Dantes Inferno1

A detailed Summary of Dantes Inferno1

In his poem, the Inferno, Dante mentions many well know people. Dante mentions such people as Pope Anastasius, Alexander the great, Cleopatra, and many others. The poem is about Dante who has died, and upon reaching the afterlife, he was stopped short of heaven by three beasts. When Dante flees the beasts, Virgil appears. Virgil states that he is there to take Dante to heaven, but it will be a long trip through hell. Virgil tells Dante that the only way to heaven is to follow him. Dante follows, and the majority of the poem is a very descriptive narrative of what Dante sees and encounters.

Throughout his journey, Dante sees and encounters people he had known or read about in life. These are all people who had sinned in life and now in death, are punished eternally. Dante's version of hell is that people will have their sin turned against them. In many instances, Dante points out what the sin of the person was, and describes in detail, how they are being punished in hell.

In Canto III, The Vestibule of Hell, Dante talks about the Opportunists. Souls who in life never took a side, but instead were on the side where they themselves would gain the mo

However, the last level, or circle of hell, number nine is equal to the death penalty. Souls in the ninth level, are souls that have committed sins that are so atrocious that it is hard to imagine. Here Dante finds Brutus and Cassius. The ninth level of hell is divided into four rounds. It is in the fourth round that Dante finds Brutus and Cassius. Brutus and Cassius are guilty of treachery to their master-i.e. Caesar. Dante finds both Brutus and Cassius being eaten by Satan, a three-headed beast who devours souls of the ninth level. Brutus and Cassius are two of the unlucky ones. It is this level that I think is equal to the death penalty in our society.

The Inferno is a fictional book, Dante was never in hell, and he never saw the things he wrote about. However, while reading the book, I managed to relate many of the things he talked about to our judicial system today. In the book, Dante talks about the nine circles, or levels of hell. Each level dealt with a different sin, and as the level increased, so to did the severity of the sin and in turn, the severity of the punishment.

In our judicial and political systems today, we have many different levels also. I consider the levels of hell to be our levels of punishment that range from a month or so in jail, to the death penalty. According to Dante, the first circle (level) of hell is limbo. The souls here were people who died before Christ's coming. They are not tortured, only they are just forced to spend eternit

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Approximate Word count = 1009
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English