Virgil, Dante, and the Bible

Paper Summary:

This paper illustrates how all three works have used journeys as symbolic representations through which each story's protagonist has learned that suffering is inevitable when surrounded by evil. In the "Aeneid," Aeneas is characterized as a mortal who has witnessed, discovered and explored the life of other mortals in what was later identified as hell. A similar scene is depicted Dante's tale, wherein the title character must witness the suffering in the City of Dis. In the Bible, the reader understands that Jonah's journey is in the form of repentance and humility. Suffering was illustrated through Jonah's ordeal when he was swallowed by the whale. The writer contends that despite the differences in the cultural contexts of the three journeys, each had similar themes that entailed suffering in either hell or the underworld, which was the result of man's moral decline.

From the Paper:

"Thus, Aeneas' journey in the underworld is but a manifestation of the state of mind when evil acts dominate one's soul or self, which is full of suffering. Apart from suffering, Virgil also identified Revenge, Diseases, Want, Fear, Famine, Toils, Death, Sleep, Pleasures, Frauds, Force, Furies, and Strife as other elements that, when committed excessively by the individual, leads ultimately to the descent of the soul in the underworld. A similar scenario was presented in Dante's "Inferno," wherein he portrayed Limbo as a place wherein suffering also prevails."

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