Christian According to Dante\'s \"Inferno\"

¶ … Christian according to Dante's "Inferno"

Dante knew that the best way to make a point was to use examples that were real and, more than anything, something to which people could relate. In the "Inferno," Dante uses real characters to illustrate what it means to be a Christian. Religion and Christianity are the driving force behind the "Inferno" and when we look at what it means to be a Christian to Dante, we see a path that is very much black and white. As Dante encounters those in hell, he also "sees" or knows their particular sin. By exposing these sins, Dante is telling us how to avoid hell. In short, living a good life will keep you out of hell while living a life of sin will surely land you in hell.

In the "Inferno," every sin has an equal punishment. We cannot look at sin in the "Inferno" without coming to an understanding of right and wrong. Hell is without forgiveness and thus, it would behoove us to learn from the mistakes of others. As Dante makes his way through the circles, we see that the punishment fits the crime. Perhaps one of the most telling messages of the poem is, "leave all hope, ye that enter" (Dante 22). This notion illustrates the level of hopelessness we find for those in hell. However, we should see that there is hope for the living.

Being a Christian means loving God. We learn this early in the story as we see Dante making his way through the gate of hell and encountering those who were "hateful to God and to his enemies" (23). Virgil tells Dante, "those who die under God's wrath, all assemble here from every country... By this way, no good spirit ever passes" (25). We also know what it means to be a Christian when Virgil tells Dante that the spirits they see in the first level of hell are there because while they were "before Christianity, the worshipped not God" (27). Here we know that Dante is trying to impress the importance of pleasing God.