In a short response essay discuss Dante’s attitude toward the church and clergy in The Inferno. Use at least 3 examples to support your thesis.
Dante’s Inferno was very descriptive as to how it will be like in hell. The path to hell may not be what a man wants but courageous as Dante he explores the painful hell in the perceived path that he will reach heaven and can see the love of his life, Beatrice. Dante’s Inferno is a very good writing that is very recommendable to every Christian such that it will make them understand more the path of life.
Dante’s attitude towards the church and clergy is very broad and universal. Dante’s perception, that sin can be a very big obstruction in reaching the true path to God and how it is necessary sometimes that we first have to go to hell in order to find the true path. In Dante’s Inferno he explores the essence of sins in order to weigh the heavy consequences that one is likely to experience if that sin can be committed. In the story, the sins are being categorized in accordance to how heavy it is and being sort out into levels each of which have a different consequences. For example, those who committed venial sins are placed in the sort of external layer of hell and the consequence that is not so heavy as the people who had committed moral sins where the are being placed in the said abyss of hell.
A second example is the indication of the selfishness of man, by which it is said to be born selfish. Often man does not think of the whole context of what he or she is doing because often times he or she thinks more of himself or herself first before thinking of others and is governed mostly of his or her feelings that sometimes may cause him or her to commit sins. Dante’s first intention was not to go through hell, because as humans we do not want to get ourselves in such dark and gloomy places. But of the reason that Dante might see Beatrice, he was convinced by Virgil to go through hell in the anticipation that he can go to heaven after going through hell. It is selfishness because Dante’s true motives are not really to show concern of the people who are in hell, there was even a time he laugh off to see his enemy punished in hell, but in the anticipation to get what he desire in the end of the journey which is to see Beatrice.
Third and final example would be that like Jesus, we may undergo “rebirth” if we wish to. Any Christian, want to live a “Christ-like” life but because of the freewill God gave us, we are free to do whatever we want to but we are still the sole responsible of our actions. There are people, like Dante who seems to be lost in the true light to the true path towards God. We have to commit mistakes in order to make room for learning to occur and know the consequence of our actions. The church urges us to be into the light of God when we feel like we are in a very dark place. If by destiny, we experience to be in hell, the church tells us not to lose hope because there is such thing as rebirth of a new self.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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