Changes In Dante's Inferno

Superior Essays
Show More
Journeys can be taken many ways; some people take the path less traveled, and some people take the easy way out. Dante happens to be on a journey that is less traveled by exploring the depths of Hell in the Inferno. The epic poem’s story is about self-realization and transformation; it sees Dante over coming many things to realize he is completely different from the start of the inferno journey. From the beginning to the end of the book Dante starts having a personality change from the way he acts towards people; realizing that his true self is much less sympathetic towards people who deserved to be punished. Another personal change was due to, Dante seeing many high religious characters in hell that change Dante’s outlook on religious views …show more content…
Eventually, the pity Dante held for the people sentenced to the inferno started to deteriorate as Virgil took Dante further into hell. Even when people started to talk to him, he felt as if they deserved everything they were receiving in Hell. At one point in canto VII Dante even pushes a person back into the pit they came from. It is easily seen that Dante stops caring and sympathizing with the people in the inferno is when he was is in the ninth circle and second ring of hell. Dante is talking to Ugolino as he tells a sad story as to how he and his sons died. Dante, though doesn’t really respond at first and states that Ugolino deserves what he has received. Dante also says “you the scandal of the peoples of that fair land where si is heard, because you and your neighbors are so slow to punish you” (Canto XXXIII; 79). Dante sates this just before he changes the topic with Ugolino about finding Virgil. By Dante doing this it shows that he has become less inclined to feel sympathy to the people in hell, because Dante does not talk about how he feels bad for Ugolino, or that he feels that Ugolino was wrong. This change in Dante’s personality is just the start in Dante’s overall change of becoming a different person through his

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Comparing Dante And Augustine's Spiritual Journey
    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Comparing Dante And Augustine's Spiritual Journey

    Even Dante and Augustine have different representation of their journey they both go through this journey very similarly and for the same reasons. Similar to Augustine in the story the Divine Comedy Dante’s journey starts lost in the darkness of the woods with a poet who portrays lost spiritual in sin. He says that he does not recall how he…

    • 582 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Inferno Hero's Journey
    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Inferno Hero's Journey

    The sinners cause Dante to show sympathy for them because of their punishments they have to face. When Dante reaches the fortunetellers and diviners he begins to feel sympathy for them. Virgil explains, “ There is no place for pity here. Who is more arrogant within his soul, who is more impious than one who dares to sorrow at God’s judgment” (XX.28-30)? Dante is not to show compassion for the sinners and they deserve their punishment because of their decisions in life.…

    • 1036 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    How Does The Pilgrim Change In Dante's Inferno
    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages

    How Does The Pilgrim Change In Dante's Inferno

    Dante started to fear the sinners who were in these lower circles, and also he encounters Giants who were another scary creatures that Dante the Pilgrim must fight and overcome, but Virgil reassures him. However, in some instances, Dante becomes scared when Virgil, himself, shows signs of weakness and confusion. Dante believes Virgil, because he symbolizes human reason and wisdom, to help him to go through the Hell, and when his guide shows signs of weakness, Dante the Pilgrim becomes angry, uncertain and fearful. For example, when “Malacoda” deceives Virgil in eight circle of Hell, Dante the Pilgrim becomes uncertain about Virgil’s intentions and qualities. And here we should understand that Dante the Author made this confusion on purpose, so as to show the fallibility and limitations of pure…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Dante's Inferno Contrapasso
    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Dante's Inferno Contrapasso

    Dante’s opinion made a complete 360 from before where he felt pity for the sinners and lacked the reasoning behind the punishment. Despite Hell being a place with only pain and punishment through Dante’s curiosity with the Inferno we can infer that he understands that God’s love manifests in the detail of the punishments and the concept of Hell itself. If God did not love all his children, even the sinners, then he would not look to guide them and set them on the right path. God created this complex form of Hell to teach the sinners a lesson and guide them to the right path. In other words, Hell doesn’t consist of God’s love, but it is God’s…

    • 848 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Analysis Of Dante Alegheri's Inferno
    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Analysis Of Dante Alegheri's Inferno

    Throughout the Inferno, Dante Alegheri uses his relationship with Virgil, his sympathy towards the lustful, and his punishments of Caiaphas and the clergymen to reflect on his personal criticisms of human reason, his definition of good and evil, and man's responsibility.…

    • 748 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Daodejing And Inferno Essay
    • 1522 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Daodejing And Inferno Essay

    The people Dante meets in hell were sent there because they did not lead a virtuous life and they were punished for…

    • 1522 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Dante's Inferno Research Paper
    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Dante's Inferno Research Paper

