Dante's Divine Comedy
Dante's Divine Comedy is a moral comedy that is designed to makethe readers think about their own morals. The poem could have been used almost as aguide for what and what not to do to get into Heaven for the medieval people. Dantetakes the reader on a journey through the "afterlife" to imprint in the readers minds whatcould happen to them if they don't follow a Godlike life and to really make the readerthink about where they will go when they die and where they would like to go when theydie. In the Divine Comedy, Dante uses his imagination and his knowledge of the people'sperception of the "afterlife" to create a somewhat realistic yet somewhat imaginary model In the first lines of the Divine Comedy, Dante says "In the middleof the journey of our life I came to my senses in a dark forest, for I had lost the straightpath."(Dante 1416 lines 1-3) This is the typical stereotype of today for when a personbecomes "lost" or consumed in sin. The sinful life is a dark life and a sinless life is abright, white, and pure life. Dante's coming to his senses in a dark forest symbolizes hisrealizing how "lost" in sin he truly was and realizing that he needed to do something abo
Throughout the poem, Dante is advocating that man must consciouslyaim for righteousness and morality. Paradise is a placeof reward for people whom consciously chose a righteous way of life. It suggests thatanyone that enters Hell at anytime must abandon all hope, so Dante thought he wasincluded in this. The inscription implies the horror of total despair. In order to repent you must go through the seven sacraments of baptism,confirmation, matrimony, extreme unction, Eucharist, ordination, and penance step-by-step. There is a place in Hell called the Vestibule for people who did not make aconscious choice between Heaven and Hell. The Divine Comedy was a somewhat realistic yet somewhat imaginarystory that entertained millions and was used as a guide for the medieval people. To be saved is not enough to get intoParadise; you must either live a fully righteous and Godlike life, or you must be repentantfor all sins. People's mental image of Hell is an evil,dark, and scary place that is full of fire and that is exactly the way Dante depicts it. utit, meaning he needed to go through the seven sacraments so that he could become pureenough to see God in Paradise and not have to spend and eternity in Hell. Youcould say that Dante has one of the biggest most active imaginations ever to have beenable to create a story like the Divine Comedy. In Hell you get exactly what you giveforever. Losing the straight path symbolizes losing the holy,pure, or Godlike life. Purgatory is notprobation or a punishment; the people there are glad to be there because they know thatsomeday they will be at God's side in Paradise.
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