In many works of literature—the literal movement from one place to another—plays a central role. Based on the first
book Inferno from Dante’s The Divine Comedy, discuss how the physical journey is an important element and analyze
how the journey adds to the meaning of the work as a whole.
Thesis Statement
The Divine Comedy—divided into three books and written in the form of an allegorical epic poem—traces Dante’s physical journey
through Hell, Purgatory, and into Heaven. The first book, Inferno, reflects Dante’s spiritual quest into the pits of Hell as he discovers
the Christian doctrine of God’s justice through the sins and punishments he describes. The physical elements of Dante’s allegorical
journey through Hell, which mirror the stages of the archetypal Hero’s Journey, evoke a more dramatic revelation of God’s divine
justice and a spiritual awakening and reconciliation for Dante, and likewise serve as a warning to readers that a sinful life on Earth
will be punished for eternity in the afterlife.
Body Paragraph 1: Sinful Life Path, An Awakening, and the Call to Adventure—Dante uses language that reflects a physical journey.
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The first stage, the Call to Adventure, occurs when Dante realizes he has strayed from the path of living a good Christian
life. The description of Dante’s sinful ways as straying from the right path in life is very allegorical, similar to the parables of
the Bible. Through this allegorical journey, the purpose becomes apparent—to teach a moral lesson about the error of sin.
“Midway along the journey of our life / I woke to find myself in a dark wood, / for I had wandered off from the straight path
. . . I had become so sleepy at the moment / when I first strayed, leaving the path of truth” (Canto I, 1-3 and 11-12).
“Journey of life, dark wood, wandered, path”—These terms reflect a physical journey, and at this point in his life, Dante has
not been living a good life according to Christian doctrine. This also reflects the universal experience of reflecting on one’s
life during middle age to set one’s life straight. The Call to Adventure is the call to re-examine his choices in life.
Body Paragraph 2: Meeting with the Mentor (Virgil), Refusal of the Call, and Crossing the First Threshold
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The portrayal of Dante’s spiritual struggle as a physical journey appears at each of these three stages of the journey.
o Virgil intercedes at Beatrice’s request to guide Dante on his journey through Hell. Virgil describes Beatrice’s
pleading on behalf of Dante, “My friend, who is no friend of Fortune’s,/ strays on a desert slope; so many obstacles
have crossed his path, / his fright has turned him back” (Canto II, 61-63).
 “Desert slope, obstacles, crossed his path” all suggest the dark spiritual time in his spiritual life and the
physical nature of the description brings out the struggle more.
o Dante worries that he will not be capable of such a journey. “. . .and so if I should undertake the journey, / I fear it
might turn out an act of folly” (Canto II, 34-35).
o After hearing about Beatrice’s concern for him, Dante accepts the challenge and begins down the path toward the
gates to Hell, “I entered on that deep and rugged road” (Canto II, 140).
 Words-- “journey, path, road” and suggest the difficulty of such a trial as well, “deep and rugged” which
reflects the Christian idea that choosing a good life is not always the easy choice, but it is the right choice.
Body Paragraph 3: Tests and Challenges--Descriptions of sins and punishments that Dante encounters add to the physical
experience of his journey. The purpose of the journey for Dante is to vicariously experience the physical torment of the sinners
doomed to their eternal punishment so that he sympathizes as a fellow sinner but comes to realize that he must avoid their path.
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Vestibule—The Uncommitted--sinners who had not committed to God waiting to cross, “They want to cross the river, they
are eager; / it is Divine Justice that spurs them on, / turning the fear they have into desire” (Canto III, 124-126).
o The idea of Divine Justice is physicalized in the way the sinners are drawn into and willingly accept their
punishment of eternal uncertainty and unfulfilled desire. This physical portrayal of crossing the river also reflects
the transition from their sinful lives to accepting God’s justice in the afterlife.
Dante’s physical reaction to the sinners’ punishment, “Out of the tear-drenched land a wind arose which blasted forth into
a reddish light, knocking my senses out of me completely and I fell as one falls tired into sleep” (Canto III 133-136)
o Dante, who sympathizes with the doubters, experiences a physical blast of wind as he falls unconscious, showing
him the error of this type of thinking. His senses are knocked out of him, suggesting the nature of sin, which
corrupts humans who seek only pleasure of the senses, which is a direct affront to God’s teachings.
