Dante's Sympathy Or Scorn

    

          In the Inferno, Dante distinguishes between the different people he encounters in Hell. He is extremely scornful to some, but pities others. In the Wood of Suicides, Dante meets one of the tree trunks, Pier de Vigne, who was “unjustly blamed” in his service to Emperor Frederick II and committed suicide to avoid torture (Canto 13, line 69). (See also the footnote, which reveals that Pier was famous for his mastery of Italian poetry; was Dante biased because of this?). Similarly, Brunetto Latino is in circle seven, where Dante finds him and is eager to spend time with him. Dante wants “with all [his] soul” to have Brunetto walk with him for a bit (Canto 15, line 34). He is not at all scornful to these men.

            However, he reacts much differently in other sections. Perhaps some of this is due to the fact that he is progressing into “worse” layers of punishments, but this is not the only reason. Speaking to Pope Nicholas III, who is in the Simoniac layer (for corrupting the things of God), Dante declares, “stay as you are; this hole well fits you” (Canto 19, line 91). In the same way, Dante yanks out the hair of Bocca delgi Abbati, an unrepentant traitor in circle nine. Dante is adamant about some people being awful, while others he feels compassion for.

            Why does Dante (and Virgil) differentiate between the people he meets? Could he have personal or political reasons? One thing I noted was that Dante, as he distinguishes between those who should be pitied and those who should be scorned, makes a judgement call about the severity of their sins. He wishes some were not punished so severely, but he adds to the punishment of others. Dante puts himself in a position to “judge for [himself]” the sentences of the people he meets (Canto 33, line 21). Is Dante acting as a judge when he pities some and not others? Or is he simply reacting – as any human would – to what he sees?

 Image: https://scholarsandrogues.com/2013/10/30/dantes-inferno-and-contrapasso/    

Dante's Inferno

I think this story has a lot we all can relate to. In the beginning of the first canto Dante gets lost on a path, that leads him going to hell. In a way I think we all can relate to getting lost on a path and us going to a place we call hell, but not literally hell. We all get lost in life, and we think it takes us to the worst place possible. In reality when we get lost it is just because something does not play out how we thought it would. In the case of Dante he literally gets lost and ends up in hell going through the layers.
I think that Dante going through the nine circles of hell can relate to people going through something personal in their head or in real life. Granted I know people do not actually go to hell, but each circle represents something that someone could be struggling with. For example the second ring of hell is lust and a lot of people these days lust after people, ans we see lust on T.V.. In a weird way lust is in all out lives everyday weather we feel it, or we see it on T.V. lust impacts us everyday. Another great example of how we can all relate to Dante's Inferno is the third and fourth circle of hell are Gluttony and Greed. I think we all become guilty of these things weather it be greed of money, or trying to have the best and most liked Instagram photos. Two more of the rings in Hell include anger and violence, which I am 100% positive that we can all agree that we have definitely felt anger towards something or someone, and have witnessed anger.
I also come to believe that each of these circles has a lesson to teach Dante and the rest of us. No matter how much all of us try, there is no way for any of us to be perfect, this story teaches us that to reach heaven seems impossible. There are very little things in life that can set us off our path in life, and cause us to get lost. Some of the things that can set us off in life are the rings in Hell. I am not saying that because we get lost in life over these things that we are going to Hell I am saying I am simply just saying I think there is a deeper reason for this story.
Below I have decided to include a picture of the 9 circles of Hell in the story as a reference for people to see.

To Hell and Back

I find that The Divine Comedy is one the greatest pieces of literature ever written. The text is full of references and culture to extents that I have yet to encounter in any other literature. In this text alone, we see the collision of Greek, Roman, and Christian culture, and I believe that this is what makes the text so rich. In none of the texts we've read so far have we seen so many references in one text. The crossing of these cultures is interesting because it once again drudges up the question of how the hell these texts get crossed without modern communication! It's a question that bothers me even though I know that I'll probably never get a straight answer or any answer at all.

Another thing about The Inferno that I find quite interesting is the idea that people born before Christ are stuck in Hell. Here's one question I pose: Is this fair? Should these people be given the chance to accept Christ in the after life? No matter what you think, the bottom line is that they don't have this opportunity -- or at least most of them don't. Along with this, it is worth discussing the fact that there are a few Biblical characters that ascend to Purgatory. In my opinion, this is fair because they did something significant to allow for the to get out of Hell and into Purgatory.

I leave you all with these questions to ponder:

1. Why/How do you think these cultures got crossed in such a way?
2. What is the importance of having Virgil guide Dante through Hell? Is it comparable to anything else you have read?
3. Why has The Inferno, or even The Divine Comedy, stood the test of time?