Homer and Dante

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how in Homer's The Odyssey" and Alighieri Dante's "The Inferno" we see the universal quest of the hero. It looks at how "The Odyssey" is an epic adventure that would certainly be deemed heroic in its very being. In comparison, it discusses how "The Inferno", is less overtly so and how it is more of a personal journey, told in first person by the writer himself, Dante Alighieri. The paper contends that the theme for both is one of transformation and enlightenment. Both "heroes" of these stories had a need for personal fulfillment and reunification with their own spirit.

From the Paper:

"One of the striking differences in these two quests is that one is full of a pantheon of gods and goddesses and the other is full of people. Homer gives us a lesson in Greek mythology and introduces us to many of their gods, yet they are somehow familiar. These gods have all too human attributes of love, greed, jealously, pride and so on. They are in essence human except for the fact that they are immortal and have power over nature. This reminds one of Jungian Archetypes, large scale emotional and psychological myths that represent the subconscious in human beings (Jung), except that these gods have the power to make their needs a reality, while humans may only be able to dream about it. However, this dreaming, these myths, reveal a panorama of psychological depth that is unattainable otherwise. "

Sample of Sources Used:

• Alighieri, Dante. Dante's Inferno. Trans. Henry Francis Cary. New York: Cassell, Petter, Galpin, 1885.
• Dougherty, Carol. The Raft of Odysseus: The Ethnographic Imagination of Homer's Odyssey. New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.
• Dulles, Avery Cardinal. "The Population of Hell." First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life May 2003: 36
• Jung, C. G. Psychology of the Unconscious A Study of the Transformations and Symbolisms of the Libido. Trans. Beatrice M. Hinkle. New York: Moffat, Yard, 1916.
• Homer. Odyssey. Trans. Stanley Lombardo. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2000.

More papers on Homer and Dante:

• Comparison Essay # 15041 : "Homer's "Odyssey" and Dante's "Divine Comedy"
• Analytical Essay # 59316 : "Milton and the Ancients"
• Book Review # 119570 : "Eternal Punishment in Dante's "Inferno"

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