dantes the inferno anaylis of
In Dante Alighieri's The Divine Comedy Vol. I: Inferno, as readers follow the pilgrim's descent through the many circles of hell hell, monsters from classical mythology. Cerberus is one such monster that the pilgrim encounters on his voyage through hell. Cerberus's role in classical mythology transitions well into his new role in the Inferno, also Cerberus has many similarities with both the devil and the she-wolf, and Cerberus is the best match for his role as guard and punisher in the third circle of Hell.During the Hellenistic era, or the time when Greek culture and ideas were in a golden age, mythology blossomed. Out of this mythology sprang new monsters with frightening looks and attitudes. Among them, was the three headed dog Cerberus. According to myth Cerberus was the off spring between the monsters Typhon and Echidna he was also brother to the Hydra and the Chimaera. His role, Grant and Hazel maintain, was "To 'devour' any of the inmates of the realm of Hades who tried to escape". This transitions perfectly for his role in the Inferno which is to be the guard of the gluttons, because in classic myth he greedily devours escaping shades, thereby being a glutton himself.
Both Lucifer and Cerberus are similar in that Dante refers to them as worms, they both have significance to the number three, and they both serve as a perverted display of the Trinity. The very realm he guards is characterized as "Thick hail and dirty water mixed with snow come down in torrents through the murky air, and the earth is stinking from this soaking rain" (VI, 10-12). his body was one mass of twitching muscles"(VI, 16-24), all the descriptive words 'slobbered', 'swollen', 'slimy', and 'mass' imply that Cerberus takes on the very Murgia 5aspects of his realm. He greedily "rips the spirits, flays and mangles them" (VI, 18) to further the punishment of the gluttons. Gods and Mortals in Classical Mythology. Springfield: Merriam-Webster, 1973. Murgia 2In classical mythology as in the Inferno, Cerberus did not welcome the living into the underworld, or in Dante's case the third circle of hell. Another noticeable semblance between classical and Dante's Cerberus is that according to classical myth he does not have the tail a normal dog would have but instead has the tail of the snake which wriggles about much like a worm. Lucifer has three faces on one head: a white/yellow face chewing on Cassius, a red face chewing on Judas, and a black face chewing on Brutus, it is these three faces that represent a mockery of Trinity. Not only does the Cerberus in the Inferno have similarities with the Cerberus in classical mythology, but he also has many similarities to other characters in the poem. It is obvious that Cerberus is greedy by all means; the she-wolf is shown to be equally greedy by the pilgrim when he says, "And now the she-wolf came, that in her leanness seemed racked with every kind of Murgia 4greediness" (I, 49-50). The most obvious character would be Lucifer himself.
Common topics in this essay:
Concupiscence Incontinence,
Lucifer Cerberus,
Grant Hazel,
Inferno Cerberus,
Canto XXXIV,
Dante's Cerberus,
Vol Inferno,
Hell Hellenistic,
Ghost Lucifer,
Instead Cerberus,
circle hell,
classical mythology,
third circle hell,
third circle,
cerberus represents,
lucifer cerberus,
role inferno,
cerberus classical mythology,
punisher third,
grant hazel,
mythology cerberus,
guard punisher,
125 remarks musa,
circle hell sinners,
she-wolf represents sins,
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Acceptance Essays
