Ok so first impressions of The Inferno for me so far: First, the continuity that Beowulf had continued by explaining the banishing of all the monsters that were in works by Homer and Virgil allowed me to plot a sort of time line in where the stories had taken place in this fictional world, and I was all for a continued timeline by Dante! But, and I say this with the utmost sincerity, the choice of creating what his depiction of the afterlife would look like and creating a whole other fictional world actually helped set the scene for the first portion of the story. Second, and the main focus of this week’s blog, I really have to applaud the choices made in the world building by Dante. I typically put some sort of music on whenever I am reading, and playing some mysterious/ominous sounding music while imagining Dante’s first couple rings of hell was terrifying to say the least. The inclusion of notable characters such as Charon and Minos just add on to the depth he’s adding on with each canto.
Another detail that struck me as odd was that there was a “limbo” circle where the souls there neither truly suffered or prospered, and were merely controlled by their human reason. Among the counts of the people in the first circle, Dante lists some very significant people throughout history:
“Electra stood in great company among whom I saw Hector and Aeneas and Caesar in armor in with his Falcons eye. . . And raising my eyes a little I saw on high Aristotle, the master of those who know, ringed by the great souls of philosophy. All wait upon him for their honor and his. I saw Socrates and Plato at his side we’re all others there. Democritus who ascribes the world to chance, Diogenes, and with him there Thales, Anaxagoras, Zeno, Heraclitus, Empedocles.” (Dante, 30-31).
My gripe with this first circle is that the souls of heroes such as Aeneas, Hector, and philosophers such as Plato and Aristotle are put on a green that just so happens to represent the pinnacle of all human glory. First and foremost, I have to question what kind of afterlife that would have these individuals seemingly excused from suffering with other wrongdoers when Dante clearly has built his fictional world off of Catholic beliefs. I get that these were the characters and past individuals who inspired him and all, but the theological retcon that happens here really threw me for a loop. I think as Dante descends further, we will see more of the maggots, creatures with weapons, and other hellish constructs that contribute to Dante’s version of hell. What are some of your thoughts and observations?
p.s. I commented on Abbie's and Logan's posts.
I myself am not entirely sure and do not know much about the time period in which Dante lived and wrote, but I think his beliefs and theology was drawn more from catholic thought. I think Catholicism affirms a version of hell similar to this and also affirms a place of medium such as purgatory. I am not sure if this helps at all, but I thought it might give a little insight as to where Dante found his inspiration for the hell that he presents in his world.
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