(How is Dante’s Inferno allegorical?)
There is a reason for everything that happens in our world, better known as fate. The things that happen in this world will always have a deeper meaning. Life has many unexpected plans and journeys that might not always compatible to what you wanted to happen. Even if this happens, you must always remember that everything happens for a reason. Many authors throughout history have wrote stories that teachers you a lesson, or is allegorical. An Author by the name of Carol Forman wrote a book that addresses the Inferno, and she defines an allegory as, “An allegory is a story that has one meaning on the literal level, and another on a symbolic or metaphoric level as well” (Forman). This definition means …show more content…
Dante’s purpose of his journey was to get through heaven so he could get to heaven, which means he has to enter the very worst part of hell. Virgil says to Dante, “Hope not ever to see Heaven. I have come to lead you to the other shore; into eternal darkness; into fire and into ice.” The last Circle in hell represents the worst of crimes, betrayal. An American writer and editor, Rob Dreher, explains Dante’s Inferno’s sinners, “They dwell forever in the pit because they used their God-given free will -- the quality that makes us most human -- to choose sin over righteousness” (Dreher). These sinners have took advantage of their free will and committed the worst sin that you can, or at least the worst in Dante’s eyes. Some people imagine the pits of hell to be flaming, burning the sinners to death; this was not the case. The sinners of betrayal are instead frozen solid in a giant ice block, their bodies twisted and turned for eternity. This is an image that most people do not know of, they only take what is from the previous Circles where there are burning flames. The people on earth can be either so right, or so wrong about Hell, both the physical and mental aspects. Is there really a right answer? The significance of the 9th Circle in hell is it makes a strong argument on what is truly the worst sin possible. What we have in our mind might not be what it really is. We will never know until we get there, is there even is an