Literary Analysis: The Odyssey and Dante’s Inferno Name: Course: Institution: Instructor: Date: Themes are fundamental and universal ideas that are explored in literary works. The epics of The Inferno by Dante and The Odyssey by Homer are two different stories with themes that that have some similarities while others have distinction. In The Odyssey, the central point is Odysseus struggling to go back home. In Inferno, Dante is the main character who is fighting between good and evil, which translates to be the theme of the story. Dante explores deeply the Christian hell and heaven, which includes the immediate Purgatory.
The Evil of Greed in Inferno and Heart of Darkness Though Conrad and Dante wrote their pieces centuries apart, Heart of Darkness and Inferno have striking similarities that readers cannot ignore. Both writers have rather bleak and downcast portrayals of humans and their propensity towards evil. In particular, both texts specifically examine the characteristic of greed in human behavior. Conrad and Dante are both quick to highlight the dangers of greed and the impact it has on the individual’s soul. Conrad goes further to describe the damage that is wrought on others when someone is greedy, while Dante depicts in graphic clarity the punishment that the greedy have to endure in the afterlife.
Dante’s usage of mythological creatures in the Inferno was well thought out, with every creature having its own role and place. An educated man, Dante Alighieri knew,not only, how to write worlds into his paper but also, how to write them into the minds of his readers. He uses character placement to make his stories more realistic. His characters are people, or things, that the people in his time would be familiar with. They connect his writings to the real world, creating a sense of reality.
Dane successfully explores the hell, the place in which sinners reside after they die. So, according to Dante there are nine circles in the hell. In each level represent people misbehave. As I mention earlier Dante places some immoral character in poem Inferno. He is trying to give an example for audience there is time for pay back whatever you have done in the past.
The seven deadly sins are the exact opposite of the seven cardinal’s virtues which would be heaven: Chastity to lust, temperance to gluttony, charity to greed, diligence to sloth, patience to wrath, kindness to envy, and humility to pride. What I find funny about this story is that Dante is exiled from his love and home Florence but people who are more rich and I think because he was the one writing the story he was able to really capture the true meaning of the 7 deadly sins, as the given explanation to hell was,” by different sins pushed down to different depths; / if you keep going you may see them all.” (Canto 7 of Inferno, lines 86-87).”Those lines alone allow us readers to see Dante uses this as both a political and personal gain. Dante uses hell for kings, politicians, popes, and higher up figures as almost as some would see as revenge for their sins compared to any other person. While approaching death there is a part in the play where a pilgrim is talking to a pope saying, ““You have built yourselves a God of gold and
In Dante’s Inferno, the 9 levels of hell are separated depending on the 7 deadly sins that people have committed. The crime always fits the punishment the sinners receive. For example, when dante walks through the second circle where the lustfuls are being tormented by powerful winds. As found in Canto 5, the sinners who are punished by black howling tempest wind because in their lives they sinned of lust (Lines 88-90). They are punished by this because they can’t control nothing.
Sayers in her introduction of Inferno states that Inferno is a poem written in the form of a Christian inspired allegory, where an allegory, “is the interpretation of experience by means of images”, a poem written in the style of an extended metaphor. Sayers too asserts that Dante’s ‘Divine Comedy’ is based solely on the, “drama of the soul’s choice” (Sayers, Introduction
By comparing similar themes at the beginning, to escaping Hell and Wonka’s Factory at the end of both stories. The justice in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory isn’t obviously pointed out, but is all ironic, like Dante’s Inferno. With Augustus (Gluttony) getting falling into a chocolate river and getting sucked up the chocolate pump or Veruca Salt (Greed) wanting to get a trained squirrel and getting dragged down the garable drain by the same squirrels, is the same kind of ironic elements used in Dante’s Inferno furthering the argument of them using the same theme elements. If even a child’s book can have a similar theme and several major comparisons with a book like Dante’s Inferno, what else
In the inferno, Dante in the middle of a life crisis travels with a sinner named Virgil down the 9 circles of hell. This journey through hell teaches Dante amongst other things the concept of divine justice. Upon entering the second circle, lust, Dante see sinners confessing their sins to a Minos, which proceeds to wrap its tail around its body to show the level that the sinner will be punished in. This is a symbol to show that everything we do in the dark will come to light and be punished accordingly. Seeing the sinners punished based on their sins, talking to them and hearing their stories, gives Dante insight on what is acceptable and not.