Essay on Outside Influences on Dante’s Inferno - 832 Words

Anyone who has read Dante’s Inferno is familiar with a certain main character, Virgil. Who is this Virgil that Dante put in his book and where did Dante get the idea of having Virgil as his guide on Dante’s journey through the spirit world? In addition to Virgil, readers of Inferno are also familiar with concepts and characters such as God, angles, demons, Satan, and Hell. Where did Dante get these concepts? Dante did not come up with these ideas on his own, but used familiar characters and places from outside sources such as the Aeneid and the Bible to create his epic poem. One important source that Dante used was Virgil’s Aeneid. According to Peter S. Hawkins, Dante cited Virgil 192 times in his writings (Hawkins 125). Dante†¦show more content†¦Dante’s and Aeneas’s journeys through Hell were epic journeys with some similarities. In the Aeneid, Virgil sends the protagonist, Aeneas, on a journey through Hell in which a sibyl, an ancient pr ophetess, guides the way. (Virgil 169-192). Dante uses this same literary technique by having Vigil guide him through Hell in his own epic poem. In addition to the Aeneid, another major source which Dante used was the Bible. In fact Date cited the Bible more than any other source. Peter S. Hawkins claims that Dante has 575 citations from the Bible in his works (Hawkins 125). When Dante was writing Inferno and coming up with the ideas of the circles and what sins and sinners he was going to assign to them, he looked at the Bible for a reference. For example, in Canto I line 2 of Inferno, Dante finds himself walking in a dark wood. Dante could have looked at Psalm 23 verse 4 for his idea of the â€Å"dark wood.† â€Å"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me† (Ps. 23.4). In Canto I line 3 Dante said, â€Å"I had strayed from the straight pathway†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Alighieri 3). He could have used many passages from the Bible to construct this idea. Some examples of this idea are found in Job 19:8; 24:13, Proverbs 2:13, Matthew 3:3, Mar k 1:3, Luke 3:4 and others such as Ps.27:11 which says, â€Å"Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because ofShow MoreRelatedThe Oxford Dictionary gives five different definitions of the meaning of â€Å"politics.† One definition1200 Words   |  5 Pagespeople write and think about life. Politics has been a major influence on literary works, such as Dante’s Inferno, Don Quixote, and Corinne, Or Italy, and in these works you get the chance to understand the political beliefs from the author’s point of view instead of from another character in the novel. Dante’s Inferno, although seemingly a religious epic poem, actually has many political undertones. 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