedy. In the beginning Dante is fearful; however his guide Virgil‚ encourages Dante to show courage
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The Inferno is more than just a fictional story about someone traveling through life. It is actually more like an autobiographical journey of life through its author‚ Dante Alighieri’s. He basically wrote with the personal purpose of recording where all of the people he came in contact within his life‚ will go when they die. This could be one of three places; Hell‚ Purgatory‚ or Heaven. He went on to design specific‚ fitting punishments or rewards based on each person’s life. Dante then tied this
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constantly new‚ changing‚ and terrifying‚ the comforting voice of reason explains everything to Dante the pilgrim and the reader. He describes the geography of the place‚ why sinners are punished according to their sins‚ why we see what we do - in short‚ Virgil always provides the reason why things are the way they are. This is essentially the role of rationality in a philosophic sense of the world. As we know‚ Dante was a student of philosophy‚ so he was well familiar with philosophers’ tools to explain
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receiving in kind‚ while inferno is symbolic for hell. This paper reviews the two poems‚ written centuries apart. The odyssey and inferno are about the journey of two men. In the two poems‚ the main character is given guidance by another character aiding them in their travel. Athena is the protector of Odysseus on his journey back from the Trojan War to his family in Ithaca. Dante on the other hand was led by vigil through hell in order to save his soul. In Dante’s inferno‚ there is a struggle between
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Introduction 1. The journey taken by Dante is symbolic in the fact that it is a spiritual quest for salvation. 2. A canto is a chapter. 3. The Divine Comedy contains 100 cantos because 100 is the square of ten which in reference to the Middle Ages was the perfect number. 4. Tercets are three-line stanzas in the rhyme scheme called terza rima. In terza rima the middle line of the first tercet rhymed with the first and last of the second. 5. The number three is important in the Divine Comedy because
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In the Inferno‚ mutilation is the most common way for those in hell to be given the ineluctable punishment for their sins. Mutilation is an act or physical injury that degrades the appearance or function of the body. Mutilation is both used in the inferno as a way to cause physical pain to those in hell‚ but the form of mutilation used on the sinners is also a form of emotional torture because it pertains directly to their sin. Because mutilation is used so frequently in the inferno Dante must use
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Josh Dodson Literature Mrs. Elliot February 9‚ 2012 Dante’s Inferno The second circle of this hell is lust. Dante set up his hell with nine levels. each level has a different punishment for a different sin. the lower level you go‚ the worse the punishment gets. the easiest punishment is level one which is paganism and it descends and gets harder from there. Each level is designed to accommodate the people that will be in it and the punishments that are in each. there are several images of people
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For murder alone‚ Dante would have placed him among those who were Violent Against their Neighbors‚ leaving him to be submerged in boiling blood and shot by Centaurs until Judgement Day. However‚ he could also be placed among the Thieves‚ left to turn into a serpent then
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Though some speculated it involved fire‚ Dante chose to surround the Mountain by water. In contrast‚ there already existed the idea of a dark and gloomy hell‚ and a beautiful and light heaven. The poet selected to envisage purgatory as a mountain located on an island in the southern hemisphere. Purgatory is most similar to Earth‚ while hell and paradise are the customary spaces imagined. Dante divides the mountain to ante-purgatory and the seven terraces. The terraces
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