Dante starts in the Forest of Error when he is just 35 years old. The Forrest of Error symbolized his sin and the sin of the world. He tries to get through the light on the top of the hill which represents Christ but a leopard, lion, and a she wolf bock his way. So Dante, and his partner deicide to take the alternate route through hell.
After they pass into hell he goes through the nine circles. The first circle is for well meaning heathens that couldn’t pass on to heaven or purgatory because they died before Christ brought redemption. The second circle through the sixth circle was for those who could not control their worldly desires. The seventh circle was reserved for those who committed violence against God, others, and themselves. The eighth circle was for deceivers and hypocrites, and the ninth circle was for the evilest of these.
Next he arrived in purgatory. Here people must purge themselves of sin to pass on to heaven. Dante is told that he must wash away the P’s (sin) while in purgatory. After he is purified he is able to pass into heaven.
Heaven is the holy and perfect place, it is a place of happiness. Although everyone experiences the fullness of Gods’ love ones placement depends on the level of goodness achieved in ones life time. The lowest level is the Moon followed by: Mercury; Venus; the Sun; Mars; Jupiter; Saturn; the Stars; and the Primum Mobile. The highest level is the Empyrean preserved for saints, angels, the Virgin Mary, and God Himself. Dante realizes that the grace of God is the only way into heaven. When he is accepted into heaven he could no longer remember the terrible things that he saw.
You May Also Find These Documents Helpful
-
The Inferno begins when Dante strays off the rightful and straight path of moral truth and gets lost in a dark wood. He gets attack by three beasts that symbolize different sins. Fortunately, he then meets the spirit of the Roman epic poet Virgil. Virgil to the rescue! He’s an appropriate guide because he’s very much like Dante, a fellow writer and famous poet. For the rest of the Inferno, Virgil takes Dante on a guided tour of Hell, through all its nine circles and back up into the air of the mortal world.…
- 386 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
Inferno is Dante’s first poem in his The Divine Comedy. The poem starts with Dante traveling in dark where he loses his way. He is trying to get to his beloved Beatrice who is waiting for him. She sends ghost of Virgil to bring Dante to her. In order to get to Heaven, Dante will have to go through heaven, something that almost everyone did in Christian world. At the beginning, they enter the gate of hell. The First Circle of the Hell is for those people who never done anything good or bad in their life, here they run all day long with hornets biting them. In the Second Circle of the Hell, Dante sees that the some souls are stuck in a devastating storm. In the Third Circle of Hell, Dante sees that Gluttonous…
- 317 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
Dante the Pilgrim visits many different people while on his journey through Hell in Dante’s Inferno. Each one of these tormented souls are punished for their crimes against themselves, society, and God. Most of these personalities bring no surprise as they are robbers, murderers, and blasphemers. However, the amount of Church authority figures in Hell is staggeringly high. The ironic revelation is never fully dissected by Dante but the implications of this writing may cause the public to turn a leery eye towards the Church. Throughout Dante’s Inferno, the sights of “Holy” men rotting in Hell create a rift between the teachings of the church and the common citizens.…
- 744 Words
- 3 Pages
Good Essays -
Dante and Virgil are outside the eighth Circle of Hell, known as Malebolge. The circle has a wall along the outside, and has a circular pit in the center. The ridges create ten separate pits. This is where the people receive their punishment for fraud. This is where Virgil and Dante see souls from one side to another. The demons with great whips cause pain to the souls when they come to the demon’s reach, which then force the souls to the other ridge. There is an Italian that Dante recognize and he speaks to him. The Italian tells Dante that he lived in Bologna, and now is there to sell his sister. The pit is for the Seducers and the Panders, and then Dante saw the Jason of mythology who abandoned Medea. When Virgil and Dante had…
- 936 Words
- 4 Pages
Good Essays -
The book starts out with Dante wandering through the woods but has strayed off “the right path.” He runs into three creatures that block his path and turns around. Dante flees and runs into Virgil, the great roman poet. Dante tells Virgil of the beasts that stand in his way by saying, “Behold the beast, for which I have turned back.” Virgil then tells Dante that one of the beasts, the she-wolf, will one day be driven back down hell where it originated. Virgil then tells him about the path that will ascend them up the hill into heaven, but warns him that they will have to make it through hell before they can even get to heaven. Dante can only remember two men who made it through hell and came back which gets him a little worried about his adventure he is about to embark on.…
- 2263 Words
- 10 Pages
Better Essays -
The Divine Comedy is a first-rate Christian theological text. It uses strong poetic imagination. Originally written in Italian between 1308 and 1321 AD, the books are widely translated. Written in first person narrative, the comedy is about the imaginative events and experiences of Dante, as he traverses through Inferno, Paradise in his afterlife. The people and conditions he encounters in these places pose moral dilemmas then answers. By successfully resolving such challenges he steadily attains spiritual salvation.…
- 77 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
