Critical Analysis of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno
Literary Elements of Dante Alighieri’s Inferno
Dante Alighieri was born in Florence, Italy. He wrote the Divine Comedy that is composed of three books: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. In this analysis, the literary elements, specifically, language and style and form of Inferno are examined. Language and style in Inferno both low and high style. The form is analyzed as a comedy, epic, and quest. All of these literary elements are used by the author to serve a purpose: to create a strong image of hell.
In terms of language and style, Inferno contains very graphic and obscene language. Despite the surreal imagery, Dante Alighieri maintains the poem to be epic and grand. He is one of the very few authors who can combine both low style and high style in one work. In the poem, there is vulgar language and weird image (Zimmerman, 17): “Until blood smeared their faces messily; Mingling with their tears and dripping down below; To be slurped by worms greedily.” Nevertheless, there is a high level of poetic language and themes. It is written: “Give up all hope of heaven, you depraved shades: I come to lead you to that other shore, Where fire and ice abound, and dark pervades (Zimmerman, 17).” This kind of style of helps the author to reach his readers better. This also reflects the truth that he is trying to present: a connection between the mundane world and the high spiritual world (Forman, 21).
The form of Inferno is derived from a comedy, an epic, and a quest. As a Divine Comedy, it involves a successful ending. In a comedy, the hero wants to achieve something, but certain elements stop him from getting this. The action of a comedy is attributed to the obstacles that surround the hero’s goals. When the hero achieves his goal, the comic resolution concludes the story. In Inferno,Dante attempts to come to Heaven, to Beatrice, and to God. Dante successfully surpass the obstacles inside him and along his path. Thus, the poem is called a comedy (Forman, 22).
Infernois also considered as an epic poem like other poems like Iliad, Beowulf, and the Odyssey. All of these poems are narrative ones which involve superhuman heroes, with whom the nation or world depends. Oftentimes, an epic is written in a very formal language, with elevated language and style (Bloom, 153). The scale of Inferno is epic because the setting is the entire universe. Even if Dante is not a superhuman, the primary theme of the poem is that all of us can access them. Literally, whether Dante would reach Heaven or not, will not affect anyone. Yet, we can also look at it at allegorical level: following Dante’s journey can teach mankind how to reach Heaven. In some, Inferno both has the characteristics of comedy and epic (Forman, 23).
We can also look into the form of Inferno as a quest. In a typical quest, the hero is separated from his family at birth. Later on, the hero becomes aware of a problem, which solution highly depends on him. Thus, he moves to a dangerous journey in an unknown place and go through a dangerous plight to solve the problem or to save the people. Dante, in Inferno, also undergoes the same quest. He is separated and lost in the Dark Wood. He continues his quest through the entire universe. He saves the world by showing other people how they can reach Heaven (Forman, 24).
In sum, the language and style of Inferno is a combination of low and high because he compares lower status of hell to the higher status of Heaven. On the other hand, it has three forms: comedy, epic, and quest. All of these forms serve the author’s purpose: to show to the world how to reach Heaven.
Works Cited:
Bloom, Harold. Dante Alighieri. Broomall, PA: Chelsea House Publishers, 2004.
Forman, Carol. Dante’s Alighieri’s Divine Comedy: The Inferno. New York, NY: Barron’s Educational Series, Inc., 1984.
Zimmerman, Seth.The Inferno of Dante Alighieri. Lincoln, NE: iUniverse, Inc., 2003.