The 13th century work, The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, contains a prime example of the many existence of many different personas under the umbrella of one name. The work is written by Dante, voiced by Dante, and focused on Dante, but none of these are the same person Each is their own entity that exists in different realms and forms than the others. The three forms include Dante, the person, Dante, the writer of the Divine comedy, and Dante, the pilgrim and protagonist of the work. The acknowledge of the separation of these entities is necessary because things that are true of one of the personas is not always true of the other two and vice versa. Specifically, the Pilgrim is created by the writer and used as an archetypical everyman
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The pilgrim’s actions are a device created by the author to portray the character in a certain way. Specifically, the pilgrim is meant to experience similar feelings to targeted audience. By writing the character like this, Dante the author is creating a relatable being that readers can see themselves in. Through this we can see his characterization as an imperfect being. Just like most human beings, he has sinned and is guilty of straying from the path toward heaven. The Comedy is his mission of redemption to change his life and regain the true path. This mission was given to him by holy women in heaven who see him straying from the path. His journey first takes him to hell, which he is shown by his first guide, Virgil, who himself resides in the limbo section of hell. Throughout the beginning of the journey, Dante the pilgrim displays the very human feeling of being fear. We can see his fear starting in the second tercet of Canto I as he wakes up in the dark wood. This fear can be attributed to the feeling of being lost, as he has no idea of how he came to enter the woods. What also contributes to this fear is his surroundings. This is his first glimpse at the sinister scenery of the path to hell because he was asleep prior to his entrance to the
The pilgrim’s actions are a device created by the author to portray the character in a certain way. Specifically, the pilgrim is meant to experience similar feelings to targeted audience. By writing the character like this, Dante the author is creating a relatable being that readers can see themselves in. Through this we can see his characterization as an imperfect being. Just like most human beings, he has sinned and is guilty of straying from the path toward heaven. The Comedy is his mission of redemption to change his life and regain the true path. This mission was given to him by holy women in heaven who see him straying from the path. His journey first takes him to hell, which he is shown by his first guide, Virgil, who himself resides in the limbo section of hell. Throughout the beginning of the journey, Dante the pilgrim displays the very human feeling of being fear. We can see his fear starting in the second tercet of Canto I as he wakes up in the dark wood. This fear can be attributed to the feeling of being lost, as he has no idea of how he came to enter the woods. What also contributes to this fear is his surroundings. This is his first glimpse at the sinister scenery of the path to hell because he was asleep prior to his entrance to the