Dante and Virgil reach the gates of Hell and read the printed inscription. When Dante is concerned, Virgil comforts him and tells him he must have courage. The two come to the first level of hell filled with people who only worked to benefit themselves and lacked conviction, including the angels who took no side in the battle between Lucifer and God. Here, the dead are seen naked, chasing after an ever-moving banner while being stung by hornet and treading on maggots. In this crowd Dante spots Popes Celestine V and Boniface VIII whom he disliked in real life. They continue on and meet Charon the ferryman who at first refuses to take Dante across the river but then reluctantly agrees. There are souls gathered along the banks wanting to cross…
- 160 Words
- 1 Page
Satisfactory Essays -
He is guided in this journey by the ghost of the Roman classical poet Virgil, who, as wise in the ways of the spirit as he may be, cannot go to Heaven because he is not a Christian. Virgil's experience in the underworld, however, make him an authority on its structure, and he is more than willing to share his knowledge with Dante in order that Dante might return to life and share his revelations with others. In Hell Dante is presented with insight into the nature of…
- 467 Words
- 2 Pages
Satisfactory Essays -
On the evening of Good Friday in the year 1300, Dante is travelling through a forest, when he gets lost. In the morning, he finds a mountain and tries to climb it, but is stopped by a lion, a wolf, and a leopard. The spirit of the poet Virgil appears and offers to take him to the top of the mountain to Heaven when his love, Beatrice, is, but the way first leads through Hell.…
- 1270 Words
- 6 Pages
Good Essays -
While he stands in peril, Dante wishes that each individual would put themselves in the same position as the aforementioned, as all of mankind knows some form of sin, and also wanders lost in a dark wood. Before achieving moral redemption, an individual must take a hard look at evil both in the world and in himself. Only by confronting inner evil can people achieve self-knowledge, which is the first step toward redemption.…
- 1408 Words
- 6 Pages
Better Essays -
The story of Dante’s Divine Comedy is one that is now read throughout the world and is highly regarded as one of the great literary works of all time. The most famous of the Divine Comedy, the Inferno, is the story of Dante’s journey through Hell. With the great poet, Virgil, as his guide, they make their way through the nine circle of Hell in which Dante describes. While, very much a religious work, it is also just as political in substance because of the ways in which Dante draws on his life experiences to influence and shape his version of Hell. His descriptions of Hell are still wildly popular and oftentimes form the basis of how modern day societies view Hell. An example of this lasting popularity is the 2010 video game in which the…
- 1822 Words
- 8 Pages
Powerful Essays -
Midway on his journey through life, Dante realizes he has taken the wrong path. He is lucky. Many of those on the wrong path in their own lives have started on that same path on which they will also end; Dante realizes his error and, in attempting to set himself back on the right path, he goes on an important journey. Like those who also stray from their "right" path, this poet must embark on a fantastic and terrifying journey of exploration and self discovery.…
- 1072 Words
- 5 Pages
Better Essays -
Dante expresses his thoughts in this following passage when he states, “Do not come back this way a second time; The sun’s just rising; he will show a place, At which the mountain is less hard to climb.”(76) The reader can’t help noticing this passage refers to Easter morning, a time to most civilizations, of a hope of the Resurrected Savior, Jesus Christ. One’s soul is anxiously waiting it’s placement in this journey, the belief of the unity of body and soul. The celebration symbolizes the journey to everlasting goals and objectives that are within reach.…
- 430 Words
- 2 Pages
Good Essays -
In Dante’s Inferno we read of the nine circles of Hell and why souls are put there based on Dante’s Christian view of their sins. There are people suffering in the cores of Hell due to lust, adultery, suicide, gluttony, greed, etc. Souls suffer as they grieve their contrapasso punishment for the atrocities they have done while in their bodies on Earth. They have been traitors to the word of God and now they are destined to spend their eternities in Hell where they constantly remember the sins they have caused against the bible, Christ and God. Though there are the souls in Limbo that suffer from never knowing the word of God. These souls in Limbo are those that were Pagans and the unbaptized infants. But now the question is why does Dante place these souls in these certain circles of Hell and how does he decide? Dante lived in a Midlevel time of Christianity and based his view on what his religion taught them. How does Dante’s view of Hell in his time compare to Christianity’s modern view of Hell. I myself being of the same religion, I have come to believe that everyone can be forgiven as long as they truly repent the sins they have committed. It is not if you commit one sin that you are doomed to live your life in Hell, but rather that if you ask for forgiveness and repent the right way you can still make your way to heaven.…
- 3332 Words
- 14 Pages
Powerful Essays -
The development of Dante begins in the first Canto when he is lost in some woods and Virgil appears to him. Dante character in the first Canto shows fear on two occasions. The first sign of fear he expresses is when he tries to travel down the path towards paradise and the she wolf shows herself. Dante demonstrates his fear again when Virgil appears, as Dante yells “have pity on me…..whatever you may be- a shade, a man.” Dante’s dialogue shows his fear as he asks for mercy, before knowing whether or not the being that appeared to him wanted to harm him. As Dante and Virgil began to approach the entrance of hell, Dante began shows to fear as he begins wondering whether or not he should make the journey. Dante begins thinking about how Aeneas and St. Paul made the journey and begins doubting believes that he too should be included in this group. Virgil reproves Dante for his fear and tells him to have courage as Beatrice, the Virgin Mary, and St. Lucia all care for him. Dante upon hearing this decides that he is ready to begin his journey and tells Virgil to lead on. In the first two Cantos, Dante develops his character into a coward as he fears…
- 1364 Words
- 6 Pages
Better Essays