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Christina MacAulay
Honors English III/Block D
January 26, 2006
The Inferno, cantos 31-34
�To appreciate heaven well, it's good for a person to have some fifteen minutes of hell.�
In the final cantos of The Inferno the poets find themselves at the deepest depths of Hell. By the help of the giants Dante and Virgil are lower down to Cocytus, the ninth circle of Hell where Satan himself resides. The sights Dante encounters at Cocytus are unlike anything he has witnessed throughout his entire journey through hell. At his point in the story Dante has seen all types of sinners and their appropriate punishment and through this he has gained the knowledge and wisdom to return to earth and follow the divine light. At the start of his journey Dante was unsure about life and therefore lost, unable to make the correct decisions. Now, however, he is able to return to earth and not only follow, but understand the divine light of God.
Cocytus takes the shape of a huge frozen lake divided into four concentric rings which are marked by the different position of the sinners. The sinners who are placed in this circle are trapped in the ice, with varying degrees of their bodies above the ice according to their degree of guilt. Those who occupy this circle are guilt of treachery and the denial of love. Thus Dante is able to learn and take back to earth with him that the worst possible sin is that of treachery. By traveling through hell Dante is also able to truly understand what punishment is and therefore be more appreciative of what is holy. �If I had rhymes as harsh and horrible as the hard fact of that final dismal hole which bears the weight of all the steeps of hell, I might more fully press the sap and substance from my conception; but since I must do without them, I begin with some reluctance. For it is no easy undertaking, I say, to describe the bottom of the universe.� (page 267).
After traveling to the very center of Hell Dante is given the chance to start his life with the wisdom and knowledge gained by traveling through hell. �My guide and I crossed over and began to mount that little known and lightless road to ascent into the shining world again�and beauteous shining of the Heavenly cars. And we walked out once more beneath the Stars.� (page 287) After completing the journey Dante learns that the best way to understand heaven to is experience the lessons of hell.
Christina MacAulay
January 25, 2006
Honors English III/block D
Dante�s Inferno blog #6
�Each of us bears his own hell�
In Cantos 26 through 30 Dante and Virgil continue to travel into the deepest circles of hell. In bolgia nine the poets encounter The Sowers of Discord who�s sin was to rend asunder what God had meant to be united. Therefore in hell their punishment is to be disconnected from their bodies. �Since I parted those who should be one in duty and in love, I bear my brain divided from its source within this trunk; and walk here where my evil turns to pain, an eye for an eye to all eternity; thus is the law of Hell observed in me.� (page239). Through this quote Dante expresses that he feels the law of Hell is to punish by the sin committed in life. By this mean the sinners are truly able to understand why their sin is so foul by actually living in eternity in the negative consequences of that sin. For the sinner Hell, is therefore, a world were their sin controls all.
In Canto 29 Dante is also able to view the punishment of those classified as the Falsifiers. The tenth bolgia, which is the eternal home of the falsifiers, is a place of darkness, stench, thirst, and loathsome diseases. The souls in this bolgia run around the pit tearing each other to pieces, and sometimes even clawing at themselves. The laws of Hell are also obvious in this canto. The falsifiers in life lived by corrupting society and Hell is now the reality of their sin. This same theme of a war controlled by the committed sin is apparent throughout the five cantos.
By traveling through the depths of Hell Dante is able to understand and appreciate the consequences the sinners are eternally living. �So may the memory of you names and actions not die forever from the minds of men in that first world, but live for many suns.� (page 246). Dante assures those that he meets in Hell that he will forever remember the laws of Hell and that by understand the laws of Hell Dante is able to understand the way of divine light. Thus as the poets travel farther into Hell Dante is brought closer to understanding the ways of God because he is able to see the opposite of heaven and the sins which God finds most foul.�There is no greater sorrow than to be mindful of the happy time in misery.�
-The Divine Comedy
In cantos 16 through 20 Dante and Virgil continue to explore circle seven move into circle eight. The tone of sorrow due to present misery is apparent in the very first canto of the five. In canto 16 Dante meets three wraiths who eagerly ask Dante about news of
These five cantos show that the most sorrowful and perhaps appropriate punishment for these prisoners is to be mindful of their happy time on earth yet be forced to live eternity with the knowledge that they will never again experience that same happiness. There are examples of this type of punishment in each canto. In circle seven the Usurers� eyes are forever fixed on purses around their neck. In canto 18 the panderers are punished by being subjected to great lashes as they did to others in life.
