---

Dante's Inferno: Cantos 11-15

�He listens well who takes notes.�

In cantos 11-15 Dante slowly makes his way down into the depths of Hell. Dante would have been completely lost were it not for Virgil, whose wisdom and great knowledge of Hell are able to easily guide Dante through the depths. Dante "takes note" of the things Virgil tells him, although we never actually find him writing on a pad of paper. It is seen that Virgil is Dante�s conscious alter-ego, as he has much knowledge of his surroundings and Dante hasn't the slightest idea of them.

In Canto eleven, Dante and Virgil come to a cliff that has fallen from the earthquake that occurred when Jesus was crucified. Virgil, the ever-teaching scholar explains to Dante various things about the circles that they pass by. Virgil explains each of the great torments of Hell with great Detail. �My son�there are below this wall three smaller circles, each in its degree like those you are about to leave�I will explain how each is prisoned, and why.� (104) Virgil explains the next three levels of hell, and Dante listens well and takes mental notes.

Within Canto fourteen Virgil and Dante have come upon the Plain of Burning Sand. Once again the teacher in Virgil shows. He warns Dante about the dangers of this realm, and Dante pays close attention. �Now follow me; and mind for your own good you do not step upon the burning sand, but keep well back along the edge of the wood.� (130) Virgil warns Dante not to step on the burning sand and away from the woods. Dante must "take note" of such a warning, for its consequences will affect them.

Dante's Inferno: Cantos 6-10

�O human race born to fly upward, wherefore at a little wind dost thou fall.�

In the sixth canto of The Inferno, Dante enters the third circle of hell. The Gluttons reside here, people who made no use of their lives, and no use of their gifts from God.  They are people who lived a life lurching in food and drinking to their consent, only producing garbage and filth. Their punishment is to lie in filth while Ceberus tears at them with his teeth and claws. �Your citizens nicknamed me Ciacco, The Hog: gluttony was my offense, and for it I lie here rotting like a swollen log.�(67)  The human race is born to soar upwards to heaven, but with even a slight offense such as gluttony, symbolic of the wind interfering with one�s path, they fall to Hell.  The Gluttons could have easily made it to the heavens if they would have kept their focus in life, but the distraction of material possesions, allowed the wind to take them on a passage to Hell.

Dante enters the fourth circle in the seventh canto. This circle is reserved for hoarders and wasters. A fitting punishment is given unto them; an eternal battle with one another.  In life these people knew no moderation, they either kept or wasted everything, and there was no responsibility.  �Here, too, I saw a nation of lost souls, far more than were above: they strained their chests against enormous weights, and with mad howls rolled them at one another.  Then in haste they rolled them back, one party shouting out: �Why do you hoard?� and the other: �Why do you waste?��(73)  These people's �winds� were their greed or their irresposiblilty. This took hold of their lives and dragged them straight to Hell. 

Later in the seventh canto, Dante comes across the Sullen, souls eternally imprisoned in the waters of the Marsh of Styx.  The Sullen were people in life who refused to welcome the light of God and are now stuck in the murky waters of the Styx, singing an endless song.   ï¿½ï¿½Sullen were we in the air made by the Sun; in the glory of his shining our hearts poured with a bitter smoke.  Sullen were we begun���(76) They refused to accept the light of God, their creator, and therefore will never fly upward to the heavens.  Instead their wind was their refusal to allow God to enter their lives.

The Inferno: Cantos 1-5

Early Years:


Middle Years:


Older Years:

--------------------------------------------

�Consider your origin; you were not born to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge.�

Dante immediately experiences "consider your origin,� from the first few people Dante comes across once he steps through the gates of Hell. Dante reaches the Acheron, the first river of Hell, and Charon, the monster, refuses to ferry Dante and Virgil across. Dante is still but a living soul, and thus cannot enter Hell. �Woe to you depraved souls! Bury here and forever all hope of Paradise; I come to lead you to the other shore, into eternal dark, into fire and ice. And you who are living yet, I say begone from these who are dead.�(p44) Dante has second thoughts about this expedition considering that he is still living and he shouldn�t be in a place of torture for those who are dead.

In the first five cantos, Dante experiences visions that are beyond belief. The "brutes" described in the quote are those who are bound to the belief that a god decides your fate. Dante however, finds that he can change his fate not with that said god, but ��.by that God to you unknown.�(p32)

Virtue and knowledge are being represented by Virgil. Dante is dependent of Virgil for protecting him though the torments of Hell, and thus follows exactly what Virgil tells him to do. �Therefore, for your own good, I think it well you follow me and I will be your guide and lead you forth through an eternal place.� (p31) Virgil is Dante's guide, and thus Dante is quite literally following virtue and knowledge.

A good leader

I wrote this from my point of view. In some ways I can see myself as the leader I describe.

---------------------------------

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.

