Term Paper on "Conceptions of Hell Project"

Term Paper 4 pages (1323 words) Sources: 2

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Conceptions of Hell:

Dante's Inferno and Sartre's No Exit

Central to much Western thought has been the concept of a place of punishment where the dead are punished for the sins have committed during life. From the medieval world of Dante Alighieri to the Twentieth Century writings of Jean-Paul Sartre, thinking men and women have pondered the nature of evil and the manner in which it might receive its just reward. Their imaginings of a hell that is physically real and palpable readily reflect the preoccupations of their own times and belief systems. The characters of everyday life find their reincarnations in the infernal regions, and the devices that both provoke and torment us in the here and now reappear in devilish guise in a terrible beyond. The tormented souls imprisoned in Dante's Inferno are as rooted in the realities of medieval society, as the characters in Sartre's disturbing No Exit are mired in the existential debates and anomie of the industrial world. While some things remain the same, others change radically. The medieval vision of hell is hierarchical and traditional; the modern fraught with the contradictions that befuddle the denizens of today's urban landscapes. Still, no matter the time, the occupants of hell struggle with the need to make sense of prejudice and limitation. They try to understand why certain things are permitted and other not. And perhaps most importantly, they try to comprehend why certain kinds of people are allowed to enjoy success and happiness, while others apparently must know only misery. Life on Earth can sometimes be an awful lot like living in hell.

A central qualification for admission to Dante's hell is ignorance of the truth, the more profound that ignorance the greater the evil. Dante wrote in medieval Europe, a world that was dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. According to beliefs shared by many faiths of the time, the gravest sin consisted of the failure to accept the Ultimate Truth as preached by a particular religion - in Dante's case, the creed espoused by the one and Catholic Church. It is highly significant that the very bottom circle of hell is occupied by Judas, the disciple who betrayed Christ, the Messiah and Son of God. Dante, in Canto IX, takes the reader directly into Judas' forsaken dwelling place:

From out of Judas' circle. Lowest place

Is that of all, obscurest, and removed

Furthest from heaven's all-circling orb. The road

Full well I know: thou therefore rest secure.

That lake, the noisome stench exhaling, round

The city of grief encompasses, which now 'We may not enter without rage."

As befits one who has denied the ultimate truth of God, Judas resides in a place that is farthest removed from the light of Heaven's wisdom, the light which, in our earthly world is symbolized by the sun. Yet, Judas' experience is not unique, at least not potentially unique. "The road full well I know," perfectly describes the lure of the temptations that surround us all. Sin is not the prerogative of one man or one woman, but a choice available to each and every one of us. Further, Dante's lowest circle is strangely like the typical medieval city, or rather its infernal opposite. Surrounded by a foul-smelling moat i.e. "the lake," it too erects walls against the forces of the world without. It is much the same with human beings. By the power of our own thoughts we keep out not only the bad, but also the good. Like Dante's most miserable prisoner, we must not allow ourselves to become besieged by our own sins, till we are also trapped in a dark city of our own making. Dante recognizes the invincibility of truth, and the terrible strength of lies. These distinctions remain important to day, and are concepts we should attempt to understand. They should rule our lives as they should have governed the lives of the medieval sinners of Dante's world.

Jean-Paul Sartre's No Exit… READ MORE

How to Reference "Conceptions of Hell Project" Term Paper in a Bibliography

Related Term Papers:

Dick / Garreau / Lanier Term Paper

" In other words, Garreau already thinks that empathy is, in some way, artificial, an added enhancement to basic human nature. We must return again to this moment in Garreau's… read more

Term Paper 8 pages (3534 words) Sources: 3 Topic: Literature / Poetry

---

Civil Rights Movement in America the Struggle Term Paper

Civil Rights Movement in America

The struggle for the Civil Rights of the African-Americans have their roots in the slave trade era and the resulting pressure to let go the… read more

Term Paper 6 pages (2291 words) Sources: 6 Topic: American History / United States

---

Disneyland the Fading Premise of Reality in a Postmodern Society Term Paper

Disneyland the fading premise of Disneyland: The Fading Premise of Reality in a Postmodern Society

Postmodern society is frequently accused of being rife with spectacle. The modern assimilation of sensationalism,… read more

Term Paper 13 pages (4481 words) Sources: 10 Style: MLA Topic: Fashion / Designers / Beauty

---

Impressions of War the Most Vivid Imagine Essay

Impressions of War

The most vivid imagine of war was the beginning of it all. September 11, 2001 changed the United States. It was vividly relived over and over again… read more

Essay 17 pages (6472 words) Sources: 0 Topic: Military / Army / Navy / Marines

---

Plays of Ben Jonson Essay

Ben Jonson

Intertextualities: The Influence of the Classics in Ben Jonson's Volpone

Ben Jonson is a writer who was deeply influenced by earlier novels in both themes and structures. In… read more

Essay 80 pages (22973 words) Sources: 40 Topic: Literature / Poetry

---

View 100+ more related papers  >>