The terms of punishment presented in these cantos are to teach Dante that he has to make choices while living. He learns that if he chooses to indulge in a sinful but happy life he will forever be reminded of it, but never permitted to revisit it in hell. On the other hand Dante is given the choice to live a life following the rules of God and will then get to spend eternity forever happy in heaven. In the beginning of these cantos Dante is a callow follower if Virgil but as the two poets progress through hell Dante becomes more sagacious through the lessons the prisoners of hell can teach him. The main lesson taught in cantos 16 through 20 is the evaluation of how our actions in life will affect us in the after life and weather it is worth it to indulge in life and suffer eternity in misery.
�Oh human race, born to fly upward wherefore at a little wind dost thou fall.�
-The Divine Comedy
In cantos 11 through 15 Dante and Virgil enter the seventh circle, lower hell. Virgil, as he maps out lower hell, explains to Dante that malice is the sin most hated by God. For their sins they must spend eternity in a river of blood, a wood of suicides, or a plain of burning sand. These punishments are much harsher and more extreme than the punishments described in upper hell. This distinct difference can be accredited to the violence and rage put into committing the sin.
In upper hell the sins committed, such as gluttony and greed, corrupt society. However, the person committing the crime did not put evil intentions into the act. In lower hell we see those who were evil in life and committed violence out of pure hatred. Like the quote says, the human race was born to fly upward, but these souls, both metaphorically and literally, patently worked against the human race. They killed themselves, others and the art that man made therefore destroying all the good the human race had to offer.
In lower hell we are able to the mainstream version of hell, a fiery pit where inhabitants are under constant torture. This dichotomy from upper to lower hell shows that Dante believed to hinder society was a peccadillo, but to injure the human race was a far worse crime.
�If the present world go astray, the cause is in you, in you it is to be sought�
-The Divine Comedy
In cantos six through ten with the reader is further familiarized with the circles of hell. These cantos are especially important because we are able to see the levels of hell more clearly. Still in the upper circles of hell we see the Gluttons, the greedy and the wrathful. The souls that wallow in these circles represent those who went astray in the present world. Virgil clearly explains that these sinners brought sin upon themselves and this sin is affecting the present world in a negative way. Therefore, they must be punished for they are the cause of a corrupt society.
It is elucidated by examining these cantos that Dante believed that those who sinned in life would be appropriately punished in the afterlife. For example those who were gluttonous in life were sent to spend eternity in circle three. This circle was represented by a giant garbage dumped were Cerberus, a three headed dog, would rip and feast on patrons as those patrons had done in life. Here is where we can see that Dante believed the worst punishment a sinner could be sentenced to is to experience that very same sin, to live in an astrayed world that was created by the act of the very same sin they lived by.
By exploring the circles of hell presented in cantos six through ten Dante is able to fully understand the sin and punishment. However, in the first five cantos the sinners do not seem to fit their punishment instead the first two circles seem non seguitur. The quote from The Divine Comedy is the best possible explanation of how the sinners were punished in hell. A major theme of these cantos is karma. Virgil is trying to convey to Dante the idea that we make our world and if we all sinned freely we would turn our world into hell and our indulgences would therefore become our burdens.
