Divine simplicity

The Divine Comedy is a three part series, written by Dante Alighieri, which describes the frustrations he felt, while in exile, pertaining to Florentine politics. The first part in the series, The Inferno, depicts Dante’s pilgrimage into the underworld of Hell. The epic describes Dante’s descent in an attempt to get back on a spiritual path. The Inferno was created with the purpose of telling the politics of Florence and combining ideas of Pagan and Greek religion (“Literary Background”).…

popular Hinduism idea of karma is a natural law that explains how our universe is governed. The belief of karma is that there is a balance in life between actions and consequences. In other words, what goes around comes around. Literary devices in The Divine Comedy help in the development of themes in the Novel. Dante Alighieri’s book tries to convey the message of karma. There is never a wayward action that goes without punishment in the book. The use of plot, conflict, imagery, juxtaposition,…

many people have different convictions of where death will take them. Specifically, christians believe that there is a heaven and a hell and depending on how they carry out the Great Commission will determine their fate. Alluding to a part of the Divine Comedy, Inferno, by Dante Alighieri, it is illustrated to the readers in this poem that people who have partaken in a certain sin are placed into a region of hell that is specifically characterized for that sin. On the other hand, in reference to…

never committed any sin, but he was non-Christian. Satan is the most sinful creature of God. Virgil represents limbo. It is a place for souls, who lived before the Christ, and died without being baptized. The punishment for them is not having the divine love and are unable to achieve salvation. Virgil is a guide for Dante in hell, but as a non-Christian he doesn’t qualify for the salvation. Limbo is illuminated by human reason, and is thus the highest state man can achieve without god. Virgil…

A hero is often defined as, “one who exhibits extraordinary bravery, firmness, fortitude or greatness of soul, in any course of action, or in connection with any pursuit, work, or enterprise” (Oxford English Dictionary). When going on a journey, the hero must express the inner strength needed to continue on for a greater good. In The Inferno by Dante Alighieri, a poet named Dante ventures on a journey through Hell in order to find Enlightenment. Although this was a difficult but rewarding…

Heaven is for the people who have done good in the world. Hell is where the sinners are found. It is up to the individual to earn their ticket to heaven. In Dante’s inferno Dante writes about his travels in Dante wrote about his travels through his own Hell that was built in his mind. The nine levels that he had in his own Hell were- limbo, lust, gluttony, avarice, anger, heresy, violence, fraud, and betrayal. The things Dante saw were horrific and grand. This made me ruminate about Hell.…

If someone has done multiple major sins, where would they be positioned in the inferno according to Dante? Dante’s greatest work, The Inferno, tells the story of many individuals who have sinned, and it categorizes them into different levels depending on what they did. Using his guidelines, many stories of people could be placed into the inferno. Sometimes it is quite easy to see where someone would be placed, for instance, if they committed a murder, they would be drowning in a river of blood.…

In many places in his Inferno, the reason for Dante the poet’s placement of certain souls is murky at best. Nowhere is this problem so compounded as in Canto IV, where Dante the pilgrim meets the souls in Limbo. Dante the poet’s choice of whom to include among the “virtuous pagans” seems inconsistent and his removal of the pre-Christian monotheists from Limbo leaves questions about what it means, in his mind, to believe in God and to live a righteous life by His laws and the rules of the church,…

halfway through his lifetime when he goes in this journey, he goes at this point of his life so that he learns something from it. When Dante enters hell, he sees some inscriptions above the gate that say, “Justice it was that moved my great creator; divine omnipotence…

Lay theologian, C.S. Lewis, projects his own conception of Heaven and Hell most prominently in his work, The Great Divorce. Here, he depicts Hell as being a place that is not necessarily eternal, but a place where one chooses to be and has the option to leave. Lewis states, “They lead you to expect red fire and devils and all sorts of interesting people sizzling on grids… but when you get there it’s just like any other town” (53). Hell is not this fiery furnace that society often depicts, thus…