Satire In Dante's Divine Comedy

The Commedia used improvised dialogue and satire to relate to issues of the era and was a common form of theater for nearly two hundred years, paving the way for modern theater and satire performances. Much of everyday life in the Medieval Age centered around religion, since the Church was also the ruling entity and defined what would constitute proper social conformity. Because of its satire and comical performances, the Commedia appealed to all classes. It was also used to convey political and religious messages and to support the rule of the Church in the early fourteenth century. Love enters into most of the poetic expressions of the era, but religion and human concepts of good and evil are also presented. Dante perceived love from his own experiences with his beloved Beatrice, whom he loved since childhood. Dante also invoked comparisons with ancient Greek mythology characters and even walked with them in La Divina Commedia. When the description of Inferno was …show more content…
Perhaps he was wary of being tried for heresy by the cruel Inquisitions of the era or perhaps he actually believed in the Christian version of good and evil, complete with its religious requirements. Dante’s premise for describing good and evil was highly influenced by the medieval religiosity of the time. Dante wrote The Inferno as part of The Divine Comedy in 1300 from Florence, Italy, where the Catholic Church and the Pope preached that the answer to all things began with accepting God. God was to symbolize all that was not self-indulgent and existed within all men. Dante worked around the concept of the seven deadly sins when he designed his nine levels of hell. Oddly enough, he encounters and speaks with Odysseus in the eighth pouch of the eighth circle of hell, now sentenced to an eternity among others guilty of Spiritual Theft (the False Counselors) for his part in executing the deception of the Trojan