Dantes Inferno The Theme of Anti-love in Canto XXVIII...

Dante’s Divine Comedy is a multi-layered epic, containing not only a story about his incredibly difficult journey from earth to the depths of hell then up to the peaks of heaven, but it also contains many insights on theology, politics, and even his own life. Broken into three canticles—Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso—the work is written in the terza rima form. In Inferno—in 33 Cantos—Dante makes a vast journey through the nine circles of hell. In the Eighth Circle (specifically, the Ninth Pouch), Dante meets with those who â€Å"were, when alive, the sowers of dissension† (Inf. XXVIII.35-36). Dante encounters a myriad of characters in many realms of interest, including theological and political figures. This Canto adequately flows in the†¦show more content†¦XI.58-60). It is interesting to note here the way Dante describes the ninth pouch (reserved for those who sow scandal and schism): he states, â€Å"Who, even with untrammeled words and many attempts at telling, ever could recount in full the blood and wounds that I now saw? (Inf. XXVIII.1-3). Dante, even after travelling through most of hell, is shocked as he sees the state of souls in this circle: each of the scandalous and schism-causing souls is butchered by a demon as they walk by. They continue walking in a circle, healing in the process, and then butchered again. Dante discusses this circle with a few of the people damned to this punishment, including Mohammed. Of the people he discusses with in this pouch, Mohammed is most well known to our culture today and is the prophet of Islam. When Dante first sees him, he notes his gruesome state: No barrel†¦ever games as the one whom I saw ripped right from chin to where we fart: his bowels hung between his legs, one saw his vitals and the miserable sack that makes of what we swallow excrement (Inf. XXVIII.22-27). Can you even imagine how such a punishment can be justified purely based of the fact he initiated a religion? It is best to remember that, back in the days of Dante, the Muslim Empire was a force to be reckoned with, threatening to lay siege to Europe. Previous to