Dante Alighieri College Essays Samples For Students

Compare and contrast Achilles in Dante’s Inferno and Homer’s Iliad

Compare and contrast Achilles in Dante’s Inferno and Homer’s Iliad

Introduction

Dante Alighieri in his legendary text, Inferno, believes that anyone who committed unacceptable deeds would be damned eternally among the nine circles of Hell. Without a doubt, people like Achilles were to be found in these circles. Specifically, Achilles existed in Hell’s second circle. He qualified for this circle by being not only extremely selfish but lacking self-control, having raging passions and betraying his country at times. These descriptions paint Achilles largely in weakness. His description of Hell focuses mainly on his failings rather than his ...

In this paper, I will look at the themes in The Odyssey and Inferno. The theme I will look at first is journeys. In the Odyssey, Odysseus struggles to return to his home and family. His journey takes ten years to complete. Unlike Odysseus, whose journey is physical in the Inferno, Dante’s journey encompasses the struggle between good and evil within himself. Dante see’s the afterlife as consisting of three level heaven, purgatory and hell. In the Odyssey as Odysseus is traveling back to Ithaca he encounters a number of mythological and supernatural creatures like Poseidon, Circe, ...

Dante’s Confession – A Literary Analysis

In his “Inferno” Dante Alighieri, the author of The Divine Comedy, portrays himself as the 35 year old Dante the Pilgrim, who is “Midway along the journey of [his] life” (Alighieri & Musa, 2002). Alighieri’s Dante the Pilgrim is a man who has “wandered off from the straight path” (Alighieri & Musa, 2002) and has gone astray from “the path of truth” (Alighieri & Musa, 2002). Dante wrote the Inferno as a public confession of his sins, to make his readers comprehend the redemption of the soul. After all, confession is the first step toward redemption. In the Inferno, Dante the Pilgrim feels ...

The Lord of the flies written by William Golding and Inferno by Dante Alighieri are allegorical books that expound common themes and similitude in the usage of styles. In particular, the common theme that resonates in these two books is the nature of man and the evil that men harbor in their hearts. In essence, the two novels delve to answer the question as to who is the real enemy of humankind. Though the two authors dexterously use different stylistic devices to answer the question, the convergence is that man himself is the worst enemy to each other. According ...

This paper considers the shared ideas among Homer, Dante Alighieri, Virgil, and the anonymous writer of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The idea of paradise and hell, right, and wrong, retribution, and reward are evident in the texts with some of them bearing a close resemblance to each other. For the conclusion, there will be an analysis of how the authors’ perceptions echo in present-day societies.
Perhaps the most common theme availed in all the reading is pride. In the texts, pride dominates the actions of the heroes and even propels some to act irrationally for the sake ...

Dante’s depiction of hell in his Inferno is arguably what makes Inferno the most famous of his Divine Comedy trilogy. It is a fascinating piece for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that it is an epic poem written in the vernacular-- the language of the common people. Along with the other two parts of the trilogy, Inferno tells part of the story of the Christian mythos. It continues to draw readers because of the sensationalist nature of the poem. However, despite being about Hell, Dante’s Inferno is not only an allegorical poem about Hell, ...

Dante Alighieri wrote the Divine Comedy (Divina Comedia) in the thirteenth century. The work was divided into three stages namely, Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory) and Paradiso (Paradise). It was a well-renowned religious epic during Dante’s time which tells about his journey from Hell to the Paradise. Virgil, who was also a great Roman poet and Beatrice, Dante’s beloved lady guided him through the different circles of hell. The poem which was written in the Tuscany dialect also establishes the modern Italian language. The poem was divided into nine circles. Each circle represents the deadly sins of the mortal world ...