A Literary Review of Dantes Alighieris Inferno free essay sample

A Literary Review of Dante Alighieri’s â€Å"Inferno† Dante Alighieri’s â€Å"Inferno† is a narrative poem describing Dante’s journey through his perception of hell in search of salvation. Dante’s writing of this classic piece was greatly influenced by the politics in Florence during the late thirteenth century but the Inferno is much more than a political symbolic work of literature but is a beautifully poetic and allegorical. Inferno has made a memorable mark in European Literature as a great medieval poem written in vernacular language. Before Dante’s Inferno literary writings were almost all written in Latin, the language of the Catholic Church, but Dante used his native Tuscan dialect which helped unify the Italian language. Dante said his work to be a comedy but he didn’t mean it in a humorous sense but instead as a classical tragedy with a plot having a sad beginning but a happy ending. We will write a custom essay sample on A Literary Review of Dantes Alighieris Inferno or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page I think the comedy can relate to everyone in some way as it deals with the questions of humanity and the afterlife. The Divine comedy consists of a prologue and 33 cantos. Dante and Virgil enter the wide gates of hell and descend through nine circles.In each circle they witness sinners and their punishments for the sins they committed while living on earth. In Dante’s view torture is godly justice. In Canto IX the sinners are the heretics. Canto XI contains the sinners that have committed really bad fraudulent acts. Canto XXXIV contains the souls of the most evil sinners, the traitors to their benefactors. Throughout Dante’s writing symbols are used to represent the will of God and the punishments for the sinners were a reflection of the sin that they committed against God. Dante’s travels take you through different levels of hell searching for salvation.The imperfections and sins of humanity are shown using allegory and irony is used to demonstrate what the consequences are for the actions that the sinners have committed. It begins with Dante the Pilgrim walking in the woods finding himself lost in the dark woods. He struggles to climb a higher road to light but is blocked by three fierce beasts. Here he encounters Virgil the dead poet and he promises to guide Dante through hell and Purgatory and there another spirit would lead him into Paradise because Virgil cannot. â€Å"Have pity on my soul,† cried Dante, â€Å"which ever you are, shade or living man! â€Å"No longer living man† says Virgil, â€Å"though once I was† (p1215, line 67) â€Å"Are you then Virgil, are then that fount from which pours forth so rich a stream of words? †(p1216, line 79). They enter hell which is described as a cave at the center of the earth. On their way down through hell they encounter ledges that are called circles and within these circles people’s souls are being punished for their sins. The punishments in Dante’s hell are a reflection of the sins that were committed on Earth. In Canto IX is the sixth circle which the heretics are punished. The punishment for the heretics was to lie in graves of fire for all eternity. The symbolic retribution here is that since they didn’t believe in life after death while on earth, now dead their bodies and souls were to lie in graves of god’s wrath for eternity. â€Å"There lie arch heretics of every sect, with all disciples; more than you think are packed within these tombs. Like heretics lie buried with their like and the graves burn more or less accordingly† (p1242, line 127). In Canto XI they continue on their way on through where the heretics are punished and the stench is so bad they must stop for a moment.Here Dante sees an inscription on a tomb. â€Å"Within lies Anastasius, the pope Photinus lured away from the straight path† (1246, Line8) Virgil than began to explain the structure of hell to Dante. He starts with the next circle, circle seven, which is the circle of the violent and is divided into three smaller circles. â€Å"Since violence can be used against three persons, into thee concentric rounds it is divided: violence can be done to God, to self, or to one’s neighbor† (p1246, line 29). Then Virgil explains the most evil sin, fraud, but that’s just the mild acts of the fraud, the really bad fraudulent sinners are in circle 9.Dante tells Virgil he understands but questions why these sinners in the previous circles are not also here in the city of flame. Virgil scolds Dante for his seemingly stupid question reminding him of the beloved book. Dante then asks him to explain the sin usury once again. Virgil explains that it is good for man to make a living from art and nature but not when they do it unnaturally, like generating money, this is a violation of nature therefore a sin. Virgil then notices that the constellations in the sky are changing and he says it’s time for them to move on.Canto XXXIV is the final region of hell, and as they approach Virgil shouts out â€Å"Vexilla regis prolevnt inferni† (p1323, line 1) telling Dante to keep his eyes out for Lucifer himself. Here all of the sinners are under ice lying in all different positions catching Dante’s attention. Virgil then decides it’s time for Dante to see Dis and that he will have to be brave. Dante is scared stiff, so scared he almost cannot write but he tries to explain what he is feeling and seeing. â€Å"I did not and was not living either! Try to imagine, if you can imagine, me there, deprived of life and death at once.The king of the vast kingdom of all grief stuck out with half of his chest above the ice† (p1323, line 25) Dante explains that Lucifer is so big that he himself is closer to the size of a giant. He has three heads, one red, one yellow, and one black and underneath them each are a pair of enormous bat like wings. He had six eyes and three mouths and Dante noticed he was eating sinners. The sinners here were traitors to their benefactors. Virgil points out Judas Iscanot, Brutus and Cassius who are all being eaten and who had all betrayed someone of great importance. Then Virgil says it’s time to go and he seems to be in a hurry.Dante’s Inferno at times is complicated reading because it is allegorical and many of its lines have two meanings and it has allot of word play but it is a wonderfully clever poem causing the reader to really think about the consequences of living an unjust life. Reference Alighieri, D. Inferno. Canto IX, XI, XXXIV. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. (2009). W. W. Norton Company. NY, NY.

whether or not the Brigade s essays

whether or not the Brigade s essays Violent films, such as the Brigade, have been blamed for causing crime rates to rise in our country: whether or not the Brigade should be taken off the air The crime rate in many cities is rising alarmingly. Some people have the idea that violent films, for example the Brigade, are the cause of real crime. However many others disagree that TV violence can be blamed for this rise. While both sides of the question of whether violent film the Brigade may or may not be to blame are supported by good reasons, personally, I am against the removal of violent films. Those who believe that violent TV films cause crime give many reasons. First, many viewers are children who have not formed a strong understanding of right and wrong. They often imitate what they see. If a person on TV gets what she or he wants by stealing it, a child may copy this behaviour. Thus, the child has learned unacceptable values. Second, many heroes in todays programs achieve their goals by violent means. For example, in the Brigade the main characters, Sasha Belyi, Kos, Fill, and Pchela, achieve their goals and become very rich by means of violence, illegality, and lawlessness which even comes to murder. Unfortunately, viewers might get used to this kind of life shown on TV and might use similar means to achieve their objectives, thus somehow resulting in an increase in crime rate. Finally, people get ideas about how to commit crimes from watching TV. For this reason heroes from violent films can sometimes set not a very good example. Other people, whom I also relate to, argue that violent films have no relation to the rise in crime rates. First, they claim that social factors, such as unemployment and homelessness, are to blame. Nowadays it is very difficult to lead productive life by means of having no job, no government support but having wife and children. It means that social press...