I have recently been studying Dante's Inferno. I previously had what I think are fairly common stereotypes of the work. I thought it was primarily weird images of where different types of sinners spent their time in hell, according to Dante's ideas of justice and punishment. I found something a bit more interesting and engaging.Dante's journey is an allegory of what unrepentant sin does to a person, to society in general and to the universal Church. He draws heavily on characters from his own time, biblical references and mythological stories, all things people of his time (circa 1300) were familiar with.
Even tho some of the character references are dated, it is easy to recognize their flaws in our own lives. One thing that struck me was the fact that most all of the people in hell passed off responsibility for whatever they had done wrong. It was always the fault of circumstances, other people or other outside influences that they behaved the way they did. A very contemporary problem.
But, for those that do want to see the weird ideas of who is in which level of hell and why, here is a flash site with an overview of each level.
And here is a new movie about the story.
2 comments:
I love Dante. I wonder though if calling his entire work an allegory might be an over-generalization. There are a lot of ideas there that have influenced Catholicism, or at least refer to general (incorrect) beliefs at the time.
You should read "The Dante Club." I read it a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Since you you have Dante on the mind right now you would probably get more out of it than I did.
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