Dantes Inferno

Dante’s use of allegory in the Inferno tremendously varies from Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” in objective, symbolism, characters and mentors, and in attitude toward the world. An analysis of every of these components in each allegories will present an interesting comparison. Dante makes use of allegory to relate the sinner’s punishment to his sin, while Plato makes use of allegory to discuss ignorance and know-how. Dante’s Inferno describes the descent by way of Hell from the upper level of the opportunists to the most evil, the treacherous, on the lowest level. His allegorical poem describes a hierarchy of evil. Conversely, Plato’s “Allegory of the Cave” describes the ascent from ignorance to know-how, as a single prisoner is freed to make his way up towards the opening of the cave and experiences sunlight, the unavoidable truth. Symbolism is an essential element of each works. In Plato’s allegory symbols are employed to represent truth, ignorance, society and the worry of transform. Truth is represented by the sun, although ignorance is represented by the cave, its restricted vision and darkness within. The prisoners represent ignorant members of society who are content material to think that what they see is all that exists. Fear of adjust is represented by the prisoners angry reaction towards the freed, enlightened prisoner. Dante’s Inferno is a detailed description of sin and its connection to degrees of punishment. As stated in the text, “…for the face was reversed on the neck, and they came on backwards, staring backwards at their loins for to look before them was forbidden.” (Ciardi, pg. 175) This quote describes the punishment for fortune tellers. In life the fortune tellers foresaw the future. In death they are doomed to exist with their heads on backwards and their eyes overflowing with tears so that not only could they not see what was happening in front of them, but they could not see at all due to these copious amounts of tears. Similarly, each and every sin had its own logical punishment, and every group of sinners received the identical punishment, with only a couple of exceptions. Such an exception can be found in Canto XXlll when Caiaphas lies crucified on the floor although the other hypocrites walk around him in circles. He is set apart simply because he counseled a Roman to crucify Jesus. When the sinners represent man’s imperfections, Virgil symbolizes human cause. Throughout the poem, Virgil uses logic and reason to convince the monsters to…