Dante's Inferno Group at eNotes

Dante integrated the various sides of a number of conflicts or positions...

Mon, 5 May 2008 11:21:48 PST

Dante integrated the various sides of a number of conflicts or positions into his great poem. Politically, the main split was between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. He included them by literally including them in hell. In the sixth circle of Hell, Dante includes representatives of both the Guelphs and the Ghibellines. However, he includes representatives of both sides of other conflicts as well. For example, in that same circle devoted to...

What are some of the ways Dante has both sides integrated into the Inferno?

Sun, 4 May 2008 20:52:00 PST

What are some of the ways Dante has both sides integrated into the Inferno?

Dante has to go down through the Inferno because he has to acknowledge...

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 07:50:54 PST

Dante has to go down through the Inferno because he has to acknowledge his own sinfulness and weakness before he can be forgiven and strengthened. The main message Dante poet is trying to tell us is that man cannot redeem himself, but he must take responsibliity for his sinfulness.

what other names did virgil call dante besides his son. there are at...

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 05:54:41 PST

what other names did virgil call dante besides his son. there are at least 3.

If the Light of Grace is at the top of the hill, why must Dante go down...

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 19:39:32 PST

If the Light of Grace is at the top of the hill, why must Dante go down in order to reach it?

During Dante's time, the Roman Catholic Church, at the Council of...

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:50:09 PST

During Dante's time, the Roman Catholic Church, at the Council of Trent, recognized that righteous people who died before Christ came should have a chance for redemption. Because they lived virtuous lives, they were considered to be as innocent as babies and worthy of salvation. The church declared that these souls were being kept in Limbo, the first circle of Dante's hell, until they were deemed fit to enter heaven. The medieval church...

Why does Dante put the virtuous pagans and babies in Limbo? Did that go...

Thu, 21 Feb 2008 10:58:09 PST

Why does Dante put the virtuous pagans and babies in Limbo? Did that go against the medieval church's teachings?

Canto I of Dante's Inferno introduces us to the narrator's journey...

Tue, 8 Jan 2008 08:08:20 PST

Canto I of Dante's Inferno introduces us to the narrator's journey through the unknown. Along the way, he encounters three animals: a leopard, a lion, and a wolf. The poet Vergil also appears to give him advice. Here are just a few suggestions for projects:(1) If you are artistic, you might make an illustration of Dante meeting the different animals. I would make it abstract instead of realistic to stress that Dante has lost his way.(2) The...

What could I do for a creative project to summarize Canto 1 of...

Mon, 7 Jan 2008 18:21:23 PST

It is only a fifty-point project, and it must appeal to all learning styles

I believe the quote, made by Dante to Virgil, concerns the people in...

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:47:01 PST

I believe the quote, made by Dante to Virgil, concerns the people in this portion of hell, who are running around, trying to escape the stings of the hornets and wasps, but who can never do anything concrete - can never make any kind of a decision. This reflects the fact that in life, they did not make a definite decision to serve God - they only served their own self-interests. The black haze mentioned by Dante in the quote refers to the...

I think there may be a couple of reasons for this. One is that this is...

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 20:20:51 PST

I think there may be a couple of reasons for this. One is that this is Dante's allegory of life, and as he is writing the story of a man who has strayed from the straight and narrow path to God, he has to be shown the consequences of his actions. So he is being shown hell first so that he can really see how bad things are if you don't follow the right path. After that he is shown purgatory, and then finally, paradise.Another reason could...

Dante's guide is the poet Virgil, a Roman poet that would have been...

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 21:50:16 PST

Dante's guide is the poet Virgil, a Roman poet that would have been well-known in Dante's era.Dante visits Ulyssess/Odysseus in his travels. In his encounter, reference is made to the Trojan War and to other fighters in that war - Achilles, Agammenon, Diomede, etc. Canto XXVIHe also encounters Brutus and Cassius, some of the men responsible for the death of Julius Caesar of Rome. Canto XXXIV.Judas Iscariot, the betrayer of Jesus, is in...

Historical Allusions in Inferno

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:07:54 PST

Can you give some examples of the historical allusions Dante used in Dante's Inferno?

How would your encounter with Satan be?

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 14:31:27 PST

I'm interested to hear how people would write their confrontation with Satan if they wrote their own Inferno. Who would your three betrayers be? Would you make them and/or Satan talk? What would they say? How would you end your journey through hell?

My favorite circle to read is the ninth circle for several reasons....

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 06:28:40 PST

My favorite circle to read is the ninth circle for several reasons. First, the description of Lucifer frozen in a lake that he continually refreezes with his own wings is painfully delightful. It is so ironic that Lucifer, who defied God for total freedom, is stuck for eternity in the same spot. The image of his three heads feasting on the three greatest betrayers in history adds to the drama. Second, I think it is interesting that Dante...

The point of Dante's journey through the after-life is to express his...

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 01:07:12 PST

The point of Dante's journey through the after-life is to express his own living hell after his exile from Florence and, at the same time, enlighten and edify his readers concerning what it truly means to be an upright Christian. Quite frankly in Dante's time to be a Christian meant listening to the Pope unquestioningly. This infuriated Dante since he at a young age entered the political scene of Florence at a time when Florence was more...

In Dante's pseudo-biographical work La Vita Nuova, there is a moment...

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:55:38 PST

In Dante's pseudo-biographical work La Vita Nuova, there is a moment where a girl asks him what his true intentions were towards Beatrice. The insinuation is that Beatrice's girlfriends know what men want and are intrigued at the thought that Dante may be planning an affair with Beatrice, who was engaged to another man. In his youth Dante was known to get around and he suffered due to this reputation, more out of guilt than anything.So do we...

The Pilgrim is Dante's psyche in all its emotional and intellectual...

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:43:46 PST

The Pilgrim is Dante's psyche in all its emotional and intellectual trappings. The poet, of course, is the person who is trying through his work to not only explore himself and the world he is at serious odds with, but to resolve the antipodes of Good and Evil within himself! To do this Dante as an intellectual has only the Classics and the Church doctrine to help him reason, but these, he soon finds, are limited. Hence he turns to the poet's...

My favorite is the city of Dis in the sixth circle. Here Dante managed...

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:24:29 PST

My favorite is the city of Dis in the sixth circle. Here Dante managed to capture a truly monumental moment, where the forces of Hell contest Dante's Divine journey. The way Virgil called out to those behind the wall from a seemingly vulnerable stance and how the Divine Angel came down like a flash to thrust open the gates is forever etched in my memory as a truly impacting scene. Likewise in _White Man's Inferno_ where Dante is the guide...

Dante's idea of love is that of courtly love. It is not a physically...

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 17:28:17 PST

Dante's idea of love is that of courtly love. It is not a physically passionate relationship-more of an unrequited adoration that does not usually get consummated. Courtly love was rarely between husbands and wives. The male was inspired to do great things to win her affection. Beatrice was the object of Dante's desire. Beatrice was married to someone else-as was he-yet he expressed his love in poetry. He claimed their relationship was never...