Dante's Inferno: Character Analysis

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The first lesson he learns, is of God's mercy. Dante meets some truly horrible people, ones who should have been condemned to hell. The Gatekeeper Angel, who was tasked with letting souls into Purgatory, was told to “Admit too many, rather than too few, if they but cast themselves before your feet.” This is how many horrible people in life, who repented before death, made it into Purgatory. Some of the foremost examples of a truly horrible person, is found in Ante Purgatory. The spokesperson for the group of Excommunicated souls, was Manfred King of Sicily. He was excommunicated twice, once by Alexander IV and once by Urban IV. He was a horrible person, and was said to have murdered his father, his brother, two nephews, and tried to murder …show more content…
So if a soul in Purgatory has a child or family, who lives in grace, their prayers would hasten the soul's journey to heaven. A heart that lives in grace means that its soul is free from mortal sin and pleasing to God. It is the state of being in God's friendship, and to be in a position to enter heaven when they die. However, a major problem for some of the souls in Purgatory, is the fact that their family and friends don’t pray for them. Actually, most families and friends either are dead, or believe that their dead relative is in Hell. A great example of this is Buonconte of Montefeltro, whose father Dante found in hell. Buonconte repented on the battlefield, right before he died, and a battle for his soul commenced. An angel and a demon fought over his body, just like during his father’s death, but this time the angel wins the argument. The demon being a sore loser causes a huge storm, and Buonconte body was swept to sea. Therefore his body was never found, and no one heard his repentance, so his family thought he had died a sinner, and had never …show more content…
Virgil gives a long speech about the different forms of love, and how love is the root of all sin. Virgil says there are two kinds of love, Natural Love and Rational Love. Natural Love is instinctual, and never at fault, while Rational Love may fail. Rational Love fails when someone chooses the wrong goal, either by insufficient, or excessive zeal. When Rational Love is fixed on the Eternal Good and observes temperance in loving worldly goods, it can not fail. When Love is focused on God, and the person observes temperance, they can not fall into sin. But this is incredibly hard to do, because God gave us the freedom to love what we want, and follow their our own path. Rational Love fails when it turns toward evil, otherwise known as Misdirected Love. Pride is one of the sins associated with Misdirected love, because it is a misdirected love of God, making yourself a god. Another sin associated with Misdirected Love is Envy, which is loving neighbors harm, which is a misdirected love of neighbor. Instead of loving thy neighbor, the envious love their neighbors harm or detriment. The final sin associated with Misdirected love is wrath, which is also a misdirected love of neighbor. Instead of loving thy neighbor, they want to destroy them, with violence, unlike envy. Envy is loving neighbors harm, but wrath is causing it with violence. The other type of Rational love, deals with disordered love of good.
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