The Divine Comedy and the Human Experience :: Divine Comedy Inferno Essays

The Divine Comedy The Depth of Human Experience       Religious, structured, and orderly. Although this book is religious through and through, it is also very earthly. You seem to never leave the earth. In fact, there seems to be no difference between earth and the supernal sphere. It is a solid world, no distinction between mind and matter, everything is touchable. The natural expresses the spiritual, the spirit of God is physical and pervades the physical universe--its all one place. on that point is no heaven and sin, it is meet all here. For this reason, this book answers all of those questions you had as a kid in Sunday school and nobody could leave behind you a satisfying answer, for instance, where do people go when they die, what does hell nerve like, what does heaven look like, what is purgatory, and how does one get from purgatory to heaven. Sunday school teachers should just read Dante to the kids--it is the end-all encyclopedia of heaven, hell, and purgatory. The symbolism of the beginning is nice, that he is in a forest being chased by various animals. I tidy sum imagine that each of the animals represents some kind of vice and that the part in the woods symbolizes the sinful, confused life full of temptations. It was interesting that Virgil was his guide. I was expecting a more religious character, for instance, Moses--but it later turned out that he was seance in hell himself That was an eye-opener. It makes you realize the difference between the old and the in the altogether testaments. Even Noah was in hell.() But at least they werent very qabalistic in hell. All hope abandon ye who enter here. I care how Hell is an interactive place for Dante. He isnt afraid to touch the merchandise. then(prenominal) seizing on his hinder scalp, I cried Name thee, or non a hair shall tarry here. He is human, he takes part and overreacts. And he keeps fainting. Its not a Universal Studios ride through hell, but you pote ntiometer actually grab ahold of the props, talk to old friends and acquaintences, and the guide will patiently wait for you when you faint. Another aspect of hell that surprised me was that the devil was stand on a frozen lake. This isnt the picture of Larsons Far Side hell scenes, nor is the devil the cool, rebellious bad boy of Miltons Paradise Lost.