The Inferno

Luis Vargas

Ms.Piefer

English 10 IB

1/23/2012

                                                The Inferno commentary

Through me the way is to the city dolente; / Through me the way is to eternal dole;/Through me the way among the people lost./ Justice incited my sublime Creator;/ Created me divine Omnipotence, / The highest Wisdom and the primal Love. / Before me there were no created things, / Only eternal last. All hope abandon, ye who enter in!”/ These word sin somber color I beheld/ Written upon the summit of a gate; / whence I : “Their sense is, Master, hard to me!”/ And he to me, as one experienced: /  “Here all suspicion needs must be abandoned, /All cowardice must needs to be here extinct./ We to the place have come, where I have told thee/ Thou shalt behold the people dolorous/ Who have foregone the good intellect.”/ And after he had laid his hand on mine/ with joyful mien, whence I comforted.” (The inferno Canto III 1-20)

            In Canto III 1-20 of The Inferno by Dante Alighieri, many literary devices are used to prove the power of hell after entering it. By using symbolism, repetition, and imagery, we can view the power of hell and the cruelty of it. The author does a spectacular job by using these literary devices to make the reader understand how powerful and cruel hell is for those who enter it.
            These lines were written on the gate on the entrance of hell. The symbolism in these lines is used to represent the voice of hell through the gate. The words written on the entrance of hell act as a symbol that represent the voice of hell. It helps hell describe its self through the gate as if it could talk and this gives the gate personification. When the author used the words, “Through me” (Canto III 1-2), he makes the reader understand that the gate is talking. But the gate is not describing itself; it’s describing what there is after a person passing it. This symbolizes hells voice so hell can clearly describe its self.

The imagery in this passage is primarily used to help the reader visualize  hell and its magnificent power. By using imagery, we can see how powerful and cold hearted hell is when it says, “Justice incited my sublime Creator created me divine Omnipotence” (The inferno Canto III 4-5). If God is omnipotent, it clearly states that God can do the impossible, as hell is described. Hell is described as omnipotent so the reader can imagine how big its power is and the extent to which the power of hell can go to.The imagery set a great image of the omnipotence of hell which set an image to the to show that hell could do anything since it has the ability through its power.  Through the use of imagery, this helps show that hell all powerful .

The repetition used in this context supports the dominant affect of power by constantly repeating what happens after someone enters hell. For example, the lines, “All hope abandon, ye who enter in” (Canto III 11-12), “Through me the way among the people lost” (Canto III 3-4), “Through me the way is to eternal dole” (Canto III 2-30),  are constantly repeating the cruelty of hell. If all hope is abandoned after entering hell, it significantly means that hell is cruel and that there is no hope since hell is way more powerful than anyone who enter it. Another example of hell’s cruelty is when hell says, “Through me the way among the people lost.”  If people are lost after entering hell that means that hell is cold hearted, bone chilling, and that it does not let anyone leave after they entered it. This reinforces the overall message of hell’s power and cruelty. The author uses constant repetition to remind the reader of the power of hell throughout this passage.

The passage was a good example to choose  since it contains symbolism, repetition, and imagery, which helps the author communicate to the reader  about hell’s power. Symbolism was a used use to represent hell’s bloodcurdling voice, which helped its express itself and its power. The imagery shows the omnipotence and the ability to do anything since it had that ability through its power.  The details the author uses in the imagery section is important to demonstrate that hell could do the impossible.