The Structure and Content of Dantes Inferno Essay

In his first article of The Inferno, Dante Alighieri starts to present a vivid view of Hell by taking a journey through many levels of it with his master Virgil. This voyage constitutes the main plot of the poem. The opening Canto mainly shows that, on halfway through his life, the poet Dante finds himself lost in a dark forest by wandering into a tangled valley. Being totally scared and disoriented, Dante sees the sunshine coming down from a hilltop, so he attempts to climb toward the light. However, he encounters three wild beasts on the way up to the mountain—a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf—which force him to turn back. Then Dante sees a human figure, which is soon revealed to be the great Roman poet Virgil. He shows a different path†¦show more content†¦When alluding to the leopard in line two, Dante refers to it as she and uses lithe to describe its movement, indicating a strong sense of the feminine. Also, the usage of quick of foot and blocking the pat h, shows a feeling of rapidity which creates a serious situation like a sudden attack. From the allegorical level, it is not hard to find out the moral of a female leopard: the dangerous but attractive desire of lust. In the next line, Dante expresses his fear of this leopard by saying more than once she made me turn about to go back down. Here the leopard cuts Dantes way towards light, which is a signal of God’s love and the way to peace, and makes him return by the way he came, so he becomes frustrated. Another emergency starting with But not so much that the next sight wasnt fearful follows immediately. The second beast appears as a fierce lion. His â€Å"roaring with hunger† is so severe that â€Å"the air appears to tremble,† revealing a slaughterous animal nature and symbolizing great power in an allegorical plane. Apparently, the lion has a huge appetite for human, so Dante almost feels like dying at this point. What is worse, a grim she-wolf comes into s ight. The reference to her â€Å"leanness seemed to compress all the world’s cravings† and she â€Å"had made miserable such multitudes† contributes to an intense longing for everything, which is concluded as another humanShow MoreRelatedHow Dante Achieves a Synthesis Between Narrative and Cultural Elements in His Writing1565 Words   |  6 Pagesliterature in general attempted to do this and Dante was no different with regard to this in his copying of Virgil and the Aeneid in their depictions of hell in pagan mythology. Analysis There are a host of specific examples from pagan mythology in the Inferno. For instance, in Canto 15, we see Dante leaving the wood of suicides. The people there do not have a chance to assume a new metamorphosis form due the heinousness of the crime of suicide (Aligheri and Lombardo 72). In Canto 14, we further see thatRead MoreEssay about The Divine Comedy1224 Words   |  5 Pagesthrough hell, keep going. 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