Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

The Inferno begins with Dante traveling through dark and dangerous woods. He has strayed off the righteous path and is heading closer to becoming a sinner. While he is traveling he comes upon a break in the forest and finds a giant mountain. Compelled, he tries to scale it, only to be stopped by three beasts. Discouraged, Dante goes back into the woods. It is there that heaven sent aid is given to Dante as Virgil's ghost. Virgil tells Dante that he can redeem himself and get back to the righteous path by going up the mountain and through hell. Virgil easily defeats the beasts and they make it to the mountain's top. There they find the gates of hell and descend into purgatory. Once they pass purgatory, Dante is lead by Virgil through the nine rings of hell, defeating various monsters and meeting various forsaken souls on the way. At first, Dante pities them and is affected by their torment so much that he faints. But as he descends into hell's lower levels, he begins to harden his heart and even helps torture some of the souls. He learns that they are damned souls and do not deserve his kindness. Once Dante gets to the center of hell, he must defeat the Devil, least he be denied redemption.

Questions

1)Do you think it was right of Dante to help torment the damned? If so, why?
2)Do you think Dante would not have succeeded if he had not changed his mindset and had continued to pity the tortured souls?

20 comments:

Daniella V. 1-2 said...

1. I do not think it was right of him to help torture them but at the same time if he did not he probably would have died.


2. no i do not think he would have survived because he would not have been able to keep in touch with himself if he had not.

Brandon Messner said...

1. I do not believe it was morally right for Dante to torment the damned. I am sure that those poor souls were suffering enough as it was without help from Dante. I also find those kind of actions to be outside his realm of jurisdiction being a man.

2. I think Dante would have succeeded even had he not tormented the damned. Again, I do not think it was in his place to do so. I certainly pity anyone who goes to hell just because of how horrid I imagine it to be. I do not think he was doing anything wrong by pitying the tortured souls.

Josie D 7/8 said...

1. I don't think it was right for him to torture them, for sake of his own conciensce. They were sent to hell, where they shall be eternally suffering, they didn't really need to have added torture by him. He could have just kept moving on without adding to their torture.

2. I doubt he would have suceeded, but by the way your review sounded. It seems that they wanted Dante to believe these souls were beneath him or else he would not be saved.

Nicole H. 7-8 said...

1. I don't think it was right of him to torture the damned. He himself was straying off the right path but was given a chance by heaven to redeem himself. Had he not been given this chance perhaps he too would have been subjected to tortures of hell.
2. I don't think Dante would have made it through with the mindset of pitying the damned. What he had to do to get to the center of hell, but I think if he had pitied them, they would have taken advantage of him and would have stopped him from reaching his destination.

Sydney M 7-8 said...

1. I don't think it was right of Dante to torment the damned. They were put in hell to suffer and on top of that they didn't need more torture. He could have went on without tormenting them.

Sarah N. 7-8 said...

I agree with what Nicole was saying, I think that it was only natural to pity the damned, because he could have been hell if he did not have the chance to escape. I also agree that he probably would not succeed if he continued to pity them, because they would take advantage of him. It seems that the battles he had to face was all about strength and the monsters would take advantage of him, because he was weak and pitied the damned. Also, the horrors of hell would eventually change his mindset into something darker.

Madi Y 7-8 said...

I dont think it really mattered if the people of hell are being tourtured or not. If they are in hell, then there in hell. There is nothing to do about it. Hell is not a good place at all. So the people there are probably expecting lots of tourture. I really don't think it mattered.

Avi D. 7/8 said...

1. Loohing at the matter in a moral standpoint Dante should not have tortured those souls because he does not have the right to do so. It is the Devil's job. However, those souls had their cahnce on Earth and probably deserved it.

2. He would not have succeeded because he would have died. If he did not hardened he would be hesitant to make his way out of hell.

Mia G. 1-2 said...

1. absolutely not. it was not his job, he was not asked to, and its pretty heartless. no lie.

2. yeah. what does being heartless and evil have to do with surviving? i think he'd get along just fine being a good and kind person like he should be from the beginning.

Freddy B. 7-8 said...

1. I agree with Brandon. It was morally wrong for him to both torture the damned and for him to judge them, him being just like they are.
2. I do not think he would have succeeded if he had not hardened his heart. He would have had no strength to face the devil after seeing such tortures.

Heather B. 1-2 said...

1.) The souls were alrady being tormented. He should not have assisted in their torture.

2.) He may have been defeated if he had continued to pity the souls, because his pity was obviously draining. However, tortureing them himself was unjustified.

Leah K. 7-8 said...

1. I don't believe it was right for him to torture those people because by him doing that he has made himself an even worse person. Just because they did something wrong doesn't mean he can do something bad to them.

Unknown said...

1. I do not believe it was right of him to torture them. He had no right to torture them. Although they may have deserved to be tourtured, it was not Dante's job.

Sarah H 1-2 said...

No Dante should not have taken it apon himself to tortue the damned. It was wrong of him to do especially when he saw exactly what they went through without the extra torture. I also think he would have been better off not changing himself, as long as he could keep up his will power, he could make it through without the harming of other souls.

Spencer P. 1-2 said...

1. I do not think he should have helped torture the damned. He could have just as easily passed by even if he did not pity them.

2. He would not have succeeded if he had not hardened his heart, but he also did not need to help torture them.

Laura P 7-8 said...

2. I do not think that he would have succeeded if her had not changed his mindset, because he was heading down a darker path in his life and ultimately did not have to continue to pity the tortured souls.

Natesa W. 7-8 said...

No, I do not think that it was right for Dante to help torment the damned. It was not his job to judge them and to torment them. That job was for the devil.
No, I do not think he would have succeeded if he had not changed his mindset. He would have not been able to survive while still feeling pity for all of the people that he would have encountered.

Miranda R. 7-8 said...

2. I do not think he would have survived if he did not torture them. In order to make it to the lower levels of Hell and to the Devil, he needed to be tough and unsympathetic.

Hannah K. 1-2 said...

I think that Dante should have helped the damn, as they were forced to endure sever punishments that no one should deserve,
I do not think he would have been able to, as he would have been preoccupied with heloing others rather than himself,

Nathan S. 7-8 said...

I don't think it was right for Dante to help torture the damned; he had no reason to and didn't benefit from it.

I think that he sealed his fate as a damned soul by torturing the other damned souls.