Hey there, Demons, it's me, ya boi. - Abbigayle Ebling
Dante definitely has an odd view on what Hell looks like, after all, where is the fire?? For being a place that is supposed to be firey, evil, and, well, HELL... It's actually not as intense as I would've hoped. I will say that Cantos Twenty-Two left me searching its context to figure out what exactly was going on, as the demons seem to fall into their own stupidity out of a spur-of-the-moment decision whereas previously when they wanted to devour Virgil and Dante, they were unable to as it was not the will of God. That fact is mentioned a few times in the book, my favorite mentions are Cantos Three starting at line 94, and Cantos Five starting at line 23. Thus, was it the will of God for the demons to display folly in which cost some of them their lives??
Looking over the text from previous cantos, I find that there are some "earthly" displays of character from the cast... Starting in Cantos Two, line 43, you find that Dante is called out for his cowardice. In Cantos Six, starting at line 55, you see that Ciacco displays such emotional turmoil that it moves Dante's heart. In Cantos Seven, line 49, the ever-present selfishness is the cause of their torture. The arrogance of Phlegyas followed him into Hell, found in Cantos Eight, line 46. You also can see his anger mixed in, in line 122 of Cantos Eight. I don't know about you, but I found notes of annoyance in the furies speech in Cantos Nine, line 25. It was the shock of death that overtook Epicurus in Cantos Ten, line 71. Skipping ahead to Cantos Nineteen, line 22, is where the sensation of pain that the Simonists felt sent shivers down my spine and made my feet itch. The shame found in the distorted people of Cantos Twenty, line 22. In Cantos Twenty-One, the cruelty of Evilclaw is detailed starting at line 30. You can also see more displays of cowardice, in addition, to worry from Dante in Cantos Twenty-One, line 127. Then, in Cantos Twenty-Two, there are five human attributes that stuck out to me: The impatience of Stormbreath (lines 70-78), the selfishness of Navarrese (lines 103-105), and then the trickery of Navarrese as he makes his escape (lines 121-123), the embarrassment/shame of Harlequin (lines 124-126), and then the immaturity of Tramplefrost (lines 133-135). Turning to Cantos Twenty-Three, lines 13-18, you see the wrath of Evilclaw. Last but not least, you can see the sadness of Dante in Cantos Twenty-Seven, lines 130-136.
So if "this is willed where power is power to do whatever it will,"* then why is it shown that sometimes the demons and others in Hell have certain liberties whereas sometimes they are completely restricted as to what they can and cannot do. To go back to my previous example with Dante and Virgil, I will turn to Cantos Twenty-One, line 64. This chapter is marked by the natures of Evilclaw and how he intends harm, although Virgil knows that there is nothing that Evilclaw can do since it isn't within the will of God for them to be harmed. Yet, in Cantos Twenty-Two, you see the very same demons acting in the ways I mentioned in my second paragraph... I won't go too deep into this as I don't want to leave a novel, but, my question leaving this reading is: what was Dante's intended purpose for the limited displays of freedom and malice, and why did the demons act upon human-like folly?
P.S. I commented on the posts of Breanna Poole and Eliza Colbert.
*(Cantos Three, lines 95-96)
Looking over the text from previous cantos, I find that there are some "earthly" displays of character from the cast... Starting in Cantos Two, line 43, you find that Dante is called out for his cowardice. In Cantos Six, starting at line 55, you see that Ciacco displays such emotional turmoil that it moves Dante's heart. In Cantos Seven, line 49, the ever-present selfishness is the cause of their torture. The arrogance of Phlegyas followed him into Hell, found in Cantos Eight, line 46. You also can see his anger mixed in, in line 122 of Cantos Eight. I don't know about you, but I found notes of annoyance in the furies speech in Cantos Nine, line 25. It was the shock of death that overtook Epicurus in Cantos Ten, line 71. Skipping ahead to Cantos Nineteen, line 22, is where the sensation of pain that the Simonists felt sent shivers down my spine and made my feet itch. The shame found in the distorted people of Cantos Twenty, line 22. In Cantos Twenty-One, the cruelty of Evilclaw is detailed starting at line 30. You can also see more displays of cowardice, in addition, to worry from Dante in Cantos Twenty-One, line 127. Then, in Cantos Twenty-Two, there are five human attributes that stuck out to me: The impatience of Stormbreath (lines 70-78), the selfishness of Navarrese (lines 103-105), and then the trickery of Navarrese as he makes his escape (lines 121-123), the embarrassment/shame of Harlequin (lines 124-126), and then the immaturity of Tramplefrost (lines 133-135). Turning to Cantos Twenty-Three, lines 13-18, you see the wrath of Evilclaw. Last but not least, you can see the sadness of Dante in Cantos Twenty-Seven, lines 130-136.
So if "this is willed where power is power to do whatever it will,"* then why is it shown that sometimes the demons and others in Hell have certain liberties whereas sometimes they are completely restricted as to what they can and cannot do. To go back to my previous example with Dante and Virgil, I will turn to Cantos Twenty-One, line 64. This chapter is marked by the natures of Evilclaw and how he intends harm, although Virgil knows that there is nothing that Evilclaw can do since it isn't within the will of God for them to be harmed. Yet, in Cantos Twenty-Two, you see the very same demons acting in the ways I mentioned in my second paragraph... I won't go too deep into this as I don't want to leave a novel, but, my question leaving this reading is: what was Dante's intended purpose for the limited displays of freedom and malice, and why did the demons act upon human-like folly?
P.S. I commented on the posts of Breanna Poole and Eliza Colbert.
*(Cantos Three, lines 95-96)
I think from a technical stand-point, Dante's purpose for the demon's to have limited moments of freedom was simply just to move the plot along -- literally, as they're being chased. I think a reason within the universe of The Inferno is that Dante wanted to show a kind of comparison between the sinners and the demons. Sinning is born of evil desires like how demons are evil, so maybe Dante wanted to make a statement about how humans behave can be similar to that of demons because of the nature of sin? I'm not quite sure, I'm a little confused too.
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