I normally wouldnt...but.....help :(?

Question

OK, so I have a paper due in 12 hours. An argument paper. its like 750-1000 words and the topic i chose is: "Dante wants his reader to believe that the events described in his Inferno actually took place. Write an argumentative paper either agreeing or disagreeing with this assertion." I want to argue that the events in the Inferno actually happened. Any Ideas on how to write this. All I have so far is "What is real and not real, what has or has not happen is all relative to the reader of a particular work. In the case of the Inferno, this assessment is particularly true." HELP!!!

Yes I actually do believe it did happen. I'm cooky like that

Answer 1

First, do you believe this? It is always easier to write about what you believe is true.

Bring up the topic of objective reality and subjective reality. Few would agree that Dante "went to Hell" in the objective sense. You have no burnt clothing, no handful of Hades soil to prove your case. But is this necessary to make the argument that this did happen?

The subjective reality is impossible to prove by objective means. Yes, Dante went to Hell and returned. The Inferno is his record of this event. Bring out the detail. If this was just an allegory, the details would not be necessary.

Pick out just a few details and go on to explain that Dante could have covered the same topic with some generalized statement, without details. Why add words to a work unless Dante was so impressed with what he observed that he just had to include these details.

What about the characters of Fra Alberigo and Branca d’Oria who were met in the third ring of the Ninth Level of Hell? Humans so bad as to be snatched out of their living bodies! Dante could not have made this up! (Okay, yes, he could, but just for the sake of argument). He surely never met any person in real life who was this evil. Use this as an example. Add your own details.