Inferno (871 words)
Jacob Cerda
Dante?s Inferno
10/19/2010
Have you ever wondered where people of sin go after death or even where you yourself would go? In Dante?s Inferno, an allegory of one?s search of salvation, Dante Alighieri travels into the obscure depths of hell where he meets both mythological and real life characters. He is guided by the ghost of the poet Virgil, who is a pagan, but as a ghost understands the concept of one God. He travels the nine levels of hell where each sin is described through the various ghosts. Limbo is not considered a place of punishment but a place of innocence and people who weren?t baptized. The sins of lust, gluttony, avarice and prodigality, wrath and sullenness, heresy and violence, fraud and treachery are all visited. As he travels the depths of hell, Dante meets two characters, Plutus and Myrrha, from two of the nine different levels of the underworld. Are you ready to start the thrilling adventure into hell?
As Dante travels through the fourth circle of hell, he comes upon the demon Plutus, also known as Pluto. Pluto, in Greek mythology, is the Greek god of the underworld, however, in Roman mythology; he was a god of wealth. The Romans realized that he was also a god of the underworld. Dante has made Pluto into a repulsive wolf demon that guards the fourth circle, where souls are punished who have abused their wealth through greed or improvidence. When he sees Dante and Virgil, Pluto uses a heretic cryptic phrase, ?Pape Satan Pape Satan aleppe,? meaning: ?O Satan O Satan: god, king.? He uses this phrase to ensure people that his god and leader is Lucifer. This is blasphemy to both Virgil and Dante. Hearing this blasphemous expression, Virgil flies into a fury, saying, ??be silent, accursed wolf; consume yourself with rage. This journey to the abyss is no accident?? (Inferno, Canto VII lines 7-9). Virgil is saying that Plutus should keep his rage to himself, for his descent is no accident. Virgil finds this phrase offensive because he now believes in God. Plutus?s guardianship of the fourth circle and all his power has no influence over Dante and Virgil, therefore he is cast to earth to walk it for eternity.
As Dante?s journey continues into other circles of hell, he comes across the adulteress Myrrha, the mother of Adonis. Myrrha is found in the tenth level, or Bolgia, of the eighth circle. Dante inquires about her; Virgil explains ?that is the ancient ghost of the nefarious Myrrha, who became beyond all rightful love her father?s lover.? (Canto XXX lines 37-39). She was infatuated with her father and deceived him by disguising herself as a concubine so she could sleep with him. As punishment, she was transformed into a myrrh tree by a unknown deity and some believe she is currently suffering rabies. Ovid in his Metamorphoses says that ??the earth swallowed her feet, and from her toes sprouted roots that widely spread to hold the trunk in position; her bones became wood, which ran with sap not blood?? (Ovid?s Metamorphoses, book X, line 386-389). The story is sung by Orpheus, one of the great mythological figures in Rome. Ovid is saying she had confessed her sin and is now a tree by an unidentified god, unlike Dante who believes she had been cursed with rabies. I believe she is also a reflection of the two daughters of Lot, who also deceived their father in the same manner. Myrrha is in hell because of her deception to her father, not her lust for him. The last two circles of Hell punish sins that involve conscious fraud or treachery. Myrrha is a deceiver and is castigated for illimitable time.
Pluto and Myrrha are both dark creatures of sin. They are of sinful nature, mortal and immortal. They both horrible sins, but I believe blasphemy to be the dangerous of the two. Pluto?s blasphemous sin is the worst because he blasphemes the one true God. It is evil to blaspheme God who created all things, and, as Dante says, Pluto gets what he deserved. He is punished for his horrendous sin: he fell to earth to walk it for eternity. Myrrha?s deception to
