2 general wonderings I’ve had over this weeks readings// Ezra Kennedy

Dante’s ability to recognise the special guest in each Ring of Hell:

I wondered this after Cantos 18. How is Dante able to recognise certain people even when a majority of their body is hiding, or when their covered in excrement  as in cantos 18. Even when he couldn’t tell what type of man Alessio was for a moment he then said that he “remembered” although he was covered in so much feces that he had to wipe his face for it to show? I have a theory; it has to do with “spirit recognising spirit”. Humans have this thing where we can discern a spirit that may be on someone, or we can feel a familiar presence without actually physically sensing (with our 5 basic senses) them. I think he may have some kind of spiritual radio in his mind.

Dante’s personal development in reaction to the sinners and their punishments:

In the beginning of the Inferno Dante was very.  .  . Emotional and empathetic. Although I don’t disagree with his emotional response toward the two lovers in The ring of Lust, he did have very extreme reactions. It could be that his, and all of the residents’, emotions are amplified— the amosphere is potent with the thing humans succumb to the most. The deeper Dante and Virgil go, the more disorganised the rings get— sins get split and divided into tinier and tinier sections. And the more disorganised it becomes the more disdain and unrelenting disgust Dante holds toward the sinners. He’s gone from fainting every time emotions run too high, to laughing at their misfortune. This could also be an affect of Hell. The Unholy atmosphere could be “tainting” (for lack of a better word) Dante’s perception. Breathing the same air as the wicked demons is causing he himself to be more direct and callous. Or maybe it could simply be that the deeper you go the more disgusting the human hosts become.

PS. I COMMENTED ON KAYLA’s AND NATE’s