Sunday, November 8, 2009
Inferno
As we read, we get deeper and deeper into the circles of Hell, where Dante and his guide Virgil keep traveling. First off, we see that in the second circle of hell the sinners of being committed of lust reside. In the story it spoke of one of the women speaking back to Dante saying that she was made to marry this old man, not by choice, and did not love him. However she did fall in love with this other guy who eventually were found showing their affection towards each other leading to their death. My first argument would be that you cant help who you love or how your heart feels, so as far as arranged marriges go i do not agree with them at all. So how could you go to Hell for loving? It's not your fault you didnt fall in love with the person chosen for you. As we read further on we can see that Christianity is a supreme moral to Dante throughout the poem. Canto VI also provides insight into the material characteristics of Hell through Dante's point of view. The dead souls do not have their earthly bodies and Dante and Virgil wakl upon shades as they cross the Third Circle of Hell. Virgil states that the dead souls will be able to regain its flesh at the Last Judgment. This is where i get a little confused i guess, what is the last judgment exactly? Because the souls are already in Hell so is the last judgement like what circle they would be sent to or what? Or are the sinners who were sort of riding to fence able to say whether they worship God or Satin and then sent either up or down? Also i question how a soul can feel physical pain such as the wasps and things that have happened previously. Also Dante would not be able to see the sinners if it was just their souls so then this throws confusion at me.
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okay, so here's what i got from it:
ReplyDeletethe second circle is for the people who sinned sexually i think...they just went a little crazy, ya know? it wasn't just because they fell in love.
the last judgement: right now, all the dead people's bodies are in the ground, but their souls are either in heaven or hell. on judgement day, their bodies will be reunited with their souls in either heaven or hell.
i don't know exactly how they feel pain and stuff, but i can betcha it will be worse when their bodies are there!
well, hopefully that kinda helps!
The paradox of pain without bodies is present in every Christian version of hell. The idea of the souls of the wicked residing in everlasting fire etc. It is one of the paradoxes of nearly any version of the next life, we have to try to express what something we have never experience will be like so that people on earth can get it.
ReplyDeleteDante is perhaps a tad more graphic than most, but since he can't exactly express what hell is really like (having never actually been there), he tries to create punishments that both reflect the sin committed and are vividly understandable to us as physical beings.
i agree with megan that it wasn't only because they fell in love with someone else that the souls were sent to hell. Although Dante kind of feels that way himself and pities them for it, the girl that you're talking about commited aldultry, therefore she was sent to hell.
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