Tiresias In Dante's Divine Comedy

Dante’s masterpiece, the Divine Comedy, remains popular with the public because of the use of many different techniques to entice the readers. His complex characters resonate with readers new and old, which adds to the Divine Comedy being a classic. Dante, who has an interesting life, constructs a story about something that people were unable to picture or even think about: Hell. The idea of Hell was an interesting concept that Dante can exploit when he wrote the Divine Comedy. Dante also incorporated some of the people from his home town such as the , . He can connect to these people and tell their story while they are in his version of “hell”. Some of the stories that the readers and Dante learn about are the Lovers, Tiresias, and the …show more content…
Tiresias is located on 8th circle of Hell. This circle is called the Fortune tellers and Diviners. When Dante first looks down upon the circle, he notices that the people that are in here were walking funny and they could not see straight ahead of them. Virgil sheds light on the punishment that these poor unfortunate souls had to go through. The introduction to the circle states that, “their punishment is to have their heads turned backwards on their bodied and to be compelled to walk backwards for all eternity, their eyes blinded by tears” (Dante pg. 148). When Dante does see them, he pleads to the reader to have some pity for the people even though in this circle of Hell, there is no pity to be offered. Dante also tells the readers and himself the story of Tiresias, and how he changed himself into a woman and what he had to do to achieve his goal of returning back to being a male. This also adds to the reader’s understanding of the Homer epic tale. Many know him as the person who tells Odysseus how to get back home and how to get rid of the suitors. Tiresias was able see into the future to ensure that the travel would be a success. Therefore, he deserves to be in this circle only because he tries to see the future. Dante’s response to the sight in front of him is to weep. He is able to see and recognize some of the people who are trapped in …show more content…
Even until the end Dante has the reader’s attention and he keeps it until the end of the story. Dante, at the end of the story, ends with the word “Stars”. This leaves hope for the readers that they can oversee their own future and can try and change it. Dante can connect the readers to the story because of human nature. Human nature makes us wonder what Hell looks like and who is going to end up going there. Dante asks two important questions that still can help him relate to the people of today. One question is: is it hell to be trapped with the person that you love? The other is: what does hell look like and who is going to end up there? Dante is still a master at voicing his opinion of these questions and he allowed for others to come to their own conclusions as