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.

Commentary

Luis Vargas

Ms.Piefer

English 10 IB

12/1/2011

I am Hrothgar’s herald and officer. / I have never seen so impressive or large/ assembly of strangers stoutness of heart,/ bravery not banishment, must have brought you Hrothgar.”/The man whose name was known for courage,/ the Great leader, resolute in his helmet,/answer in return: “resolute in his helmet, /answer in return: “ We are retainers from/ Hygelac’s band. Beowulf is my name./ If your lord and master, the most renowned/ son of Halfdabe, will hear me out/ and  graciously allow me to greet him in person,/ I am ready and willing to report my errand.”/ Wulfgar replied, a Wendell chief renowned as a warrior , well known for his wisdom/ and the temper of his mind: “ I will take thi message,/ in accordance with your wish, to noble king,/ our dear, friend of the Danes,/ the giver of rings. I will go and ask him/ about your coming here then hurry back/ with whatever reply it please him to give.”(Beowulf 336- 355)

            In Beowulf the unknown author uses many fascinating literary devices to emphasize each of the characters, personalities in the book. The author makes Beowulf seem like a strong warrior which is the dominant effect of the story. The author uses connotation, alliteration and diction to create the visual effects of the character; which makes the appreciation of the use of language sound more enthusiastic. The author makes the characters seem alive and realistic throughout the story; which creates the strong of warrior.

            The author uses diction and connotation to choose certain words for each character which helps to create the overall impression of him. For example the author chooses the words “Courage”, “Resolute,” “Willing”, “Wisdom,” “Well known,” and “I am ready” to demonstrate the dominant effect of the warrior Beowulf. He uses those words to express the visual effect by making the character seem like a wise, willing, resolute, well known and ready warrior. If the author didn’t use diction to describe character, the reader might have not understood the quality of the warrior Beowulf.

The author also tends to use many alliteration phrases throughout the story. For example he uses “Stranger stoutness”, “Bravery no banishments must have brought” and “Coming here then hurry up.” The unknown author tends to use alliteration in many phrases because it helps many of the sentences flow easier and it draws more attention to the verbs and adjectives that are said in the sentence. The alliteration used in Beowulf creates an effect that is pleasing to the reader’s ear. The repetition of the constant sound pleases the reader and makes him understand more when the author constantly repeats the sounds. For example, when the author uses “Bravery not banishment must have brought you to Hrothgar” the reader creates a connection with the dominant effect which is a strong warrior; with this the author makes the reader understand that the warrior is strong by using the repetition of constant words. This makes the reader remember that the character is a very strong warrior when using the same constant sounds.

            The overall dominant affect of a warrior is created through the excellent literary devices the author uses to write Beowulf. These devices affect the whole story and create the dominant effect of a strong warrior by using alliteration, connotation, and diction to create the overall impression.

Is Antigone actually Innocent or is she Guilty?

Antigone is not guilty of treason because she was following the spiritual laws which were burying her brother with honor; which is more important than breaking a major king’s law. Fallowing the spiritual laws is more important because it's Gods proclamation that the final justice rules the world rather than Creons words proclaimed justice. God’s words proclaim  that every human should have a proper burial while Creon denies the burial of Antigones brother. Creons opinions should be heard but not all should be taken as laws “A king's prerogatives, and not the least that all his acts and all his words are law”(Sophocles 497-506).    
Creons way of thinking is just an opinion compared to a spiritual law where it is a law. Antigone believes that “It was not God’s Proclamation that final justice that rules the world below makes such laws they are not merely now: they were and shall be operative forever beyond mean utterly” (Sophocles 70).  In that quote Antigone states that she would rather listen to God’s laws rather then Creons laws; because she would rather be judge by gods than being judge by people. She will be viewed as an innocent human being in god’s eyes while Creon will be viewed as a guilty person for not following spiritual laws.         

Antigone should be viewed as innocent because she was just following the spiritual laws rather the opinion of Creon. Creon should be viewed as the guilty because he made her “break the law” and he did not accept her beliefs. Many tragedies occur to Creon for punishing Antigone. If Creon had never viewed Antigone as guilty man tragedies would not of happen to him so there for she is innocent.

About me

Hello my name is Luis Vargas and I was born on May 9 1996. I am from Morelos Mexico
I am 15 Years old. I am a soccer player and a Track runner. I am also a Trumpet player.

I speak two languages and I have been learning how to speak french for my 3rd language. I work at Town and country golf course as a caddie