Essay(4-5pg) Compare and find similarities between Dante and (either Oedipus Rex, Kebra Nagast, or Old Testament)

In the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, Dante is led through the Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradiso by Virgil and Beatrice. The story is heavily inspired by the bible. Dante began this journey because he had sinned and strayed from the true way so, to get him back into God’s good graces Virgil showed him hell and Beatrice showed him heaven. In the Divine Comedy, souls that are remorseful of their sins go to Purgatory and know they will eventually get to Heaven. In the old testament, one must “seek the Lord while He may be found” (Isaiah 55:6). There are seven deadly sins in Purgatory and each part has its own way to punish the people. Dante had to go through all seven parts and be purified for each. At the top of Mount Purgatory is the Garden of Eden where Virgil let Dante go because he is now free of sin. Dante then met Beatrice who led him through Paradiso where people who are good on Earth go. After Dante finally sees God he is given the answer with a flash of light and now Dante is one with God. Along the journey, Dante changes his opinion from being understanding and sympathetic to others who have strayed from the right path to defending himself and being more aggressive and a little condescending.

Dante and Virgil approached the gates of Hell with the inscription of “Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Enters Here” and entered the Inferno where the souls who when they were alive couldn’t choose between good or evil. For the rest of eternity, these souls are forced to chase after a blank banner while hornets sting them. Dante saw all the poor people and felt bad for them. Dante would meet many more souls that are trapped, with most of them suffering similar to how they had sinned while they were alive. “Like godless jesters at a feast, They gnashed at me with their teeth” (Psalm 7:11) But, when he sees people he knows especially the Great Denial he hates them. “At once I understood for certain: these were of that retrograde and faithless crew hateful to God and His enemies. These wretches never born and never dead ran naked in a swarm of wasps and hornets that goaded them the more they fled…” They continue and meet an old man with ancient ferry who took them to the second circle of hell. In the second circle, Dante and Virgil meet Minos, a creature who wraps his tail around himself to tell you what circle to go to. The people who are banished here are lustful who swirl around in a storm forever. Virgil told Dante about a lot of the souls here and “I stood there while my teacher one by one named the great knights and ladies of the dim time, and I was swept by pity and confusion.” Dante also met Francesca who told him about her love affair with her husband’s brother landing both of them in Hell. He was so overtaken by the sadness of her story that he fainted. “Francesca, what you suffer here melts me to tears of pity and of pain… I felt my senses reel and faint away with anguish. I was swept by such a swoon as death is, and I fell…” In circle five Dante and Virgil meet the wrathful where instead of having pity for the souls Dante actually gets angry. “May you weep and wail to all eternity for I know you, hell-dog, filthy as you are… Down! Down! With the other dogs.” They finally got to the ninth circle of hell which is the farthest away from God/ light you can get so because there isn’t any light the souls that betrayed their kin stand frozen up to their necks in the lake's ice. This is where Dante finally realizes how bad hell actually is. “If I had rhymes as harsh and horrible as the hard fact of that final dismal hole which bears the weight of all the steps of hell, I might more fully press the sap and substance from my conception; but since I must do without them, I begin with some reluctance.” While walking Dante accidentally kicked the face of a sinner who then yelled at him asking him why he would want to cause him more pain. Dante spoke to the sinner privately telling him that if he told him his name then Dante would make the sinner famous on Earth but the sinner didn’t comply which angered Dante “Either you tell me truly who you are or you won’t have a hair left on your head.”. The sinner still didn’t say his name because he was ashamed of what he had done so he didn’t want anyone to know his name back on earth. This is the first time Dante’s behavior mimicked the sinners which means his change is complete since he didn’t pity them anymore and finally realized that they did this to themselves and they deserve it, he now understands that he needs to make it to heaven and not be stuck in hell.

After exiting Hell Dante and Virgil went to Mount Purgatory where souls go to learn lessons and cleanse themselves before going to Heaven. Before they climbed the mountain they had to first pass through ante- Purgatory where Dante had to “bind a smooth green reed about his waist and clean his face of all trace of the pit.” Doing this cleansed Dante of hell he just went through so, he was allowed to climb the mountain and go to heaven. At the Gate of Purgatory, it’s three steps to get through and you can’t look back or you would be turning your back on God. In Purgatory Dante met the prideful who have boulders on their backs as their punishment and he would like to speak with them but, the only way he can do that is if he bent over like them. Dante identifies with the prideful by doing this and later realizes that he had been prideful before. Dante and Virgil continued through purgatory until they reached the wall of flames he must walk through to get to the Earthly Paradise. He passed and Virgil announces his readiness for the Earthly Paradise so Dante continued but, Virgil disappears because he isn’t allowed in Heaven, as he had died not believing in God, so Dante’s new guide is Beatrice. Dante cried over Virgil and Beatrice tells him not to cry. Dante, through his faith in God, had been redeemed “from the realm of the dead; he will surely take me to himself” (Psalm 49:15). Dante is led to the river Eunoe and is immersed in the water so he is now cleansed and ready to ascend to Heaven.

Dante journeyed through the Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradiso with the help of Virgil and Beatrice to get back on the true path towards god. In hell, he learned not to be as sympathetic of the souls because they did it to themselves. Dante is done changing when he accidentally kicks Boccas head and acts how those sinners did. In the end, Dante is back to being a good person and on the true path following God and no longer living a life of sin.