dante
Dante takes the character of Minos both from the Aeneid and from ancient mythology. By placing a pagan god in a Christian view of the afterlife, Dante once again demonstrates that has no problem with mixing vastly different traditions. The punishment of the Lustful is fitting: Those who were obsessed with the stimulation of the flesh in life now have their nerves unceasingly stimulated by the tempest. They are also prone and in the dark, in the manner in which lust is most often acted out. The punishment of the Gluttonous, whose sins also involved an obsession with bodily pleasure, is similarly fitting. Those who could not have enough of things pleasing to the taste and other senses now have an overabundance of the most unpleasant food--for eternity. The excrement with which they are doused is both the literal and figurative product of their gluttonous consumption. Dante's great pity for those suffering in the Second Circle probably stems from his
Since the journey through Hell is set in 1300, and Dante is writing several years later, he can "predict" the political events of the next few years through the mouth of Ciacco. Dante calls Florence a "divided city" (VI. We must assume that they have some sort of solid form or they would not even be visible to Dante. upon the coming of the hostile Judge" (VI. This brings up an interesting dilemma: If a sinner has committed more than one kind of serious sin, to which circle of Hell does he/she belong? Here, Dante chooses the lesser punishment, but this will not be the case with some of the less sympathetic characters who appear later on. We see here that the cool, unbiased judgment of the author may have begun to falter, if only slightly. 71)--that is, they exile hundreds of the Whites. The Blacks subsequently return to power and "heap great weights upon [their] enemies" (VI. Most souls that have committed suicide end up far deeper in Hell, as we will see, but Dante chooses to place Dido according to her "lesser" sin, the sin of loving too much. This sympathy even extends to a certain leniency in his placement of some of the characters in this Circle. A fundamental characteristic of Dante's afterlife--Hell, Purgator!y, and Heaven--is that the life of every soul is perfected, whether in pleasure or in pain. It is not exactly clear, though, how the souls are now suffering physical torment without bodies. Dido, for example, committed suicide because of her unrequited love for Aeneas. Each soul will, however, "once again take on his flesh and form.
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Acceptance Essays
