When we think about death we believe there is only heaven or hell afterwards. However, Dante’s Inferno takes on hell in a different manner than we expect. Dante divides hell in circles each circle is meant for a specific sinner and their punishment. The sinners are to spend the rest of their eternity in hell or at least until they are deemed worthy to move on. They are doomed to repeat this cycle over and over again. But what makes these sinners so different from the people who move on to heaven? Even people in heaven had to commit a sin at some point in there life so why are their sins “forgiven” or ignored and those who are in hell are not forgiven and are forced to suffer. Even Dante himself questions and ask Virgil in Canto XI why there are different circles in hell. Writers like Virgil are sentenced to hell because they were born at a time before God so why are they unable to be pardoned, their only sin being not knowing about God. It seems hell does punish those who have wronged others in their lifetime but hell also punishes those who were unable to believe in God for they were not born during a certain era. Who’s to say heaven isn’t a place where sinners reside, only these sinners are not given the same treatment as those in hell. Why does hell and heaven hold such distinctions between one another? In the end, we are all frauds, we are all sinners the only difference is some of us will end up in heaven.

As we know Dante wrote the “Inferno” in the 14^th century, but we still read it and learn a lot from it. While reading “Inferno,” it makes us think about the way we live and try to analyze some of the things we do. The description of hell is very illustrative. We see how people suffer for their sins, their pain and torment. It brings up a question: if people had a chance to relive their lives, would they live it differently without committing sins? Punishments depend on the gravity of each sin. Each punishment is suitable for the committed wrongdoing.

In the first cycle of hell called Limbo, there are people who were born in B.C., not baptized pagans who will never meet God. In the second circle, there are people who were overcome by lust and can’t find peace because of the strong wind, which blows them back and forth. Other circles include people who were guilty of gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud, treachery.

What in your opinion is the worst sin in Inferno and what in your opinion is the worst punishment around 9 circles of hell?

Clink on the link to see the image: Hell

Throughout the semester, this class has studied different epics and stories mostly dealing around the theme of creation, and how the universe came to be. Each text we have studied, from Genesis to Enumah Elish, tells different versions of how a single G-d or multiple gods created both the universe and mankind. Each religion and culture has different theories, and we have touched on many aspects within those theories. These theories argue how exactly the first beings were created, whether by mortal humans or immortal deities. In both the story of Genesis in the Bible, and Theogony written by Hesiod, human beings are created through some means by a higher power. However, throughout history the creation stories have been debated down to the idea of gender equality, or inequality for that matter. Women were commonly regarded as the subservient gender. Some have made the argument that in these two texts, women are considered to be negative and troublesome symbols, while men are better known for strength and leadership skills. However, just because the roles of men and women might differ, does not mean that one is more important than the other. It can be asserted that women were given an elevated position of both power and necessity as well. These works of literature emphasize the important role that women have, thus proving that women were fairly represented, and represented as powerful, in the Bible’s creation story as well as Ancient Greek culture’s creation story.

In Genesis, Eve is described as man’s “helper”, and some take offence to this. However, I believe that it defines the vital role that women have in life and how men vigorously need women. Some may argue that the word “helper” makes women inferior or subordinate to men, but its actually rather a beautiful thing to see all human beings coming together and supporting each other.

Similarly, In Hesiod’s Theogony, power is defined by the influence that one character has on another. The majority of the text relays the feeling of women being inferior to men; however, their power is still recognized and almost feared. First and foremost is the significance of the nine muses in the story. And also, it is clear that the most powerful female in the story is Gaia, Not only was she able to give birth to the universe alone, but once she did all of the inhabitants knew that she was the most powerful because she always had the final word. When Gaia spoke to her children, “fear gripped them all, not one of them uttered a sound,” (Lines 167-168). When Gaia is oppressed by the wicked Ouranos, who is preventing her from giving birth to her children, she uses trickery to get her son Koronos to ambush and castrate his father. While it may seem that she was over-powered by Ouranos in the aspect that she could not defend herself from such a domestic dispute, in actuality she was able to devise a plan in which she got someone else to do the job for her. Gaia’s abilities should not be overlooked.

Both Eve and Gaia willingly make huge decisions, which they are prepared to face the repercussions of. Eve decides to eat from the Tree of Knowledge, and Gaia decides to take matters into her own hands and kill the evil Ouranos. These are just a few examples of how women are fairly represented in the Bible creation story and in Hesiod’s Theogony.

Making the Inferno Graphic:

Comics:

Juxtaposed pictorial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthetic response in the viewer.

