Some say that while Dante was wondering in the woods before he left on his journey, he was contemplating committing suicide. Does going on this journey change his opinion of how he views the world and how he looks at his own life?
Could the reason of this whole story be to change the way Dante looks at his life? To see that it has meaning and committing suicide would only lead to eternal suffering? In some of the rings, Dante talks about how he feels pity for the men and women but maybe he was really thinking about how much his life meant and learning what mistakes not to make before he makes them. Historians think the Inferno may represent the Christian soul seeing sin for what it really is. They say the three beasts represent the three types of sin and the types of sin also represent the three main divisions of Hell (circles 1-5 = self indulgent sins; circles 6 and 7 = violent sins; circles 8 and 9 = malicious sins).
Another question I thought of while reading the Inferno was why would the Devil and his “helpers” be so willing to let a living person through the gates and get a tour of Hell?
In Cantos 8, Dante and Virgil are denied entrance to the city of Dis. This was the only time in the Inferno they were not granted permission to enter. In other cantos they only had to say that their journey “is the will of Heaven” they are allowed to continue. It seems to me as though they should not have been allowed to enter because their journey was the will of Heaven. I am not 100% positive but I do not think that if someone went to Heaven and it was the will of Hell they would be allowed to enter. The two places are total opposites and in other stories (like the Bible) it seems as though the Devil would not like God sending people to take tours thorough Hell but I guess I could be wrong there.
So, if you have a logical answer as to why you think that the creatures in Hell would be so willing to let someone in on a journey from Heaven or if you have any opinions on if you think they views of Dante changed/ are changing let me know.
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Well Jen I think I was very puzzled about what you said about Canto eight and I think I found an answer. Virgil whom is the companion of Dante is from heaven of course. I guess we can infer that God is omniscient of what happens in hell because if we play a situation in which one of the demons try to kill Virgil God would know because Virgil should come back to heaven. Also, I think the contact between heaven and hell is very miniscule. Sure, we do have the power level in effect that Dante and Virgil go through almost every gate by “the will of God”. I think the gate keeper of Dis was in some disbelief that I can infer because of the minimal contact between heaven and hell which is also inference. Thus, an angel had to come to hell to prove the fact that it is the will of God that Dante passes through the gate of Dis. Out of all I said I think the reason why they passed through the gates/ circles of hell easily is because the people that are guarding the gates still believe that God is a higher power, even though they sinned against God. I hope I answered that question but if any others have a different view please post.
ReplyDeleteI agree in that they still think the God is the higher power and that i think it's where most of them wish they could be. Also i think his views deffinatly changed as he progressed through the different circles of hell. I think he saw that God is real and very powerful so if you don't follow the set rules you are condemed to this horrble grusum place.
ReplyDeleteWhile Satan's helpers were not necessarily "helping", they were more tolerating. The whole purpose of Dante's journey was to find himself, which in the end I think he did (I never read Purgatorio or Paradiso, so I'm not really sure how it all ended). He really was lost "without faith", so maybe that's why "it's the will of heaven" was so affective. The helpers who attack them or made the journey difficult were maybe placed there to teach a lesson, or maybe even just to scare people.
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