Book Review: Dante Alighieri's Inferno

History 241

Book Review: Dante Alighieri's Inferno

Dante Alighieri's Inferno is one of a three-part work called The Divine Comedy, the other two parts being Purgatorio and Paradiso. Dante was a very influential poet that lived in the 13th and 14th centuries and his most famous work being The Divine Comedy. The Inferno is the first part of the Divine Comedy. The Inferno describes Dante's travels through the nine circles of hell. A major reason why it was so popular was that it was written in vernacular and popular with Christians who represented a large majority of Italy at that time and also a large portion of the world today. His work was completed in 1314 during a time of struggle between the Holy Roman Emperor and the Pope and also after the Crusades of the 11th and 12th Centuries. The Inferno represents not only Dante's religious outlooks but also his political views, specifically his frustrations with political leaders of the time.

Dante begins the story by mysteriously finding himself in a very dark forest (Cantos 1). Dante has no idea where he is, or how he got there. The forest is a very dark and savage place and Dante even compares it to death. After Dante is unsuccessful in leaving the forest, a man approaches Dante. This man turns out to be Virgil the great Roman poet who wrote the Aeneid and who was sent to guide Dante by Beatrice, Dante's lover. Dante is ecstatic to meet him and asks him how to leave the forest. Virgil then informs Dante that the only way to leave the forest is to go through Hell. Thus, Dante and Virgil embark on a perilous journey through Hell. The appearance of Virgil in the narrative draws on Dante's Roman upbringing as well as his respect for poets at the time. Also, Dante relates to Virgil and that could be why he is not placed in a lower ring of Hell.

As Dante travels through Hell he describes the nine major circles of Hell. Each circle represents a certain sin and the people that commit these sins are put there. Also each circle is characterized by the punishments that go along with the sins of those placed there. The lower circles are reserved for those guilty of less severe sins while the higher circles are reserved for those guilty of more severe sins. Thus, the inhabitants of the higher circles receive harsher punishment than those of the lower circles. The nine circles from highest to lowest are (1) the pagans and unbaptized, (2) the lustful, (3) the gluttonous, (4) the avaricious and the prodigals, (5) the wrathful, (6) the heretics, (7) the sins of violence (against neighbors, against themselves, against God, Nature, and Art), (8) the sins of panderers and seducers, flatterers, simoniacs, fortune tellers, grafters, hypocrites, thieves, evil counselors, sowers of discord, and falsifiers, and finally (9) the traitors to kindred, to country, to guests, and to masters.

I think that the criteria behind the ranking of sins and punishments are based on Dante's view of justice. In the text, Dante insinuates that the punishments are divine or biblical. I do not think the rankings were biblical or divine, because neither the Bible nor God ever ranks sins. Thus, I think Dante took into account what society of the time period viewed as wrong as well as his personal experiences while ranking the sins. Though mainly, Dante ranked the sins in the order that he felt they should be in. For instance, Dante, because of his own views and experiences, feels that the sins of deceit are greater than sins of violence. Dante's view of justice is also shown by Dante's sympathy or lack there of. In the lower circles Dante actually shows sympathy for some of the suffering. However, as he gets to the lower sins he shows no sympathy for the suffering. This shows that in real life Dante actually has a small bit of sympathy for the