Dante�s life:
Youth:
Middle Age:
Old Age
�Consider your origin; you were not yet to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge� �The Divine Comedy
The most important thing to remember when analyzing the quote above is that Dante�s idea of a brute does not display the same characteristics of those who we consider to be brutes today. Brutes in Dante�s mind where those who did not follow Christianity and did not believe in Jesus Christ. In Dante�s Inferno those who lived at brutes were sent to the first and second circles of hell. Some of those who were sent to these circles lived as brutes simply because Christianity had not yet been created as a religion and because of this they were impercated to spend enternity in hell.
And the Master said to me: �You do not question what souls these are that suffer here before you? I wish you to know before you travel on that these were sinless. And still their merits fail, for they lacked Baptism�s grace, which is the door of the true faith you were born to. Their birth fell before the age of Christian mysteries and so they did not worship God�s Trinity in the fullest duty. I am one of these. For such defects are we lost, though spared the fire and suffering Hell in one affliction only: that without hope we live on in desire.� (Page 50)
In the beginning of cantos one through five Dante is quandary of his purpose and doesn�t believe he is worthy of Vigil�s promise to lead him to the light of God. However, through the encouragement and support of
Virgil leads Dante through hell so that Dante is able to peruse his origin and follow the virtue and guidance he is able to gain by exploring the circles of hell. In the first canto Dante realizes that he has strayed from his divine path in life and Virgil is sent to him to lead Dante from error. The quote from The Divine Comedy is almost as if Virgil is speaking directly to Dante. Thus we see very early on in the book that Virgil�s purpose in the story is to help Dante understand his origin by following the path to God�s light.
Will the American government come to a place where a balance can be forged between religion and the state (or are we already there)? How do you see the role of religion in the civil affairs of government in the United States?
I think that the American government has come to an equaliberum where religon and state cannot exist with each other nor can they exist without each other. Politics are a reflection of beliefs, what we believe is morally acceptable and ethically right. Religon it seems teaches us our thoughts. If we believe in forgiveness, in courage, or in patience. What religon has taught us therefore is inevitably reflected in politics.
Personally I am not a religous person and think that all statements that refer to a spiefic religon should be removed from the government such as; united under God and God bless America. Religon should be incorperated into government based on morals and characteristics, not by making our entire country up to holy standards of one religon. America was made as a safe haven for those escaping religon prosecution, therefore we should keep America how it began, as a clean slate where anyone could believe in what they wanted. By forcing a religon on citizens of the United States we are continuing what our very citizens came here escaping.
I think that we have made progress from seperating church from state by it is still not to where it needs to be. We need to learn how to express the morals of our religon without actually preaching our religon. The United States needs people who practice what they preach and if their religon is truely the "only religon" others will follow. I believe that we, as citizens, need to lead with actions rather than with words.
In the current "debate on politics" in Washington D.C., the nomination of Harriet Miers to fill the vacated seat on the Supreme Court(who has never been a judge), as well as the resignation of the FEMA Director (Browne) after Hurricane Katrina (who did not have any experience with post-disaster reconstruction) have many wondering how we know if someone is truly competent to lead or not.
Question(s): How do you truly know when someone is competent to lead? How do you define a great leader in terms of the qualities that he or she exhibits? Use examples from "The Iliad" to support your arguments
Being a leader requires a large range of responsibilities as well as qualties that make a person a strong leader. To be a leader a person must first have a level of maturness to handle situations quickly and in the best way possible. From the time of the Iliad to modern society the qualities that make a person a good leader have stay the same. These qualities are what set failures, such as Browne, apart from true leaders, such as the Kings from the Iliad
If a leader does not know how to handle a situtation they should be mature enough to ask for help. Browne, who did not know how to handle the post-disaster reconsturction of Katrina, should of seeked help from people or organizations who had expirince. Being a leader does not mean that you know everything, but it does mean that you should do everything in your power to help those who you lead. People should have faith in their leaders, which is why again, Browne was not a good leader. However, an example of good leaders are Kings from the Iliad such as Agemenon, Achilles and Odysses. These leaders have fought with their soldiers and know enough about war to be trusted as leaders. Browne had no expirince in what he was leading and should not have been made a leader of that organization in the first place.
