Dante s View Of Hell And Purgatory - 1251 Words

When one thinks about the idea of hell, they often find their minds wandering back to the great work of Dante Alighieri in The Inferno, or better known as Dante’s Inferno. In this story, Dante is lead through the nine circles of hell with his tour guide, Virgil the Roman poet to meet the final destination of heaven. â€Å"Major and startling innovations, such as the choice of the poet Vergil as Dante s guide through both hell and purgatory and the inclusion in the Comedy of characters taken from classical antiquity, demonstrate the importance that ancient Roman literature, history, and mythology held for the chief imagination of Christendom, as Yeats defined our poet,† (Scott). While this text not only demonstrates the ancient Roman†¦show more content†¦While Christianity has been divided into many different churches such as the Catholics, Baptists, and Presbyterians, the same theological ideas remain. It is generally believed that one who does good actions wil l be rewarded with the right to enter Heaven. While those who display negative moral actions will be forced into the fiery gates of hell. This is the man basis of religion in America. There are many other types of religions that have the same type of ideas. â€Å"Death could scarce be more bitter than that place! But since it came to good, I will recount that all that I found revealed there by God’s grace,† (Pg. 28). Thus, as so many people believe in religion and the ideas behind it, it is easily seen that the threat of hell is something that can alter the actions of humans. Even America was founded on the idea of living under God, as stated in several documents. If the threat of hell was nonexistent, or had no profound effect on human actions, then religion wouldn’t hold such a high standard in any society. â€Å"In accusing the popes of making gold and silver their gods, Dante is repeating the characteristic denunciation of idolatry leveled by the Old Testam ent prophets against religious authorities,† (Franke). Religion holds a high position in everyday life’s, even Dante, as it does present the threat of hell which will change a person’s actions. Similar to religious reasons, the threat of hell does affect a person’s moral actions