Essay On Symbolism In Dante's Inferno

Throughout The Inferno, the first section in Dante 's three part epic poem The Divine Comedy, there are many examples of symbolism. This is seen in a variety of things. From the use of the three animals that Dante meets to the relationship between Dante and Virgil. However, the most prominent use of symbolism in this epic poem is Dante 's use of the journey through hell as a symbol of every man and woman 's own personal darkness. This is the darkness where they begin to sin. Only, in hell, their sins are reflected in the punishments they are forced to serve. Everyone, at some point in their life, sins and it is at that moment when a man or woman turns down the path of sin that Dante explores through using the journey in his Inferno. This can be seen not only through the use of irony in regards to …show more content…
Of all the areas of where people are being punished, the fullest is purgatory. Purgatory is the area in The Inferno where the unbaptized, non-christian and unmemorable people go when they die. Many of the occupants are described as unmemorable due to the fact that when they were alive, they coasted through life, not sinning, but also not doing any good for the world. These men and women are punished not only with swarms of gadflies and wasps, but also with their eternal souls hanging in the balance between heaven and hell. Representing the indecisiveness they expressed in life represented in the afterlife. This irony is not lost on J. A. Scartazzini and Thekla Bernays, who write in their article On the Congruence of Sins and Punishments in Dante 's Inferno: the inner indecision is visibly represented by the suspense between heaven and hell, by the exclusion from both places. But they are placed in the entrance to hell; that is, infinitely nearer hell than heaven. Their state of suspense is eternal; they can never escape from it; non hanno speranza di morte (Scartazzini and Bernays,