Stairway to Heaven

Textual Analysis Purgatory is where “the human spirit purges himself, and climbing to Heaven makes himself worthy”(The World of Dante). In Dante, Purgatory is divided into three sections called Antepurgatory, Purgatory Proper, and Earthly Paradise. Inside purgatory the upper part of the mountain contains seven terraces, each consisting of one of the seven capital sins (The World of Dante). After visiting the first terrace, that of the prideful, Dante the pilgrim and Virgil arrive at the second…

In the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 15, verse 18, Jesus tells his disciples that “the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart and these defile them.” In James chapter 3, verse 6, it is seen that “The tongue also is a fire, a world of wickedness among the parts of the body. It pollutes the whole person, sets the course of his life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.” These words speak truth to Heathcliff’s life in the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte as he…

world, therefore not one human who walks on this earth is free from sin, and our only hope in this world is through our faith in Jesus Christ. The Natural World The natural world was created by God. Genesis 1 gives an account of God creating the heavens and the earth from vast nothingness. He created light, land, water, creatures of land and of sea, and man. Everything we see, clouds, caterpillars, kittens, and crape myrtles, God created them. (Tyndale House Publishers, pages 4-7) In Romans…

Canto 1- Virgil-Personification- Virgil is the guide for Dante as he travels through Inferno. Virgil represents those that guide us in this life. People that guide us and help us along our way such as parents, teachers, or religious leaders. Most of the time when we need a guide we usually have a guide who is experienced or has been there before. Virgil is a very wise poet and is experienced. Virgil is there to protect Dante as he goes through the depths of Hell. It can symbolize just how a…

Hope of the Godly Person The comfort in these things, which will be explained in later chapters is this: If you genuinely desire to do the will of God and you are ashamed of sin (even if at times you lapse into it) then you are to be saved. If you were raised in tyranny and taught evil but wish to learn the love of God for no other reason than he commanded it and believe his warnings, then you are a child of God and can be saved by God’s Son. The difference is as clear as the difference…

The most interesting thing about religions is how the people who subscribe to a certain sect think that their belief are unique and are the best in comparison to others (Van Voorst 15). Many people affiliating to a particular religion believe that their religion is the only true one and either do not clearly mention the fate of the people subscribing to other religions or they just assume that they are headed in the wrong direction (Knott 60). However, a closer examination of the major religions…

Critics may face difficulty when attempting to explain the importance of Dante’s journey through Hell. After banishment from his hometown Florence, Italy due to the political group “the Black-Guelphs” taking over, Dante is forced to partake on a horrendous journey through Hell. It is the only way he can reach his ultimate goal of eternal unity with God. In Hell he is subjected to experience a first person view of those who endure the wraths of Hell. Throughout the journey Dante is lead, taught,…

Sins undiscovered or unpunished in life will be eternally punished in death, exemplifying Dante’s view that one should never succumb to Earthly whims. As Dante travels through the concentric circles of hell, he meets many sinners who were heroes on Earth who were lauded in spite of their sins or sinners whose true crimes were never punished. In Canto XXIX, he meets Griffolino d’Arezzo who tells him that “the crime for which [his] flesh/was charred was not the one that brought [him] here” (XXIX.…

“My sermon this week will be about where the soul goes when you die. When your life here on earth ends your soul goes to one of two places. The eternal peace of Heaven or the agonizing pit of fire called hell. Those who go to Heaven have accepted Jesus Christ as their savior and will spend eternity in the paradise of Heaven with Him. Those who go to hell have denied themselves the eternal safety that Jesus provides and will spend eternity in agony by the torments that’s plural of the devil’s…

In some traditions an author display Hell as a place of torment and punishment in the afterlife. Also, in other traditions authors depict the Underworld not as a place where the corrupt individuals go but an abode for the dead located under the Earth’s surface. In Homer’s Odyssey the main purpose of the work was for entertainment, while Vigil was writing the Aeneid with a political agenda influencing the work. This differences in helped contribute to the contrast between The Odyssey and The…