The Divine Comedy is a Medieval Poem that represents a journey of hell, heaven, and paradise. Dante’s journey explores the specifications that he and other people may acquire when determining their outcome of heaven or hell. His words express the sinfulness that occurs on earth and the reflection it has as punishment. The souls’ punishment of Hell reflects the disadvantage of traveling to Heaven. In Inferno, the sinners symbolize the hatefulness that occurs and the price that their souls pay in Hell. “He talks about the wrath of God and the souls coming together from every country”. .
Dante explains that sin is among all people and that those who do are punished. He relates to those who are Christian and non-Christian because of the actions and thoughts that they have in their minds and actions. “I saw thousands of angels that fell from Heaven like rain above the gate who cried angrily” . He explains that God had used Hell as a place to justify sin and punish the souls who had committed.
The limitations in the afterlife reflect on the degree in which sins were committed. The reflection of punishment that is handed down depends on the type of sin and the degree in which the sin was committed. The afterlife depends on the individual and the punishment in which the soul is enduring for committing the sins in the actual life. Dante sees the sins in a different perspective through God’s will and not the sin itself. “Fraud is a greater sin than murder because it affects Gods will through love and care against Gods will” .
Fate, Fortune and Free Will
The story of the Aeneid discusses fate, fortune, and free will. The fate resembles as a strong urge or force. “If your heart is set on it adding your own death, the door is wide open” . The characters in the story have the ability to deny or go against free will. In the story, it is Aeneid’s fate to locate the Italian city. He does find it which is his fate to do so. His free will is the obligation that he has to find the city in Italy. The characters can choose to deny fate, but in the long run they will see that it was not a good idea to do so. Each character tries to delay The Aeneid’s journey by convincing him to stay, but in the end, fate overpowers their free will. Juno tries to hold him off from getting to his destination of Latium, but does not completely stop him from reaching it. Dido tries to get him to stay longer in Carthage, but does not keep him there permanently.
These characters do not have the power to keep him because it is fate that he reaches his destination. “Invokes the gods of the underworld to prevent his journey” . There are inconsistencies in the poem of the Aeneid. The first inconsistency relates to the explanation of Hades. The underworld has different ideas or thoughts in his writings. “Take the decision to arouse the powers of Hell and extract a toll of bloodshed before the fated alliance takes place”. The souls that are deemed in Hades have two different explanations. Another inconsistency relates to the souls and reincarnation. He discusses the souls, but does not discuss the past and the future of the reincarnation.
Virgil has written Aeneid differently as an epic literary poem to be read by intelligent people. Aeneid represents the meaning and philosophical morals, but the characters are less believable than oral epic. Even though he experiences many problems and hard times on his journey, he still remembers why his fate has sent him there. “He is not afraid, only of the gods” (Daksha). His fate is to reach his destination and his free will keeps him on his way.
Work Cited
Alighieri, Dante. Inferno. Al-Maaref Printing, 1943. Web.Inferno III. Line 98
—. The Divine Comedy. PGLAF, 2005. Web.Inferno Canto VIII. Line 83
—. "The Divine Comedy." The Divine Study (2004): 1-24. Web.Inferno Canto XI. Line 17
Brooks, Otis. "Three Problems of Aeneid 6." American Philological Association (2012): 165-179. Web.Book VII. Line 290-293
Diksha, M. "Fate." The Aeneid Themes (2015): 1-6. Web.Book X. Line 889
Johnson, Skylar. "The Role of the Gods." Fate versus Free Will (2014): 1-4. Web.Book VI. Line 265
Virgil. Aeneid. Italy : Dryden, 1994. Web.Book II. Line 862
