dante
Dante's Inferno takes mankind on a frightening journey through the depths of hell. This mentally and physically exhausting journey proves to be an invaluable lesson in restoration of the Church, which was in a corrupt state. The physical ends of the journey are to strengthen the pilgrim's body for the upcoming and rigorous ascent on mount purgatory. The intellectual ends of the journey, however, are far more beneficial to the human soul. Man must first understand the foundations of sin before he can hope to climb the mountain of salvation; it is only by climbing down Lucifer's grotesque body, i.e. grappling with sin itself, that the pilgrim is able to reach the mountain of Purgatory. On his voyage through hell, Dante shows the effects of the sin on the sinner's soul through their punishments; each punishment is relative to the sin. Dante symbolizes the effects of sin on the soul by using variations of a constant motion to punish the sinners i
n the circle of the lustful and the! round of sodomites. The lustful never truly commit themselves to a concrete relationship; they just flow freely from one person to the next. The circling motion made by the sodomites represents the unnatural movement of the soul; instead of a constant ascension to salvation, the soul makes the constant motion of a circle. Dante's Inferno enables man to understand that the punishment of the soul is retributive justice assigned by God. And circling this way each kept his face pointed at me, so that their necks and feet moved constantly in opposite directions" (21-27). The natural motion of the soul is constant ascension, in which the ends bring the soul to be one with god. Thus, the image of the harsh winds incessantly whirling the souls symbolizes the how the lustful deprived themselves of self-direction. The practice of homosexuality is recognized as an unnatural sin, as opposed to the sin of lust, which is defined by the natural desire of beauty between man and woman that is wrongly practiced. there are no strings attached) The lustful are so easily swept of their feet that they are forever being swooned. The soul is turned from its proper nature when the soul deceives itself into thinking that it does not have the power of self-direction. The lustful, like all sins of incontinence, makes "reason slave to appetite" (V. By carefully assessing the pilgrim's journey through hell, man comes to realize that the appropriateness of the punishment is a reflection of the sin's effects upon the soul.
Common topics in this essay:
Dante's Inferno,
XV Dante,
soul proper,
feet moved constantly,
moved constantly opposite,
constantly opposite directions,
perversion nature,
soul proper nature,
constant ascension,
circle hell,
constantly opposite,
proper nature,
opposite directions,
feet moved,
moved constantly,
sin dante,
|
Acceptance Essays
