Incest strikes again

This is the 4th instance of incest we have seen so far in Humanities. Why? Because I guess incest really is the best. In Hamlet, Claudius marries his dead brother's wife Gertrude. Even though they are not technically related, this is still considered incest at the time. I do not understand why they would marry each other even though it was considered incest. I know the English and Spanish royal families committed incest, but I do not know if the same applied to Denmark. Hamlet is shocked at his mother and uncle's action. Perhaps this is an indicator that incest was not accepted.

Final thoughts on dante

Overall, I was simply amazed by the creativity of Dante in the Inferno. It was very brave of him to write about Christian teaching in this way. Not only did he greatly help average people to understand the Bible. Not only that, he also wrote it in vernacular. Overall, it is really apparent how much Dante cares about spreading knowledge to the average person .

Narcissistism

I think that Dante thinks a little too highly of himself. Why does he think that he is so great to go on this journey? He tries to act humble by saying that he isn't Paul or Aenas, but he goes on the journey anyway and he wrote the poem telling everyone how hell is. Why does he think he is worthy enough to come up with the idea of hell?

Aeneid vs. mythology

Throughout the entire scope of Dante's Inferno, we see him put ideas from the Aeneid above traditional mythology. For example, the oarsmen for the rivers of Hell are in different rivers than traditional mythology dictates. Dante does this because he follows the Aeneid most of the time. Another example is the queen of the underworld, Proserpina. In actual mythology, Hecate is the queen of the underworld, but Dante has changed it to go in accordance with the Aeneid. The purpose of idolizing the Aeneid shows Dante and his belief of the optimum form of society. He wants to restore society to the unity and peace that was achieved under the times of the Pax Romana, as opposed to the discord that he sees in his current time period.

Old Man of Crete

Of all the many allegories that Dante utilizes in Inferno, the Old Man of Crete is the most unique and interesting in my opinion. It alludes to the Bible by having the different body parts made of a decreasing level of sturdiness, all the way from the head of gold until the right foot of terra cota. Dante uses these aspects from the Bible to show his idea of the decline of human history over time. He therefore idolizes the Roman unity and peace that was achieved during the time of Augustus's rule. Augustus's rule would be represented by the gold, and the current time for Dante would be representative of the clay. Since most of the weight is on the right foot of clay, Dante foretells an upcoming collapse of society. Not only does the Old Man of Crete symbolize the Bible, but it also relates to the mythological story of Saturn eating his kids. Therefore it also mixes classical and Chrisitian. 

Why do we read so many books that have incest?

In Circle 2, Lust, we meet Francesca and Paolo. Francesca was married to Paolo's brother. Francesca and Paolo were caught having an affair and damned to Hell. This isn't directly incest, but it still counts. Francesca's husband is damned to Caina for murdering them. However, shouldn't Francesca and Paolo join him? They betrayed family, yet they are in circle 2.

Et tu Brute?

One of the main subjects of Dante's Inferno is his use of Roman tradition in combination with Christianity. A prime example is in the deepest portion of Hell, Judecca, Satan has the three worst sinners in his mouth. It makes perfect sense that Judas would be considered the worst sinner because he betrayed Jesus, the Son of God. The other two sinners are Brutus and Cassius, the murderers of Caesar. In my opinion, this is the most outright merger of Roman tradition with Christianity.  At other points in the epic, Dante uses mythological figures from Roman tradition, or mentions characters from Rome. However, no other points seem as blatant as when he groups Brutus and Cassius on almost the same level as Judas. Dante could have used other, more world renowned or more evil sinners, but instead he chose Brutus and Cassius. To Dante's audience, this probably made perfect sense and people would agree. However, reading it today, there is many other sinners Dante could have used.