People often don’t know where the origins of our modern idea of Hell comes from. Dante’s Inferno gives us a lot of insight as to where these ideas came from. I want to establish immediately that Dante’s inferno is for a specific group of people. People who have a large interest in learning about Dante’s interpretation of Hell. It was written by Dante Alighieri, and was written in Italian in the 14th century (1300s). Obviously since it was written in the middle ages, it’s been translated a number of times through different languages which made most of the language quite peculiar, but unique nonetheless. Infenio, describes Dante’s journey through Hell and is the first part in the series of poems known as the Divine Comedy. Personally, due to the language at the time and the translation I believe it is fairly difficult to read. It’s similar to Shakespearean language and was written in the middle ages with many references to lesser known historical figures prior to the time period.
The story is fairly straightforward. Dante travels downward through Hell elaborated through cantos (an Italian term which basically means a specific kind of poem). Each section of Hell is divided by 9 circles with each one representing a different sin of the “Seven Deadly Sins” with the exception of the circles one and nine. The first circle being limbo and the ninth being treachery respectively. Throughout Dante’s journey he encounters a number of well-known Hellenes (Greeks). Remember, this was a journey through Hell. Dante was not promoting any of Hellenes, instead he was saying why they committed the sins they committed and where they belong in Hell. If anything, Dante was trying to make the Greeks look bad. Dante travels through Hell with his guide and mentor Virgil, a Roman poet. After they leave Hell, Dante enters purgatory and Virgil continues with him but as a fellow pilgrim instead of his master.
Overall, I think if you’re looking for a particularly hard piece of writing this is worth considering because even though I’m not especially fond of it, I believe there is a lot of value in attempting to read it and understand it’s concepts. Plus it tells the history of how we came to the modern illustrations/depictions of Hell, personally, that’s the most interesting part to me, however I did also like the story. I like the way Hell is described and the character’s emotions towards their encounters in Hell. Virgil is often calm while Dante is easily frightened. It makes the character’s feel more real and unique.
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