A Glimpse in the Inferno: An Essay

This is another essay I wrote for my Great Book of World Literature class last year. My Professor asked us to rewrite one of the cantos from Dante's "Inferno". I chose to work with the first one.

I woke to the darkness that sinners dread, but all must encounter.  Lifeless trees watched me, breathing threatening whispers that echoed against my soul, beating against my heart like a flickering pulse. My mind clouded by confusion, stabbed itself with contemplating the purpose of my arrival. I knew not what I had done to deserve such a punishment. My memories flooded through my head in angry rivers, pounding against the walls of shore, searching for a trail that did not exist. My thoughts became hopeless; my wrongdoing was hidden in shadow, shadow that could not be seen in the lightless world of which I now stood. I had somehow wandered from the light of good that shines down the path of ultimate bliss. Lifting myself from the dirt of evil, I rose to stand amongst the dead, decaying trees that lined the world around me. The darkness of the trees stalked me, planning their vicious attack like a herd of snakes, their presence slithering towards my racing feet. I felt the darkness choke my lungs and ran towards the only light present across the inanimate plain.

The light gleamed down on from a steep hill, extending high in the storm of the sky.  The light stuck together like the seeds of a pomegranate, its juice rippling down onto the cliff. My hands dug into the hill, pulling out jungles of weed and plant as I gathered myself up towards the radiance of paradise. I felt my fear drain from my pores as the light drew me towards it. However, once I had pulled myself up onto the steepness, I found confrontation from three mighty beasts, all enraged at my trespassing. A spotted leopard pounced from above, landing on the ground with ease, suggestively thrusting her hips side to side as her eyes gleamed at me through thick lashes. I staggered back, grabbing onto the air for balance. From her side appeared a lion, his main of hair, twisting itself up with pride, like he light guarded behind them. From the shadows came a she- wolf, crawling towards me, her greedy eyes robbing me of my hope. Their stares and hisses terrorized my mind, haunting it with horror. My fear, climbing back into my consciousness commanded me to fall back, leaving the battle, frantically shrieking out pleading cries. I collapsed onto the ground, my soul trembling with violent shivers of dread.

“Help me!” my voice cracked, tears blinding my eyes. “Help me!” I continued to shout, rolling on the ground, running through the forest of poking branches that scratched at my flesh. I ran until I stopped for breath, still searching for help, wondering what evil this dreadful realm could justify. It was then that a figure approached me; tall and commanding, it glided towards me, a heroic savior. I crept toward the figure, making out the strong lines of a male face. When he had finally approached me, my breath caught in my throat, stuck with awe and wonder.

“I am Virgil,” the poet stated. “Thou are trembling with fear , are ye not? For ye awoke in this decay, not sure of how thou wandered away from the path of bliss. Thy journey is set out for thee, for ye must follow me through the three realms where no living soul has passed.  The realm of which thou now enter, dreadful and deep, is where sinners live like Sisyphus, eternally suffering from the wrath of justice. The second realm is where all inhabitants may be saved, once they have worked off their sin. Alas, the third and final place is the eye of light, where all good things find themselves at the end of their journey. If ye shall find the journey finished, young poet, you too will find yourself in this divine light.” Thy presence of a kind voice pulled me up, extending my body with speechless command.

Thy poet was dear to me, singing me verses like Aoide; his works had inspired my thoughts, branching out into the creation of flowing words. I trusted thy poet with ease, envisioning thy head fitted with a glowing halo as I was led towards the beginning of my journey.  Question thy authority I could not, for thy melody that struck thy voice guided me from the filth of darkness, leading me into place where sinners shriek, begging for death, forever caught in fire of wrongdoing. Thy earthly sins punishing these souls until the day comes when the light of Christ would descend the earth and then they would be nothing.

In the first Canto of Dante’s Inferno, Dante wakes to find himself in a dark forest, where fear and dread rush through his veins. He is confused and unsure of what sin he could have committed to stray from the path of God. This first opening scene is essential, as it draws out the world of the inferno, emphasizing on the wretchedness that lies there, for these reasons I focused on choosing words that would strike fear in a reader. The loneliness and darkness of the woods work together to create a setting of angst and dread. Dante, a devout follower of Christianity paints a scene that will cause the reader to fear hell and therefore not commit sin. Therefore, I chose words that described hell as lonely, terrifying and ugly. However, I then explain that once Dante has seen the light (or Paradiso) and is climbing towards it, the fear and dread he once felt vanishes, making the reader see the contrast between the Inferno and Paradiso.

In the opening paragraph of my re-write, I make it clear that the path of which Dante has strayed is the path to God by describing the path as “the light of good that shines down the path of bliss.” I chose this description because later in the book, Dante explains how Paradiso is light and those who find themselves in Paradiso have high levels of bliss. The light of good, or Paradiso, is what awaits those who are blissful and do not sin in life.

When Dante attempts to climb towards the light, he finds himself stopped by the beasts that represent the three sins one must have committed to be trapped in the Inferno. The first, a leopard, represents sensuality, the lion, pride and the she- wolf greed. For this reason, I attempted to describe their actions according to the  sin that each represents. The leopard is sensuous in her movements and the beauty of her eyes is given as well. The lion’s main is described as proudly sticking up around its head, almost protecting the lion, much of in a way that the lion proudly protects the light. The she- Wolf, greedy, “robs” Dante of his hope as he finally runs from the beasts, begging for help.

When Dante encounters Virgil the fear once again vanishes and he understands what must be done and the purpose in his given mission. Dante, in real life, was highly inspired by Virgil’s work, which is why I related Virgil to one of the first three muses, Aoide, the muse of song.  Virgil inspired Dante much like a muse. Since Dante looks up to Virgil and thinks so highly of him, he decides to allow Virgil to lead him through the realm of the Inferno without question. It is important to know the relationship between the two to understand why Dante accepts Virgil as his guide.

The final usage of language I consider important is my inclusion of both pagan and Christian symbolism, something that Dante used heavily. According to Greek mythology, because of his sins, Sisyphus was forced to carry a boulder up a hill every day only to watch it roll away once he was finished. The sinners, experience this as well, they are forced to forever live with their wrongdoings, unable to escape them. They live in their sins, constantly reminded and punished for them. For this reason, I used Sisyphus as a simile to describe the sinners. Also, by using a pagan character to describe sinners, I am degrading the pagan religion. Dante included both pagan and Christian symbols and characters for this very reason. To show the evilness of the pagan religion and to make readers believe that Christianity was all-powerful.  The last simile I intentionally included was the description of the light of God seeding together like a pomegranate. I stated, “The light stuck together like the seeds of a pomegranate, its juice rippling down onto the cliff.” In Christian symbolism, a pomegranate represents a unified church; the inhabitants of Paradiso all connect together, unified and following the same path. 

The way that this was written was meant to use language that described not only necessarily the surrounding setting, but also the emotion that was involved with experiencing such a setting.  In describing each scene with the purpose of evoking emotion, I was drawing a world of which no one would want to encounter him or herself by causing them to fear the Inferno. Similarly, I wanted the reader to understand that Paradiso evoked the opposite of the Inferno. Once Dante sets of to follow the light he states how his fear leaves him. Finally, by using religious symbolism to describe the world, I intended two things, to connect the book to the time period of which it was written, while at the same time advertising Christianity and putting down Paganism. Attempting to remain true to Dante’s Text, I included old English language such as the “thou”, “thee” and “ye”. The purpose of the first Canto is to induce fear of the Inferno and longing for Paradiso, ultimately working as religious propaganda towards Christianity.