i am writing a very long thesis paper on dantes inferno and i cant think of how it has effected our conception of hell in modern times.
2007-11-30 14:34:37 · 6 answers · asked by Tristan H 2 in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
You can compare the morals the Dante obviously had with the morals and beliefs we currently have. Obliviously there are differences and similarities such as the characters that Dante used. For example, Dante's last ring which included traitors, I'm sure there are "traitors", but you have to be careful to see who is actually the traitor.
Many of the characters being punished in the book are quite famous in their own right and many of us actually have heard of who they are and what they did, for example Judas Iscariot. Maybe you can say that the book gives us a vivid picture of how each ring looks like and how we automatically identify the characters that are being punished, thus we can relate current individuals or groups within that kind of hell.
So I guess it's not how his hell actually looked like, but who was in it and how they were being punished.
2007-11-30 17:01:17 · answer #1 · answered by hi_im_hanny 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
you could always go with the references to Dante's inferno when people say "the lowest ring of hell is reserved for traitors." or you could say that the way we think of certain people as those who go to hell could have been influenced by Dante (i.e., the suicides). maybe even our concept of hell being underground has been influenced by Dante's Inferno, since i don't recall the Bible ever saying that hell was underground.
those are just a few of my ideas.
2007-11-30 22:42:16 · answer #2 · answered by dracogemini16 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I think it is the other way around, to a degree. Dante wrote about aspects of what were conceptions of hell during his day - suffering without relief etc. This was carried forward to the present day, and until quite recently, was still what people thought of as hell. His descriptions of levels of suffering, depending on the nature of the crime are probably still relevant today (traitors are still considered worse than fraudsters, who are worse than gluttons and adulterers etc).
So, it is probably mostly relevant in the aspect of morality - some crimes are worse than others.
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Just my opinion.
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2007-11-30 22:54:01 · answer #3 · answered by Labsci 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It hasn't. There is no Hell and Dante was just popping his enemies into a fictional afterlife. He was a ****.
2007-11-30 22:42:42 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋
he pretty much defined what we now think of as hell
2007-11-30 23:36:25 · answer #5 · answered by dolthara 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
soul
2007-11-30 22:44:36 · answer #6 · answered by Jessie 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