Week 15 Reading Notes - Dante's Inferno B
Satan. The devil. Lucifer. The Grand Evil. All speak differently, but each tells the same name - the chief demon of Christian belief. He is believed to be (in some sense) the origin of all temptation, sin, and evil, and seeks to corrupt man and bring him low, away from God. The idea of Hell, the land of dead sinners, was wrought around him, creating a prisoner for the most great of all sinners. Dante walks us through the fiery plane, guided by the poet Virgil, king of journeymen, and shows us the torments that lie within. At the very core, we find its most important prisoner.
As we descend to the lowest planes of the Inferno, even our narrator comes to a loss of words at the fear shown within himself and throughout the plane. His description of the centerpiece, "the emperor of the sorrowful kingdom" Satan, almost lauds and laments his grandeur, and exposes the sheer monstrosity that lies at the darkest core of the universe. His three heads chew on the three greatest traitors of mankind: Judas, Brutus, and Cassius Longinus, forcing them to endure an eternity of the most painful punishment possible. The horrific description of the torment of the great traitors shows what ultimate fate meets such great failures, while the rest of the traitors to benefactors sit frozen in pillars like grass, doomed to stagnation for all eternity.
The tales of Dante's Inferno make me even more excited to write a story of liminal spaces. As someone about to graduate, I essentially exist in liminality as it stands now, between undergrad and grad school or work. A story focusing in such an area would be perfectly on point for me, and could possibly allow me to play with my own feelings on the situation, and maybe help another person or two with it.
Bibliography: Dante's Satan, Untextbook
As we descend to the lowest planes of the Inferno, even our narrator comes to a loss of words at the fear shown within himself and throughout the plane. His description of the centerpiece, "the emperor of the sorrowful kingdom" Satan, almost lauds and laments his grandeur, and exposes the sheer monstrosity that lies at the darkest core of the universe. His three heads chew on the three greatest traitors of mankind: Judas, Brutus, and Cassius Longinus, forcing them to endure an eternity of the most painful punishment possible. The horrific description of the torment of the great traitors shows what ultimate fate meets such great failures, while the rest of the traitors to benefactors sit frozen in pillars like grass, doomed to stagnation for all eternity.
The tales of Dante's Inferno make me even more excited to write a story of liminal spaces. As someone about to graduate, I essentially exist in liminality as it stands now, between undergrad and grad school or work. A story focusing in such an area would be perfectly on point for me, and could possibly allow me to play with my own feelings on the situation, and maybe help another person or two with it.
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| Dante's Satan |
Bibliography: Dante's Satan, Untextbook
Gage,
ReplyDeleteGoodness. Your reading notes truly are exceptional. These are a joy to read. They read more like a summary than a choppy flow of events, which is great for a reader that is casually passing by. You have a gift and I hope you continue to use it. If you still need similar course credit to this course's, consider taking Epics of India. It's set up the exact same way but with India as the focus.
Best of luck in your future endeavors.
-Lance J.