Essay Example on Virgil and Dante

Published: 2021-07-10
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Virgil is regarded as a person with numerous great and honorable integrity. To Dante, Virgil is a great mentor to his journey in various levels of hell. With regards to writing works and sonnets, Dante is an excellent writer who accomplishes tremendous works in light of his compassion and otherworldly personalities. Despite the fact that Dante holds a high regard for Virgil, his spiritual minds are rising to a significant level from the direction of Virgil (Virgil. et al.).

From multiple points of view, Dante's perspective of Hell takes after the bible's perspectives of Hell in Christianity. The Book of Revelation portrayed hell as fixed pit in which Satan stayed. The wicked dead would be rebuffed by being tossed into a pool of flame, which was depicted as main death. Even though there will be a fire in Dante's Hell, for Dante, is a pit fixed in the earth. The connection between Dante and Virgil is progressively evolving as they go through different circles of Hell. Virgil clarifies many subtle elements, structures, and purpose of Hell as calmly as he can, keeping in mind the end goal of enlightening him. Additionally, he reminds Dante not to be compassionate to the blocked souls, considering the fact that these souls are there for retribution by God (Dante Alighieri, and Mark Musa).

Dante and Virgil meet at a tower where they see three distant flames. Dante is curious and wants to know more about the fire. Suddenly. Phlegyas arrives rejoicing that he has caught Dante. They decide to go together via the boat. While on the vessel, the flame multiplies and a voice is heard asking who Dante is. Dante is scared and fears that he will be deserted, and asks Virgil not to abandon him. Virgil guarantees him that he won't relinquish him and that somebody will open the door. Dante and Virgil need to be patient and wait for the spiritual force from heaven to guide them. This is an update that for Dante, unlike Virgil, the grace of God is essential to give salvation and it is the key to the underworld (Virgil. et al.).

Even though there is a lot of mutual respect between the two, there is a diverse understanding of human morality and the outcomes of the behavior during life after death. Dante points out to Virgil that according to the victim, the sins of violence take three distinct structures. These structures are neighbors, God, and an individual himself. The persons who execute savagery against other individuals or their property, people who murder others and crooks are penalized in the primary ring of the seventh circle, a waterway of blood. The second ring contains the people who sin against themselves or their property, suicides and squanders. These people occupy a horrific forest. The third ring includes brutal guilty parties against who sinned against God. These individuals are punished by being placed in the third ring having sand ignited by chips of flame.

Dante draws on the scriptural demolition of Sodom and Gomorrah by fire and brimstone and the antic judgments of natives of Cahors for lending at high interests. Dante's enthusiastic responses to the shades in the seventh circle extend from the impartial perception of the killers and empathy for a suicide to regard for a few Florentine homosexuals and repugnance at sight and conduct of the vulgar usurers. Dante condemns homosexuality as it is conflicting to nature. Homosexuality was typical in Florence until penalties were formulated. Punishments against it incorporated appropriation of property and death penalty (Dante Alighieri, and Mark Musa).

Nonetheless, in striking differentiation to the rational and political judgments of sodomy during his time, Dante evaluates people of the same-sex relations with kindness, regard, and love. In light of his consideration of different-sex couples and same-sex couples in the Underworld on their journey to Paradise, Dante points out that the transgressions rebuffed in Hell may not be gay person relations but rather just radical or indiscriminate homosexual action (Dante Alighieri, and Mark Musa).

Virgils condemnation of usurers was in line with how other people were treating them. Given scriptural entries like Luke chapter 6 verse thirty-five which says that people should loan money out expecting nothing extra to be given back to them. On the other hand, Dante points out that medieval scholars considered the loaning of cash at high interests to be evil. Thomas Aquinas, in view of Aristotle, treated usury like homosexuality to be in opposition to nature since it is as per nature that money should never be used to increase value by itself but rather from natural products (Virgil. et al.).

In conclusion, building upon the Underworld is a fundamental component Virgil's works and has taken the head gesturing and resulting shaking of paradise, and clarified it by binding it to the Underworld (Virgil. et al.). To Virgil and Dante, there is motivation to trust that the Underworld assumes a critical part not just regarding our comprehension of the vast life after death, but also in religious philosophy itself our perception of the importance and essentialness of our moral behavior towards God.

Cited Works

Dante Alighieri, and Mark Musa. Dante's Inferno. Bloomington, Indiana University Press, 1995,.

Virgil. et al. The Aeneid. London, J.M. Dent, 1998,.

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