“The Inferno” by Dante:
“The Inferno” starts off “La Comedia”, or “The Divine Comedy”. Dante is the main character in his own story, and he is on a journey through hell to go to Purgatory and then ultimately Heaven. In the story, Dante meets Virgil, the poet, in the first chapter. Virgil then guides Dante through hell. The first human residents near hell (not in hell, but near it) that they encounter are the opportunists. The opportunists are the people who take no sides and were neither bad nor good, which leaves them outside hell, that is, neither actually in heaven or hell. From here, Dante and Virgil (the poets) cross a river to hell. The first stage of hell that they encounter is the circle of Limbo. The pagans stay in limbo. The next circle is the stage where the people who where constantly passionate on earth are. The third circle is made up of horrible smelling snow and cold rain. The famous three-headed dog of hell, Cerberus, is here. The dog constantly tears at the people who reside in this circle, those that are the gluttons during their life on earth. The point is that because on earth they ate food and produced waste, here they wallow in waste and have no food. The fourth circle contains those that thought of no one but himself or herself. In circle five there are the souls of the wrathful. While trying to get into the sixth circle, the poets have some trouble. Virgil prays for assistance and all of hell shakes. An angel touches the gates that block their path and they are opened. In the sixth circle the poets see nothing but coffins encased in fire. The souls that reside here are the heretics. In the seventh circle the poets come across the violent people. They reside in boiling blood forever. If they ever try and get out of the blood, Centaurs shoot them down with arrows. Here Dante sees Attila the Hun and Alexander the Great. They are in the first part of the seventh circle, that is, those that were violent to others. Next, they come upon the second part, those that were violent to themselves. Here there is an interesting situation: the suicides’ souls are in trees. There are spirits there that constantly tear and eat the trees.
