Thomas Kunz

Miss Skirtich
19 March 2018
English 10: World Literature

Dante Showing his Humanity in Hell

Has anyone ever had to use human reason in front of other people that do not have human

reason? This is what Dante had to do in the book, Inferno. Dante Alighieri is the author of

inferno book, he wrote during the Italian Renaissance. Dante is the main character in the book

and his main goal is to get to his lover Beatrice. Dante Alighieri demonstrates humanity through

the protagonist, Dante throughout "Inferno" by his pity, weakness, and exhaustion.

Dante Alighieri demonstrates humanity through the protagonist, Dante through "Inferno"

by his pity. One instance where Dante shows his pity is in the second circle of hell with

Francesca and her lover "and watching their shadows lashed by wind I cried" (Alighieri 37).

Dante starts to cry. He cries because he looks at these people and he feels bad for them. He

shows his humanity through this because humans can cry, and he feels bad, so he starts to show

his pity. He shows his humanity through his pity because he cries, this shows he has empathy

and the people in hell are not able to cry because they are not human, so they do not feel bad for

what they have done. Another instance where Dante shows his pity is when he says to Francesca

“Francesca what you suffer here melts me to tears of pity and pain” (Alighieri 39). This is when

he says to Francesca and he goes through pity because he sees what they are going through, and

he feels sad for them. He shows pity on them because he feels bad for what they did on earth.

Dante Alighieri demonstrates humanity through the protagonist Dante through "Inferno" by his

pity.

Additionally, Dante Alighieri demonstrates humanity through the protagonist, Dante

throughout "Inferno" by his weakness. One instance where Dante shows his weakness is when he
is in the second circle of hell when he faints “by such a swoon as death is, and I fell as a corpse

might fall, to the dead floor of hell” (Alighieri 40). Dante fainted because he sees the sinners for

the first time. Dante feels his own senses go away from him. Dante shows weakness through

fainting, he feels the room get colder and he starts to fall back, and he eventually faints. Another

instance where Dante shows his weakness is when he sees the pain people are in “Like one

whom sleep comes over in a swoon I stumbled into darkness and went down” (Alighieri 22).

Dante faints for the second time, he shows his weakness by fainting again. He also shows that he

has humanity because most of the people in hell cannot faint because they do not feel bad for

what they have done. Dante Alighieri demonstrates humanity through the protagonist Dante

through "Inferno" by his weakness.

Finally, Dante Alighieri demonstrates humanity through the protagonist, Dante

throughout "Inferno" by his exhaustion. One instance where Dante shows his exhaustion is when

vigil yells at him to get up “up on your feet! This is not time to tire my master cried” (Alighieri

196). This passage is showing exhaustion because he is climbing up a hill that is steep and he

cannot climb up the hill without getting tired. He gets tired without doing anything he cannot do

it anymore. Another instance where Dante shows his exhaustion is when they are climbing up a

steep hill and he cannot do it anymore "it was no climb for a lead-hung hypocrite" (Alighieri

195). He shows his exhaustion by showing how hard he must work to climb up the hill. Because

he is alive and the souls in hell can just float over the hill. Dante Alighieri demonstrates

humanity through the protagonist, Dante throughout "Inferno" by his exhaustion.

In conclusion Dante Alighieri demonstrates humanity through the protagonist, Dante

through "Inferno" by his descriptions of his own sadness, weakness, and exhaustion. Dante
shows his humanity through these various human traits. He gets more and more tough over the

time he is in hell by looking at these people and seeing what they must go through.