Political Issues In Dante's Inferno

He has two guides: Virgil, who leads him through the Inferno and Purgatorio, and Beatrice, who introduces him to Paradiso. Through these fictional encounters taking place from Good Friday evening in 1300 through Easter Sunday and slightly beyond, Dante learns of the exile that is awaiting him (which had, of course, already occurred at the time of the writing). This device allowed Dante not only to create a story out of his pending exile but also to explain the means by which he came to cope with his personal calamity and to offer suggestions for the resolution of Italy’s troubles as well. Thus, the exile of an individual becomes a microcosm of the problems of a country, and it also becomes representative of the fall of man. Dante’s story is thus historically specific as well as

Dante had different thoughts when seeing the good and the evil sinners. As Dante goes through the Inferno, he sees sinners who are tearing up and looking terrible. In circle eight, he witnessed sinners who have committed fraud and rape, yet also saw some who were accidently accused of those crimes and did not deserve to be in Hell. “Here pity, or here piety, must die if the other lives; who’s wickeder than one that’s agonized by God’s high equity?” (Aligheri, Canto 20). He felt pity for some, in which Virgil had to tell him to bear with it and that there is no pity in Hell. Dante was biased about his thoughts of good and evil when determining which sinner was good and which sinner was evil. Sinners are also in Purgatory and are considered good too, since they repented their sins.

The world in hell has a totally different set up in the book rather than the casual all in flame, red and hot place that the most common person might think or describe, but an elevator kind of feel, with different stages, settings and even ice on hell. Hell is set up in nine circles that each contain a strong meaning and also some very interesting cultural figures, each circle has a meaning from Limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud and the worst of them all, treachery were Lucifer himself was placed. Each of these levels are Dante's vision of hell, and for each sin is the way he grades how bad the action was. Nevertheless, the feeling of true dislike in some these important figures such as Alexander the Great, Pope Anastasias, Helen of Troy and even a Centaurus which is a mythological creature are place in hell for those motives.

The Inferno is a book that has grabbed a large ,and ever growing, audience for centuries. The book challenged 14th century catholicism and continues to challenge modern day theology. Tackling topics that are usually considered to sensitive to touch, Dante gives us a book filled with dark and light, a physiological adventure and a physical one, religious and historical controversy, a story that everyone can relate to in a strange and different way. Every person who reads this book walks away having complete their own spiritual journey and going on to challenge what they think and fight for what they believe, just as Dante did when he wrote this book. The story of Dante's life makes it seem as though he was born to challenge political and religious ideas.

6: Genesis of the Inferno Dante Alighieri lived in Italy during a time of upheaval between those who supported a strong Church and those who supported independent city-states. As a member of the political body of Florence, he was a party to the contention. He argued for a strong emperor so the Church can properly exercise its authority. Dante’s wife was a relative to one faction while he was an ally of an opposing faction.

In the first place, Christians of the new and old age primarily believe that after death their souls live on in the grace of God's presence. For example, in the Bible it states, “Jesus said, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies.”’ In Dante’s Inferno, Dante is shunned by God’s grace and is trying to find his way back. In the concluding lines of inferno; “...and beauteous shining of the Heavenly cars. And we walked out once more beneath the Stars” (Alighieri 287). These last words represent Dante climbing out of the nightmare he called Hell and he is gazing upon the beautiful stars of Heaven. Which represents a sense of hope as if his sins are forgiven. Heaven and hell in the Bible have a rather vague description of the details embedded in the experience you will face in the afterlife. All that is very well known and established is Heaven is a place of light and God's love and Hell is the land in which you experience eternal suffering for your sins. These loose interpretations of hell are greatly represented in Inferno because Dante takes these thoughts and roughly based Christian ideology of the after life into his own “Visions of Hell” Henceforth, the Christian faith and ideas are the base to many other religions. Dante’s Inferno a like Christianity has multiple representations of faith including an abundance of Christian Beliefs.

Dante Alighieri lived during a period in time where the political sphere had a direct influence on the factional strife of Florence and on the greater Italian country as a whole, where corruption and greed impacted every aspect of society. The events Dante encountered, both before his birth and during his lifetime, deeply influenced his political mentality that is reflected in the first section of his work the Divine Comedy – Inferno. The atmosphere created by the long lasting discord between the Guelph and Ghibelline factions within central and northern Italy allowed for corruptive politics between the Church and the state of Florence. This corruption overflowed onto Florentine society, where the “White” Guelph and “Black” Guelph turmoil resulted

In the story Inferno written by Dante Alighieri, a man, Dante, follows Virgil as he guides Dante through the circles of Hell where Dante “shall hear despairing cries and see those ancient souls in pain as they bewail their second death,” (Canto. I.115-117) ultimately reaching Heaven. This poem was written around the early 1300s. The journey that the character Dante goes through shows a variety of examples of corrupted people that Dante, the author, had encountered over his years in Italy. The author had created his own version of Hell by including details of his own experience during his life.

Dante Alighieri is a famous Italian poet best known for his works about the afterlife. Inferno, the first of three sections in Dante’s The Divine Comedy, tells of Dante’s adventure through Hell in the attempt to reach paradise. In his journey, Dante travels through each circle of Hell and describes the sins committed to reach each circle. These sins rank from bad to the worst, from the neutrals to the treacherous.

Inferno is written in between 1308 to 1326 CE during Medieval era in Italy. In Inferno, the narrator Dante gets lost in a dark forest, and then he sees a sun shining through the high mountain. He attempts to climb up the mountain but three beasts block his way; these beasts are the leopard, the lion and the she wolf. Then the Virgil comes and guides him through the circle of hell. In each circle of hell, the punishment fits the sin committed.

In Dante’s Inferno, Dante is taken on a journey through hell. On this journey, Dane sees the many different forms of sins, and each with its own unique contrapasso, or counter-suffering. Each of these punishments reflects the sin of a person, usually offering some ironic way of suffering as a sort of revenge for breaking God’s law. As Dante wrote this work and developed the contrapassos, he allows himself to play God, deciding who is in hell and why they are there. He uses this opportunity to strike at his foes, placing them in the bowels of hell, saying that they have nothing to look forward to but the agony of suffering and the separation from God.

In Dante’s inferno, the author makes various references to the political scene that was occurring in Florence, Italy around the 1200s. When he discusses certain political figures, or racial groups, it is often with an extreme disdain

“The Christian church … conceived of hell as a place where the good were separate from the evil, and the deeds on earth were weighed and judges.”(Bondanella XXXIII) Hell is a place that was created as a punishment for those people who died with mortal sins and did not ask for forgiveness. In this case Dante’s hell in the Inferno is divided into three sections and nine circles. These circles within hell were based off of the seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. Along with the seven deadly sins Dante’s Catholic religion also influenced him in his choices about who to put and where to put people in Hell. According to his beliefs, if you were not a Christian, you automatically went to Hell. (Trotter) As well even though Dante's hell affected all people no matter their religion, the representation of how Hell

Dante Alighieri, an Italian poet and writer of the 13th century, creates a fictional account of his visions of his journey through Hell. His background as a Catholic influences his life and his writings, including The Inferno. He uses the historical and political events of his lifetime to influence his writings as well. Dante is educated and very familiar with the history and literature of the classical world. In The Inferno, he expresses his admiration for Greco-Roman history, literature, mythology, and philosophy, but he also places limitations on the ability of the classical world to gain salvation as taught and believed in Christian doctrine.

During Dante’s lifetime, two factions were in constant conflict amongst each other over control of his home of Florence; the Guelphs, supporters of the