From Scott McCloud’s Understanding Comics

Last class we discussed briefly about Tiresias who appears to Dante in Canto XX. We know from previous readings that Tiresias is a blind prophet, well known in Greek legendary history. It is evident throughout the poem that Dante was influenced and knowledgeable of Greek mythology, but why would he place Tiresias, along with the Soothsayers in the 8^th circle of hell? In some of the books that we’ve read in class like “The Odyssey” and “Oedipus the King”, Tiresias wasn’t infamously known as a bad man, In fact his ability to foretell specific events was a gift. He was given this talent from Zeus to recompense for Hera striking him blind. Dante places him in the lowest levels of hell, with the Soothsayers where the torments become more painful and grotesque as they descend, here the shades walked with their heads backwards so that they cannot see what is ahead of them. However one thing I found interesting is how Dante’s imagination believes that someone who foresees the future deserves to be in the deeper levels of hell. It makes sense those humans who wanted to use unholy powers to see ahead in life are to be punished, but if prophesizing is so bad that they deserve this painful punishment, how come Dante gives the other shades in hell the ability to see into the future?

We first see this in Canto VI where the Gluttons are punished, Dante comes across a shade named Ciacco who prophesizes about the city of Florence. In Canto X he also speaks to a shade, Farinata, who prophesies that Dante will soon know the pain of exile. In this canto, Dante asks Farinata how the shades can see into the future and past, but not the present.

If I have heard correctly, all of you

can see ahead to what the future holds

but your knowledge of the present is not clear.”

 

“Down here we see like those with faulty vision

who only see,” he said, “what’s at a distance;

this much the sovereign lord grants us here.

 I find it kind of ironic how sinners are granted by God the ability to prophesize. Why is it that Dante believes other sinners should be able to see the future, but Tiresias who was gifted this ability and not voluntarily using unholy powers to do it placed in this circle of Hell? I also find it interesting how Dante does not mention anything about Tiresias prophesizing, instead just talks about how he lived as a woman and a man. So do you believe Tiresias deserves this punishment? Also, is it fair that the Soothsayers be placed this low into Hell?

While the vibe in New York is somber and gloomy; the mood in other states is one much more gleeful. We spoke about change, and that change is here for America. Undoubtedly change is going to come with Donald Trump we hope for the best but most likely be for the worse, and other countries are going through similar ordeals: just look at Britain with Brexit, and I believe Sweden was brought up as an example in class as well. This leads me to think that we as a global population are ready for change. The Global consciousness of humanity is experiencing a jolt that should wake us all up. The foundation will be shook, but just like the phoenix rising from the ashes we too shall rise from the debris into the Post-Trump world better, stronger than when we entered, because we cannot truly appreciate heaven without first seeing hell.

In “The Inferno,” we come across different kinds of punishments for different kinds of sinners. One of them that stood out to me was the punishment for the souls of the suicides, and these sinners were punished by becoming trees in the underworld. They are casted as roots, grow as saplings, and then Harpies come and peck on them. When their branches break off, they would feel the same exact pain as a human being losing its own limbs. This kind of punishment may seem suitable for someone who took their own life because they did not appreciate their body. To teach them a lesson, Dante wanted them to feel the pain of rejecting and denying their God-given bodies. It is not up to them to take their own life because it is God’s will to declare when they die. If they die before God’s will, it becomes a sin. God does not give punishments to those who cannot handle the circumstances.

However, I don’t think this punishment is suitable because not everyone goes through the same kind of struggles and situations before committing suicide. The situation comes into play and becomes a major key in determining the “justice” of the suicide. In Canto 13, Pier Delle Vigne committed suicide because he was accused of treachery and was imprisoned. He reasoned his suicide in the following passage:

“… the special vice of courts,

inflamed the hearts of everyone against me,

and these, inflamed, inflamed in turn Augustus,

and my happy honors turned to sad laments.

My mind, moved by scornful satisfaction,

believing death would free me from all scorn,

made me unjust to me, who was all just.” (66-72)

To Pier Delle Vigne, his suicide was the only way to free him from misery. In the eyes of bystanders, it may seem unreasonable or despiteful to commit suicide only because he was ashamed of himself. But to Pier Delle Vigne, his reputation and name could have been his life and dignity. When people destroyed that, they destroyed his life as well, and to release himself from his misery, he committed suicide. The story behind each suicide cannot always be judged by the story or explanation we hear. It is important to put us into that person’s shoes and understand how they are feeling because their misery cannot be compared to our own. Everyone has different stories and experiences that affect them negatively.