    The Roman poet, Virgil, guides him through hell (Inferno) and purgatory (Purgatorio), while his lost love, Beatrice, guides him through heaven (Paradiso). In Inferno, there are various types of sinners in their various states. There's nine circles of hell, each circle is reserved for those who committed different sins. Virgil leads Dante up the Mount of Purgatory through the seven levels of suffering in spiritual growth. Beatrice represents divine Enlightenment and leads him through the nine levels of heaven.…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Dante's Inferno Rhetorical Analysis
    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Dante's Inferno Rhetorical Analysis

    Dante’s Inferno: The Propelling Plot In the Inferno by Dante Alighieri, the character Dante, a poet, goes on a journey through hell with a poet named Virgil. Together, they descend through the nine circles of hell and learn about the sins of the souls that reside there. Dante begins his journey through hell as a naïve, sympathetic, man, but as the story progresses we see a dramatic change in the way that Dante views things. It seems unusual, in a place such as Hell, that Dante would sympathize with any of the sinners in the poem.…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Great Essays

    A Sense Of Redemption In Dante's Inferno
    • 1550 Words
    • 7 Pages

    A Sense Of Redemption In Dante's Inferno

    Although he insults many well-known figures, he managed to rationalize where he put them in his idea of Hell and why. He even puts members and leaders of his own political parties in these different circles when he also sees them to be sinners. Although this story was an opportunity for Dante to create his own version of Hell and send his foes there, the depiction gives people everywhere of how it might possibly…

    • 1550 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Empathy In Dante's Inferno
    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Empathy In Dante's Inferno

    The epic progresses as Dante continues to weep and feel pity for the souls in the 4th circle admonished for their greed. Dante, upon witnessing the torture of these souls feels physical pain out of empathy, "And I, who felt my heart almost pierced through…" Dante even deigns to make a moral judgement about the tortures of hell and God's ability to serve justice, "Justice of God! Who has amassed as many strange tortures as I have seen? " This questioning of God's will and judgement shows more clearly than anything the tremendous journey Dante will have to endure to be brought to God.…

    • 373 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Greed In Dante's Inferno
    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Greed In Dante's Inferno

    Even though Dante himself was a politician, it is very apparent that he has some disdain for many politicians in Italy at the time. Dante makes a habit of calling out numerous politicians through his decent further into Hell. Dante makes it clear that even though he is a poet first and foremost, his political interests are always important Dante treats all the sinners in Hell differently. Some he wishes he could talk to more, like Brunetto in the 7th circle. There are some that he feels bad for, like Pier Della Vigna, who is punished in the realm of the suicides.…

    • 1115 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    The Odyssey And Inferno Analysis
    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages

    The Odyssey And Inferno Analysis

    In this paper, I will look at the themes in The Odyssey and Inferno. The theme I will look at first is journeys. In the Odyssey, Odysseus struggles to return to his home and family. His journey takes ten years to complete. Unlike Odysseus whose journey is physical in the Inferno, Dante’s journey encompasses the struggle between good and evil within himself. Dante see’s the afterlife as consisting of three level heaven, purgatory and hell.…

    • 1188 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Change In Human Identity In The Epic Of Gilgamesh
    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Change In Human Identity In The Epic Of Gilgamesh

    A story cannot be spoken of as the product of any individual, but must be treated as the product both of its author and the culture that embraced it. A piece of literature can, therefore, act as an almost living representation of a whole culture’s sense of identity. By analyzing the major themes in several pieces of literature, from ancient epics to those more modern, I will herein demonstrate a gradual change in human identity. I will present aspects of famous epics that show how the individual man has gradually superseded the community as the focal point of epic literature. These aspects are, namely, a humanization of the hero, and a shift in the hero’s benefactors.…

    • 833 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More
  • Superior Essays

    Theme Of Corruption In Dante's Inferno
    • 1989 Words
    • 8 Pages

    Theme Of Corruption In Dante's Inferno

    Dante and Virgil come across Argenti as they travel across the marsh to reach Hell’s city, Dis. Argenti desperately asks Dante how he is in Hell if he lives. Dante finds this sinner to be disgusting, and shouts, “‘May you weep and wail to all eternity, for I know you, hell-dog, filthy as…

    • 1989 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Superior Essays
    Read More
  • Improved Essays

    Analyse The Relationship Between Dante And Virgil In The Inferno
    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages

    Analyse The Relationship Between Dante And Virgil In The Inferno

    In the beginning of The Inferno, Dante walked in a dark forest lamenting the loss of his beloved Beatrice. When Dante started his journey he was not sure that he would be able to write about the epic he needed to undertake. He wrote about traveling thought hell, purgatory, and heaven. Dante and Virgil’s relationship is a complicated one. At the start of the story Dante respects and looks up to Virgil, whereas Virgil sees Dante as a pupil more than an equal.…

    • 774 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
    Read More

Related Topics

Ready To Get Started?
Discover
Company
Follow
©2024 Cram.com
Privacy Policy |  About Ads |  Site Map |  Advertise  | 
  • Cookie Settings