A leader should wake up every morning with one goal, that one goal is perfection. Not the mental image that you are thinking, but the metaphorical counterpart. Imagine perfection as a Castle of Ideas, or Visions of what will come. Then you try to work your way through that Castle to get to that opening. But with every step you take, two new passageways open, which appear to lead to a better opening. Every opening you can get to leads you to perfection; the only thing you have to do is to find a way out. I cannot reach perfection, yet I want it more than anything. It kills me that everyday I fail to reach perfection. I am strong alone, but when confronted with perfection, I shut down. To step through that opening and finally see the light shine across my face would be true satisfaction. It would be the warmth of the sun hitting my face, knowing that I can at last rest with how I saw things turning out that would be most enjoyable. Until I reach perfection, I can never truly live. Despite that, perfection isn't a state of being, but an idea. A goal you set fourth to take or accomplish. Well, a Castle of goals anyhow. Every moment that I come closer, I use my Vision to see ahead of a better moment for it. Yet all in all there is no moment. Nor will there ever be. Perfection is impossible. Perfection is an idea, not a state of being. But it�s not the failing that decides the skill of a Leader. It is the few success stories and encouraging words that matter. For a Leader�s true success lies with the support from their followers.

Achilles strives for this perfection, and with him he takes his followers, for altough he will not utter it, he knows that he cannot acheive this perfection on his own. Achilles is the exemplar of this leader.

Vision is the blinding sense of Man, showing the best of what is to come and what will never happen. Yet it's there to protect you from the truth; to know what is coming before it has arrived. Yet in all my life, I have never completely unraveled the complexities of Vision and Leadership. I�ve learned one thing that will always remain true. Vision is the future and Sound is the past. You can see what hasn�t come to you yet, while you can hear what has already occurred. Good leaders tend to care primarily about vision. What they see themselves, not what they hear from others is what truly bases a good Leader. Leaders change and his or her reactions to change. It is that seeing that keys them into the future, and is why a Leader never seems surprised by what has happened. Leaders who tend to listen to what other say are the weak ones. They are the ones who tend to live in the past, to feed off of what is out of their control. It is those Leaders who are unsuccessful. They lead on a �day-to-day� basis, and tend to play things �by ear�. A Leader cannot just live off of what they learn from others and react to that blind understanding. They must see what is to come, and in turn play three steps ahead of what they currently know. The Dictionary defines a Leader as, �a person who rules or guides or inspires others�.

You have to play the leadership game smart to be a true success at leading your group. As a Leader, it is your main job to, obviously, lead. You enforce your power for the better of the whole picture, instead of for the good of a select few. Yet sometimes you are torn between what is best and what you think is best, and it can get bewildering. Just remember that it is your job to see everyone�s side. Take in each position with a grain of salt, and determine the five most important things from their point of view: Who caused this Issue? What can the Leadership do to resolve this? When should this resolution be enforced? Where will this resolution take us as a whole? Why did this happen in the first place? And always watch every angle that you can find. Even if it�s hard to see, go ahead and stand on that angle. Look at the area from its point of view. When you walk into a room, do not be distracted by the bright colors and details. Walk into a room, and focus solely on the angles. Where to hide if something bad happens, where shadows cross, height levels, sharpness, density and texture. Do not be not blinded by everyday comforts, see what you need to see. No colors, no fluff. Just the angles.

A Leader cannot just exert their powers and have a successful society. A Leader must also direct his or her followers on behavior and overall social order. Lead through example, the code a real Leader goes by. The action of the Leadership directly reflects the ideals and behavior of an organization. A group whose morals are thrown away and act solely on the whim of their personal opinions cannot survive in the heat of a strong group with set Principals and Values.

A Leader's true job is not all about lighting the way either. It takes a quick talker to make people follow you in the first place. Someone who knows their way around their sentences. Someone who can make words become symbols of a better existence. When things are collapsing around you, it is not strength in numbers that matters. It is the Visionary that gives an organization rebirth. It is the one who turns off the groups light and illuminates the never before seen. It is a pathway to the promise land where things will be better. There is no better fixer then knowing there will be a time when no fixing is needed. Never say to put the past behind you, for that only adds to the problem. To ignore negative happenings not only opens the door for them to happen again, but also shows your followers that you disregard dire matters and have no intentions to fix them. Instead of saying to ignore your problems, give your followers a sense of hope. Tell them that things will get better, and that those who stay loyal to the principals of the group will be rewarded. Let them know that you understand that things look rotten, almost as if things could not get any worse. Yet in due time, when all hope has diminished, and the Morals and Beliefs of the organization seem to crumble, things will miraculously get better, and the group will rise again. An idea cannot die as long as one-person stays strong to its Principals and Values, and keeps their Vision clear in the future.

When a group begins to fall without their Leader�s support, everything goes to chaos. The people have no one to turn to, and with that panic begins. A Leader�s job is often overlooked, and is a difficult job to hold. The followers question every move you make, only hearing what they want to hear. They cannot see your point of view, and they have trouble understanding the decisions you make. Yet you truly know what is best, and you truly know why you did what you did, what you do, what you will do. Only when you can do this will you be successful.

And always remember, the only way to understand Darkness is to lower your Light.

Women as heroes

Jason finally gets into the blog (W00t):
Ugh, who did the color scheme for the home page? It's really hard to see the yellow links on the lime and the white background. Umm right... respond to the question.
------------------------------------

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?

For centuries now, women have always played the role of the victim in literature and film. Way back into the time of knights and dragons, it was always a damsel in distress, with a knight that would come to save her. The reason for this is the fact that our society of today is a male dominated society. The males are depicted as the heros simply because that it the accepted standard in today's world. Women have always been looked down upon, unfortunately.

Perhaps it will not always be this way. Over the past century the rights and standards of women have been stedily increasing. In the 50s the accepted standard of a woman was to be constantly housekeeping. Today, many women have there own jobs, and some of them even have their own companies. I can see that eventually the world we live in will no longer be a male dominated society, but be equal to all.