Dante's Inferno

Dante’s Inferno
The Divine Comedy: Dante’s Inferno is written by Dante Alighieri. It is about Dante’s descent into the nine layers of Hell. Dante isn’t dead and he is guided by Virgil who is a shade stuck in Limbo. Throughout Dante’s journey he comes upon many spirits and hears their stories to take back to Earth with him.
Dante is the main character who, in the beginning of the story, loses the straight path, which is represented as a dark wood. As he stumbles he sees a light and begins to move toward it but his way becomes blocked. The beasts that block his way is a leopard, a lion and a she-wolf, each more terrifying than the last. Hoping to find another way he runs into Virgil, the writer of the Aeneid who is in Hell because he lived in the time of the “lying and false gods.:
Following Virgil, he takes him to the gates of Hell, talking along the way of Beatrice’s concern for him. Beatrice is Dante’s beloved who resides in Heaven. She came down from Heaven to enlist the help of Virgil to help Dante find the “right path.” Passing the Gates of Hell, Virgil explains the meaning of the inscription on the gates. As they move into Hell Dante is assailed by the cries and moans of all the lost sinners. Before the river of Acheron they run into a group of people who were running after a banner and being stung by hornets and wasps. These pitiful people were the uncommitted who were spirits who lived for themselves.
As they reached the beach of Acheron they were allowed passage on a boat after the ferryman Charon’s first refusal, as Dante was still with the living. On the boat ride over, Dante feints from a loud thunderclap, which is the “thunder of Hells eternal cry.” At the other end of the river they enter Limbo, where the virtuous pagans reside, who were either born before Christ or were un-baptized children. Passing Limbo they reach a place with a small fire where figures of honor rest beside it. People like Homer, Plato, Socrates, and Cicero reside in this... [continues]

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