Law, Justice, and Punishment: Justice and punishment are themes in both Antigone and Dante’s Inferno. In both works, one or more characters receive punishments for crimes or sins which they have committed. In each work, what determines law and punishment? What does this say about justice? Is punishment deserved or undeserved, and how does that affect the integrity of the punishments, and hence, their effects on the reader? How do both Sophocles and Dante achieve these effects?
Diction, Imagery, and Feeling: In both Dante’s Inferno and the early Chinese poem “She Bore the Folk,” the writers use descriptive imagery to paint a picture of the events of the literature. What differences exist in the overall feeling of the two works? Are they inherent, or do the authors utilize particular literary devices to create these differences? How do the writers craft the specific characteristics of their works, and why? What effects do these characteristics have on the readers?