Dante Essay

Many writers chose to use their own life struggles or beliefs as ideas for their work. During the Italian Renaissance philosophers began to question Christian doctrine and values. These questions inspired religious-based works. Some of these works criticized the Church while others glorified its practices. Several of these works became controversial for the content. One of the great writers of this era, Dante Alighieri, who was interested in these questions decided to illustrate his conclusions in an epic poem. Dante’s allegory, "The Inferno", analyzes religious doctrine and his own beliefs by depicting himself as having qualities of being devout, poetic, and sympathetic to others’ suffering.

Throughout Dante’s journey in the nine circles of hell his quality of being devout in his Christian faith is highly stressed. Dante did not compose his own list of terrible sins, but rather he abides by the list of sins by the Church. Dante depicts the Heretics, those who dissent from God’s teachings, as being in the lower levels of hell. He assigns them a particularly brutal corporal punishment of being interred inside flaming tombs. This contempt for those who spoke ill of the church was also directed towards the corruption of the church. Dante incorporates biblical allusions throughout his work. The very first line in Canto 1, which comes from the Book of Psalms, “Midway on our life’s journey,” (90:10) validates Dante’s quality of being devout. Also in Canto 34, Dante alludes to the Holy Trinity when illustrating the faces of Satan, which holds the three ultimate betrayers. In this perverted trinity dwell Cassius, Brutus, and Judas instead of God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These allusions show his familiarity with Scripture. Dante’s devout mission of warning Christians about their sins is all the more illustrated through his use of poetry.

Dante’s poetic format and irony contribute to his poetic flare in The Inferno. Following along with his devout...