Dante’s Inferno Essay

Durante Degli Alighieri, also known as Dante, lived from 1265 to 1321 AD. He was a well-known Italian poet from the late Middle Ages. His major works include the Divine Comedy, which was originally titled “Comedia” but was later renamed ”Divina” by the legendary Boccaccio. This poem is widely regarded as the finest literary work written in the Italian language, as well as a masterpiece of world literature. As a result, it is appropriate to refer to this work as the greatest Italian poem of the Middle Ages. Dante is recognized as the ”Founder of the Italian Language” and is considered one of the most famous poets in the world. Moreover, he is also referred to as ‘ilSommoPoeta’ (”the Supreme Poet”) in Italy. Inclusive of other two Petrarch, and Boccaccio, the three are known as the ”three fountains” or simply the ”three crowns” (Petrocchi 10).

His poem; Inferno Italian for ”Hell” was written in the fourteen century. It consists of three parts; hell (Inferno), Purgatory and Paradise. It narrates the journey of Dante through Hell, steered by the renowned ancient Roman poet Virgil. It also depicts hell as having nine concentric circles of retribution, torture and torment located within the Earth and the last one being the lowest and closest to Satan himself.

This paper will denote a character update putting into consideration how Dante arranged his hierarchy of sinners down to the gravest. It will present historical figures, list their crimes and depicts their consequent torment synonymous with their earthly crimes. Finally, it will present a short reflection on its similarity with the original Dante’s work; Inferno.

Book update

The realm portal opened, and we walked in, the surroundings grew darker, a staircase opened. Something appeared to be like a staircase dropping all the way down into the depths of the earth. All manner of crippling, slithering and crawling insects and reptiles could seem to crawl up and down the dirty walls. And just about then the staircase started to move as though a conveyor belt and we were lowered from the place we stood into the deep dark abyss. There were screams and shouts of anguish, and from the left objects that appeared to take human form could be observed. But as we walked through what seemed like strata, we noticed some familiar faces in history. Our guide told us that the more we sunk deep into the abyss, the more the levels became hotter, and torment was graver because the ranking of the sinners heightened with the depth.

When turning to the right just after approaching the seventh circle, a figure indicative of Adolf Hitler was noticeable. He was a German dictator who lived from 20th April 1889 up to 30 April. He was also the leader of the Nazi Party and consequently referred to as Führer. As Führer of the German Reich, he precipitated the World War II in Europe after invading Poland in September 1939 and later initiated the Holocaust (Takala 21). In there, he was dressed in a Jewish attire, indicative of the Jews he massacred; his head was muzzled and covered with a gas mask with tubes supplying what appeared as Cyanide gas, indicative of how he used chemical warfare. He appeared to be chained to a burning post that never extinguished (indicative of how he burnt Jews alive) and his hands covered with scars similar to those of cigarette butt burn marks (indicative of his sanctioned torture techniques.

As we passed by that circle, the air grew denser, and as we passed the main entrance into the eighth circle, a figure of Edward OrmusSharrington Davenport was noticeable. He was born was a convicted English fraudster and renown property developer. He was nicknamed as ”Fast Eddie” and came to the limelight in the late 1980s as the principal organizer of the controversial Gatecrasher Balls for wealthy young people. He orchestrated a series of tax offences in 1990, and from 2005 to 2009 he was reckoned as the “ringmaster” of series high-end advanced-fee fraud schemes that deliberately defrauded lots of individuals out of millions of pounds. He is speculated to have made £34.5 million through his many frauds (Price 12). In that eighth circle, he was dressed in tattered clothes contrary to the lavish life he accorded himself. He walked along with heavy chains bolted to heavy rolling metal balls indicative of the many frauds he orchestrated.

After leaving that circle, we dropped deeper almost to the end of the abyss and there our guide told us it was the ninth circle. The gravest of all traitors were tortured there, and true to that fact, we noticed Sir William Wallace. He was died on the 23rd August 1305 and was a Scottish knight who later became one of the main traitor leaders during the famous Wars of Scottish Independence. He was branded a traitor by King Edward I of England who later authorized he be hanged, drawn, and dismembered for high treason (Murison 14). He was dressed in tattered rags contrary to the grandeur armor he wore as a knight. His mouth was muzzled not to speak or utter a word, contrary to his revolutionary and liberating life. And he was placed least at the corner of all the occupants of that circle contrary to his leadership role. However, as we walked past this circle we noticed that the next step was the abode of Satan himself, and there we knew we had reached the depths of the inferno, where Satan the great traitor dwells.

Reflection

After developing this creative story, it is noticeable that it in many ways takes the structure inherent in the Inferno poem by Dante. To begin with, Dante’s hell is not structured as one would think. His gravity of crime is based on his criterion. Within the nine circles he stated, this creative piece depicts the seventh, eighth and the ninth. The seventh circle hosts the violent persons and is represented with the presence of Adolf Hitler who was a brutal and ruthless dictator. The eighth circle hosted the fraudsters according to Dante’s Inferno and in this piece; there is the depiction of Edward Davenport, a great cheat and swindler. And the last circle hosted the traitors just next to Stan the greatest of all traitors who rebelled against God. In this circle, there is the presence of William Wallace who was considered an enemy of England and the Greatest Traitor within the history of that country.

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Works cited

Murison, Alexander Falconer. Sir William Wallace. Kyokuto Shoten, 2014.

Petrocchi, Giorgio. L’inferno di Dante. Vol. 169. Rizzoli editore, 1978.

Price, Robert L., and Edward R. Davenport Jr. ”Cash register security system.” U.S. Patent No. 4,035,792. 12 Jul. 1977.

Takala, Tuomo, and TommiAuvinen. ”The Power of Leadership Storytelling: Case of Adolf Hitler.” Tamara Journal of Critical Organisation Inquiry 14.1 (2016): 21.