So is Dante’s punishment for the souls of the suicides reasonable? Can there be different types of punishments for each soul of suicide?

As an assignment in class recently, we were asked to “discuss the setting as it is laid out for the reader/ audience in the first 4 cantos of the ‘Inferno’.” The Inferno was written from a religious standpoint, written for the Roman Catholics who devoted their lives to Jesus. The story of Dante and the description of Hell as the setting of the story is supposed to scare the Romans reading the poem, scared enough to never stray from their faith. As I was writing my essay, I found a couple of places within the first four cantos that stood out and connected with the story of Genesis.

In canto one, Dante tells the reader that Death itself would be less scary than the woods he woke up in. We can relate this to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden; both stories incorporate nature, but trees specifically. Why do you think so?

He became sleepy when he “first strayed, leaving the path of truth.” This gives the reader an inclination that he might be alluding to straying away from his Christian faith. He describes meeting the animals in the woods and said “and only then did terror start subsiding in my heart.” We can relate this to Adam and Eve meeting the serpent in the garden and instantly becoming ashamed, and essentially terrified of seeing themselves naked for the first time. Do you agree?

The following quote from canto three, Virgil speaking to Dante about who the lost souls, is the one that stood out to me the most, “These wretches, who had never truly lived went naked and were strung and stung again by the hornets and wasps…and made their faces run with blood in streaks; their blood, mixed with tears… and disgusting maggots collected in the pus.” This being the punishment for the “lost souls” reminded me of what God punished Adam and Eve with once they ate the fruit from the tree of knowledge. He said “Cursed be you of all cattle and all beasts of the field…I will terribly sharpen your birth pangs; in pain, shall you bear children…with pangs shall you eat from it all the days of your life…by the sweat of your brow shall you eat bread till you return to the soil…” In both stories, the consequence of not following God and his orders is endless and various ways of pain and suffering. Do you think this is justified?

For much of the history of Christianity, there have not been many details provided to Christians regarding the depiction and workings of Hell. The most that has been provided are perhaps a few sentences in the Bible, but other than that, most of medieval Europe knew that good people go to Heaven, and bad people go to Hell. “The Inferno” by Dante Alighieri allows us for the first time to take a close look at just how complex Hell is, and the many layers of Hell that are organized based on the sins of the damned.

In “The Inferno” we are presented with so many vile and repulsive scenes that the people of Dante’s time would have been aghast that something so disgusting, such as the scene where the gluttons are eating what is basically human excrement. In another scene, the wrathful are in constant conflict, with each one clawing at one another in an endless cycle. This leads me to come up with the question: Why would Dante want to depict Hell in such a gruesome manner? While yes, we do know that Hell is not going to be paradise and there will be torture involved for those who committed great sins, why go so far as to graphically depict gluttons eating and swimming in excrement? There are other scenes that are tamer than the ones mentioned above, but Dante is trying to tell us something: Don’t commit sin, or else you will find yourself in the exact same place as these sinners.

Would there be any other way that Dante could tell us not to commit sin in a less graphic manner? Or did Dante knew that people are and will always be imperfect, and would need something extreme to change their sinful ways?

While discussing Beowulf, we talked about the idea of a circular theme that reoccurs throughout the play. I also noticed that this theme of a continuous cycle is present throughout much of The Odyssey. In Beowulf, Beowulf is known as a great warrior and eventually through defeating enemies rises to power. Towards the end of the play he fights a dragon, which ends in mutual defeat. Although the circular theme presents itself in many different ways throughout the play, the overarching example starts with the first few lines of the play, which describe a funeral of a respected king. The king is set off on the river with vast amounts of armor and jewelry. In the end of the book, Beowulf is in the place of that respected king, which relates to all intended readers who at the time might wonder about their eventual fates. In The Odyssey, the circular theme is present, but in a different way. Odysseus is a demigod, and is like Beowulf because they both possess superhuman strength. The Odyssey approaches the circular theme differently, showing Odysseus’ journeys eventually brings him back to his homeland, but eventually he leaves in search of adventure. This example of a “cycle” might have been used by the author in order to symbolize the daily obstacles that the people of that time faced. I think it is important that these authors effectively used this theme to thoroughly enforce these ideas of a cycle, especially since it is so prevalent throughout nature. It also reveals the thought process of the people who lived during the time the plays were written. All of this information helps to draw the reader into the setting so that they can fully indulge in the story, and I believe that it was used well in both texts.