Allusion of inferno Dante's inferno. Literature & Language Essay

Allusion of Inferno
Name
Institutional Affiliation
 Allusion of Inferno
       The referencing of other people, great works, and events by authors is usually not accidental. These references are called allusion. An allusion is an expression or call of something to mind without mentioning it explicitly. The story of Dante’s Inferno makes various allusions to tales from the Bible, classics, as well as mythology. Born in Florence, Italy, in 1265, and exiled from the city in 1302, Dante Alighieri died in 1321, having completed his Divine Comedy. Divine Comedy is a poem derived from his imagination (Toynbee, 2013). In Inferno, Dante tries to derive a relationship between the sins committed on earth and the punishment given for each (Smith, 1994). To understand this, Dante takes a journey with Vergil, a poet who acts as the guide. This paper seeks to explore the use of allusion in Dante’s Inferno as well as the objectives it is meant to achieve.
       Several references/allusions to the Bible are made in the story. The Biblical allusions are made to structure heaven, purgatory, and hell. The aim of employing this form of allusion is to achieve specific personal, literary, and political objectives. Heaven is referred to as Paradiso, while hell is called the inferno. The various levels of sin are also explored in the story. The various circles of hell are also explored (Smith, 1994). In Canto 5, Dante and Virgil enter the second circle where sexual sin is punished. Here they meet people such as Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta (Poggioli, 1957). Betrayers are punished in the lowest circle, and here he encounters Count Ugolino, who is regarded as a traitor. Dante also encounters two pontiffs whose corrupt nature he loathes in hell. They are Boniface VIII and Nicholas III. Canto 2 mentions Saint Lucia, while rebellious angels are mentioned in Canto 8 to refer to the fallen angels. Other famous Biblical allusions inc...