The first story in the second half of Dante’s Inferno was an
interesting read to me mainly because of Nessus. Nessus is a major character in
one of my storybook stories, so I thought it was really cool that he was also
involved in this reading. In this story, Virgil tells Dante about how Nessus
was killed by Heracles out of vengeance, which is exactly what my storybook is
about. The role of Nessus in Dante’s Inferno is to act as a guide for Virgil
and Dante in the seventh circle of hell. To me, however, the most interesting
story of this unit was the last one, when Dante and Virgil reach Satan. Dante
gives such a great description of what he was seeing as he approached Satan
that it gives the reader an eerie feeling. And then, when Virgil leaves Dante,
he says that he cannot even describe how chilled and hoarse he became because any
words would fail to really tell it. It is hard to imagine being in a state
where you are not dead, but you are not alive either, but that is how Dante
described the situation. And his description of Satan is unlike anything I have
ever read- the three heads, all with eyes crying tears of blood, the bat-like
wings, and the massive size. I had never read anything quite like this before,
but I really enjoyed reading this story.
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| (Painting of Satan as described by Dante. Source: Deviant Art) |
I too read Dante's Inferno for one of my reading diaries. The description throughout this unit was pretty amazing. I definitely didn't have any trouble picturing the scenes in my mind. It was hard to understand what was going on at all times for me in this unit but it was a great read nonetheless. My favorite description was of Geryon. and Dante's ride on his back.
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