Leaders should also be able to relate to those who they are leader. They should have a passion to lead and a determination to do the job well. The Kings from the Iliad fight with the people they are leading, they eat with them, sleep with them and live with them. They know their men and care for them. This makes a good leader because they want the same thing as the people they are leading; they don't make the soldiers do the dirty work. Leaders should also set examples for there followers and set goals that they can reach so that the followers can grow and progress. In the Iliad Achilles is the worlds most powerful fight and when he sets foot on the battle field men of both armies stop to watch him fight. Men of both armies aspire to someday be as powerful as Achilles.
Being leader means knowning about what you leaders, knowing when to ask for help, having a passion for what you a leading and setting examples for others to follow. Obviously Browne did not have these qualities however the Kings from the Iliad can teach us what makes a good leader, even in modern day society.
THIS WEEK'S QUESTION: Why does it still seem the norm in Western culture, when it comes to the use of heroes in literature and film, that the traditional role of men as the hero and the role of women as the victim still is used and supported by the audiences? Is there any way to break this mold in a way that will lead to more diversity in the types of heroes?
The norm in Western culture of men being depicted as the hero is a problem that got its roots thousands of year ago, since the beggining of liturature and even oral tradition. Even from early folk stories men have always been the warrior, hunters, and protector of the family while the women have developed a close bond with the people around her and have taken close care of the those in her family. I however don't interpurt this as women as the weaker sex, and indeed there are areas in life that we stronger than men. Men have been depicted as having more physical power and thus there are our ideal hero to save us from danger. However, women are just as important, as we provide emotional protection.
To us today, it seems odd to us when a women plays a physical protector and a man plays an emotional hero simply because it is different and we, as a culture tend to not accept things that are different. I don't think that the problem is so much that women are seen as unequal in today's society I just think that the role as the men as the hero is the only role that we have ever accepted. Today with more women in the work force and going to college I think that we will see an increase in the strong roles that women play in liturature and film. However, I think that it will take several generations for us to finally accept the idea of women as physical heros.
In response to the lost of lives and distruction of the entire Gulf Coast caused by hurricane Katrina, Howard Dean commented that those who suffered greatest, suffered primarily based on the age, race and class. At first glance this comment may seem to have some truth, but after further examination I conclude that those who suffered greatest were those who could not recieve help or did not have the services to leave the city. The reason why it seems African Americans suffered most is because blacks make up most of the population in New Orleans. It is not because all African Americans in New Orleans are illiterate or poor, it just seems this way because all that we see on TV is the population that is homeless and illiterate, and because most of the population anyways is african american, it is just inevitable that the homeless and illterate are African American too. Furthermore, the media has still to comment on who actually fleed the city and because the overwhelming majority of the population is black are we wrong to say that more blacks actually left the city than whites?
Although class may have certainly helped people leave the city it did not leave those who were poor or homeless to fend for themselves. The only way high and middle class people benificaiated from being having money was that most had access to their own car and could choose to leave at their own time and take all of the valuables with them. Buses were organized for those who did not have access to transportation although this was not well advertized and fairly unorganized. As far as age I don't believe that there was any unfair discrimination at anyone age group. I think that there should have been more help to the elders and impaired, a mandatory evacuation for those who would not be able to leave at their own will later on.
In my opinion the distruction Hurricane Katrina caused was unnessicary and something that will be remembered as a disaster based the on the govener's and president's failure to respond properly to a national crisis. But the comment Dean made about those who suffered I believe can be refuted with the notion of relativity and that most of the population is african American. In the future a loss like this will not be tolerated, we must learn from our mistakes and take time now to plan for how the next evacuation will be handled. We must provide, urge, and perhaps even mandate the evacuation of the elders, homeless, and those unable to evacuate on their own so a tragety like this can be avoided in the future.