The Divine Comedy - Heaven or Hell? :: Divine Comedy Inferno Essays

The Divine Comedy - Heaven or Hell?      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The character of Dante in The Divine Comedy who descended into the inferno caused me to stop and think about this awful place.   As the reader I got to take an imaginary journey with Dante to a horrible place where I do not care about going.   While Dante descended into hell I plan on ascending into heaven someday.   Dante had a choice to make whether or not to get back on the right path.   It came down to heaven or hell - choose.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I think it was willed for Dante to see this place while he was still living.   By seeing hell while he was alive Dante could be sure and make the right choices to find his way back to the straight path.   Being on the right path in his lifetime would ensure he would not spend eternity in such a miserable place.   I believe the whole purpose of this journey into hell was to let Dante see the anguish there and choose.   Perhaps this was a divine warning. In Canto 2, Beatrice, the symbol of Divine Love, an angelic spirit was sent to help aid Dante   from his error and help him return back.   This is purely love and compassion at its best.   Sending someone into hell to rescue another person out of there. Great lengths were taken to help Dante return back to the straight way.   I do not believe such action was taken if Dante was to end up in hell all along.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   For some reason midway in Dante's life's journey he had gone astray and at this point was searching for answers.   I guess hell was as good a place to start the search as any place.   Ã‚  Something for sure had led him astray and Dante was going to find out what it was.   Strange as it may seem Dante did find the answers he was looking for in hell.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Dante had entered into an awful place full of darkness and evil.   Dante did not realize to return back would not be easy, the Leopard stood blocking him every turn to keep him from getting back.   As a Christian I could relate to this.