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Lust—Sinners are blown about by strong winds like birds caught in a storm at sea, “The infernal storm, eternal in its rage, /
sweeps and drives the spirits with its blast: / it whirls them, lashing them with punishment” (Canto V, 31-33).
o The physical portrayal of the punishment in accordance with the sin suggests the torment that serves as a warning
to Dante so that his transformation becomes more apparent.
o Francesca and Paola “Then one of the two spirits spoke these words, / the other wept, in such a way that pity /
blurred my senses; I swooned as though to die, / and fell to Hell’s floor as a body, dead, falls” (Canto V, 139-142).
In the early circles of Hell, Dante sympathizes with the sinners in Hell, as he does with these lovers for the torment that they
experience. His physical collapse occurs as a result of the sympathy he feels for sharing in the sin of lust.
Gluttony: Sinners must wallow in mud as they are gnawed by Cerberus. “And so we made our way through the filthy mess /
of muddy shades and slush, moving slowly, / talking a little about the afterlife” (Canto VI, 100-102).
o They physical imagery depicts the vile nature of the sin, such as “mud, wallow, gnawed, slush.”
Dante also begins to realize the justice of God’s punishment when Virgil explains, “The closer a thing comes to its
perfection, / the more keen will be its pleasure or pain” (Canto VI, 107-108).
Suicides: “There, like a grain of spelt, it germinates, soon springs into a sapling, then a wild tree; at last the Harpies, feasting
on its leaves, create its pain, and for the pain an outlet. Like the rest, we shall return to claim our bodies, but never again to
wear them—wrong it is for a man to have again what he once cast off” (Canto XIII 99-105).
o The physical description of the Suicides’ punishment vividly reflects the suffering of their sin and punishment.
o Dante pities the Suicides for their suffering, “And ask him, for my part, what I would ask, for I cannot, such pity
chokes my heart” (Canto XIII, 83-84).
Usurers: “So I continued walking, all alone, along the seventh circle’s outer edge to where the group of sufferers were
sitting. The pain was bursting from their eyes; their hands went scurrying up and down to give protection here from the
flames, there from the burning sands” (Canto XVII, 43-48).
Paragraph 4: Approaching the Inmost Cave and the Supreme Ordeal
Physical structure of hell mirrors the journey to the more severe sins.
 The journey down to the 8th Circle “And I saw then what I had not before: the spiral path of our descent to torment
closing in on us, it seemed, from every side...and having seen no signal descends, worn out, circling a hundred times
settling at some distance…so Geryon brought us down to the foot of the jagged cliff” (Canto XVII, 124-134).
 Dante and Virgil ride on Geryon’s back to the Eighth Circle (Fraud). Geryon is the physical manifestation of Fraud.
 Explain the spiral cone-shaped structure and the the downward spiral of sin and Dante’s growing sense of fear as they
approach deeper levels of evil and the sense that there is no return. “spiral, descent, torment, circling, jagged”
Dante’s physical descent into hell parallels his decreasing sympathy for the sinners as he realizes Divine Justice.
 Ninth Circle—Dante is infuriated by Bocca degli Abati, “I had my fingers twisted in his hair and already I’d pulled out
more than one fistful, while he yelped like a cur with eyes shut tight” (Canto XXXII, 103-105).
 Dante refuses to help Alberigo to open his eyes, “I did not open them. To be mean to him was a generous reward. . .O
all you Genovese, you men estranged from every good, at home with every vice, why can’t the world be wiped clean of
your race?” (XXXIII, 149-153).
o Dante’s transformation mirrors his descent into hell. Explain how his sympathy changes to scorn and
eventually to praise of God’s system of judgment
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City of Dis and the Ninth Circle, Cocytus and Lucifer
o Physical appearance of frozen lake and sins of fraud/betrayal and Satan in the center—how this causes Dante
to understand the evil that God punishes
o Give examples of Count Ugolino and Ruggieri and Brutus/Cassius and Judas
Conclusion: The Return and the Elixir: Returning to Earth
 Return to Earth is described as a journey down and then back up. “’Only by these stairs can we leave behind the evil we
have seen.’ When he had got me through the rocky crevice, he raised me to its edge and set me down, then carefully
he climbed and joined me there” (XXXIV, 83-87).
 “My guide and I entered that hidden road to make our way back up to the bright world. We never thought of resting
while we climbed. . . .until through a small round opening ahead of us I saw the lovely things the heavens hold, and we
came out to see once more the stars” (XXXIV, 135-139).
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Fall from grace and return to the side of righteousness—described as going down and then back up to show
Dante’s transformation in choosing good over evil.
Even though Inferno is only the first book, the physical descent into Hell and return to Earth stands alone as Dante’s
spiritual journey to realize the sins of his ways and the justice of God’s punishment for evil.
Purpose of allegory of a physical journey