In class, we finished our Hero’s Journey unit last week, leaving many options for my blog post. Over the past weeks, while working with the hero’s journey, we compared different elements of the journey between different stories and texts we worked with. Although “Beowulf,” “Grendel,” “Canterbury Tales,” and “Inferno” were all part of the unit, most of our work dealing with the stages was based off of the first two texts. Most of our work with “Inferno” was trying to comprehend the text, so I’m going to explore Dante’s heroic journey.
Dante’s story begins in a forest, where Dante has been exiled. His life isn’t going the way he wanted it to go, and he certainly doesn’t seem to have any special circumstances with his birth or early life. In what seems to be his midlife crisis, Dante meets Virgil, who seems to be his helper throughout his journey, his guide through the circles of Hell. Virgil is helping Dante because of Beatrice, who awaits Dante in Heaven. Dante accepts his call to adventure because of his love for Beatrice, and the journey begins with Virgil guiding him.
The pair enters Hell in Vestibule, before the first circle of Hell. Virgil leads and comforts Dante through, and the two begin to move from circle to circle. Although the text is clearly organized by which circle or which part of each circle the pair travels through, Dante’s tests are not physical, but mental: understanding and handling each sin and punishment makes Dante feel mentally strained. Dante witnesses many great historical figures and people he has met or remembered, making more of a strain to understand some of the sins and why they are punishable. Some of the people Dante meets are helpers on their own, preaching to Dante or arguing why they shouldn’t be in Hell. Dante listens to everyone who speaks to him, gaining more from some than others.
It is hard to give the story a “final battle” type climax, but Dante made his way all the way down to the ninth circle of Hell and witnessed the devil with his own eyes. Dante and Virgil’s flight is very interesting and confuses Dante, where the two quickly ascend from Hell in minutes when it took them three days to explore Hell in its entirety. Returning to the normal world is not explored in detail, as the story ends, but Dante’s elixir is his knowledge gained from exploring Hell and understanding all of the possible sins he may commit. Dante emerges a new man, on Easter Sunday, ready to live the second half of his life.
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4 comments:
good summary of the Inferno. I honestly never want to read it again, though. you brought up some interesting points of curiosity, though, especially considering that it's such a cryptic book. Dante certainly does keep an open mind while he watches the terrified people being punished in hell. It makes me wonder why Dante never got harmed physically, now that you mention it. I mean, he just went through hell. There are so many ways that he could have been burned up or torn apart, etc. I never understood why Virgil was the one to lead Dante through hell, either. However, I suppose since he was such an important poet at the time (well, maybe of all time, at that time, if that's not too confusing), it would make sense.
Like Connor said, I liked how you described "Inferno," Emily. What amazes me about this story is how Dante was able to come up with all of the levels of hell and the punishment(s) for each level. He had to be very creative, especially when coming up with a punishment that had poetic justice for all of the sins he included in his story. The other thing that I find interesting in Dante's story, the character has to go, literally, through Hell, to get through his supposed midlife crisis. I guess that seeing the punishments for different sins is one way to figure out what not to do in life and to be thankful for life on earth, but, thankfully, we don't all have to go through the same harrowing journey as Dante in real life during times of strife and uncertainty.
Lauren W.
I also think it is pretty amazing that Dante never was physically harmed throughout his entire journey through hell. There were so many horrific things that he witnessed and he never was harmed by them, he seemed to casually walk right by them all. I also agree with Sarah in htat Dante had to very creative to think of alll of the different levels of hell. They were all planne out well and had clever poetic justice punishments.
I also think it is surprising that Dante was not physically harmed during his journey, but I do think he experienced a great mental strain. Any person in his position would. Seeing people you knew during their lives, being eternally punished in hell would be a hard think for anyone to witness. I agree with Emily that the closest thing to a "final battle" for Dante is when he sees the devil. That is a crazy thing to imagine doing. In addition to that, after seeing the devil his journey is over. It is as if he completed his final task and is able to return home.
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