1. Dante, appears first page.
2. Dante is the main character and narrator of Dante's Inferno. He, along with his new companion, Virgil, are making their way through the levels of hell. Dante encounters many spirits that he interacts with and observes the torments which they undergo all day, everyday.
3. Dante can be compared to Gilgamesh in the sense that each under went trials to learn about the morals of life and the effects of poor choices. "Speak to me with the answers that I crave about these souls and the sepulchers they fill:"(X.5).
4. Dante it is arguable that Dante is or is not a hero in the poem, but as an author and narrator of hell his is a hero. Dante is a hero for showing and telling others about hell. He tells of the sins that will place sinners in specific levels of hell and what torments the sinner will be faced with. Dante is a hero.
6 comments:
It is very arguable that Dante is or is not a hero. I would consider Dante as more of a guide then a hero. I havn't seen any qualities that make him particularly different than others besides the fact that he is brave enough to walk through hell, and if I had a guide or mentor I would go too. I think it would be interesting to see. Another thing that might make him seem heroic is the fact that he somehow made Beatrice fall in love with him. Other than that Dante more or less informs us about what he is witnessing.
The narrator of THE INFERNO that seems to be a personification of Dante has, in my estimation, probably the fewest heroic qualities of those we have listed in class. Despite this, and most likely because of this - of his more regular qualities like being afraid and reflecting some of the negative traits he sees in the shades he encounters - I identify more easily with him and want to elevate him to more of a heroic status. As 'Dante' the poet, I see him as more of a heroic figure than his narrative character. For if he holds the Catholic tenets that determine so many of the tortuous scenes he depicts as devoutly as we are led to speculate, then I think he probably really did exert heroic and horrific creativity in imagining hell with all its bloody brilliance.
I think what you are tying to say Dominick is that, Dante "the pilgrim" can be compared to Gilgamesh whereas Dante "the poet" can be considered a hero. I have to agree with both you and Angela that whether either Dante (pilgrim/poet) "is or is not a hero" are both arguable. Dante the pilgrim is portrayed as "frightened" (XVII.111),prone to "weep" (III.20)and feel pity for some souls in hell.We also see, however, that Dante "the poet" as he retells the tale shares "the pilgrim's" emotions ["pains me...when I recall it now"(XVI.10)"still makes me shudder" (XIV.63)]. There does seem to be some growth though as he adheres to Virgil's warnings "...fearing that a longer stay might vex him who had cautioned..." (XVII.67-9)
Are you saying that Dante the character or Dante the writer are heros? I happen to believe that Dante the character is not a hero because he was a coward in the beginning. Some of these things would be incredably interesting to today's society. Later, he acts like he thinks he is God and passes personal judgements on their deserving punishment or more or less. I would feel sorry for some of these spirits as Dante, but not pass my own judgement, at least until I am being punished or glorified and able to do so with retrospect and full knowledge of all levels.
Well I agree that Dante is not a hero. He seems to be a unique individual to walk through hell and he really don't have a problem with it. But I feel that he has no place to place judgement on the other people in hell. Even though I feel sorry for some of the punishments the spirits go through I also can't say whether the punishments are suitable for their wrongs they have done on life on earth.
Dante is definitely the worst hero we have read about thus far. He has the least amount of qualities that we have discussed, further he is afraid of his own shadow. Every time he encounters a problem he runs to Virgil who is quick to tell himto stop being a coward. I know he is walking through hell and he deserves some credit for that, but even beforehe went in the entrance he was scared of the leopard, the she-wolf and the lion when other heroes we have read about in other texts like; Odysseus or Rama, would have slayed these beasts.
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