Welcome to Dante's Inferno: Modern Swing!

Buongiorno; Il mio nome è Teagan

(Ohayou gozaimasu; boku to Teagan wa namaesu)

This is a small collection of Dante's Inferno posts I made for an English project. Unlike my previous blogs, You'll find this one is rather, well, formal. In this blog I have posted three major parts to the assignment with a someone unique twist to each other. Unlike the traditional prompt each of students have been given I have made a few minor tweaks to the project. Here is the "changes" I have made, some more obvious than others:

• For Part III of the Assignment: I have added my own category that is somewhat unique. I chose to write the postcards, but rather than postcards I instead made a Journal/Diary of Damned soul instead of a Damned soul writing about what happened to them.
• For Part II of the Assignment: Little change here, I used the original Italian transcript instead of the English. Adds a bit more "UMPH" to the assignment.
• For Part I of the Assignment: Hardly any change. Added photos that represent the circles.
• For All parts of the Assignment: Added orignal Italian transcripts. Each part had Italian Headings, Title, and more. Added various photos of the video game "Dante's Inferno" from Ubisoft Interactive and the animated film "Dante's Inferno" from Warner Bro. Studios. Added Fan art of the video game "Dante's Inferno" imported from various unlisted DeviantArt users (With permission from each picture posted; Condition for two pictures: [Follow] AliantFurion@deviantart.com // [Follow] Dezzik@deviantart.com)

Please Enjoy This Project!

Benvenuti all'inferno; Un racconto di Teagan Rettig

Date: April 7, 20XX

Location: Gate of the abyssal.

Time: 24 hours post-mortem.

Name: Minerva D'Angelo

It has been twenty-four hours past the time that I have died. I was always told that God would forgive those who sin, yet why have I been damned and abandoned by the holy father? I've been waiting for over twenty or so hours. I've already given up any hope that I might have in going into the holy land. To keep my sanity I have started a journal. I have yet to enter a circle where I shall live for the rest of time. I just, I just want to go back to my husband and four kids.

Date: Aprl 16, 20XX

Location: Circle of Violence

Time: I forgot

Name: Minera Angelo

I have ben damned in to the circle of violence. Ive never ever even hurt a singe person in my life. why wood I be placed here? Its just not fair. every one here is always fiiting. The bikering, the consistant killing of other souls and beeng revived right afterwords. I will not succomb to wrechedness that goes on with in this place. EVER!

Date Aprl 35 20XX

Lokashun: Sircal O Vilense

Time: -

Nayme: Mine Angle

Stab, stab, STAB! thats all that hapens. Myne ears ring. ding dong, ding dong, DING! DONG! Mine por litle ears. the vilent noyse in mine hed. them talking. talking to. ME? I kilt sumone agen. a khild. her constet screeming. oh how it sooths mine ears like. . . like MUZIK! the man en teh orenge gaket whisperd a toon to me agen. stab, stab... stab goes the toon.

dt apl 2x

lsh sr ve

tm

nm m a

(Blood spatters are the only thing here next to a spilled inkwell and quill; thus, making the ledger indecipherable)

Le quotazioni di Alighieri.

"Non abbiate paura; il nostro destino
Non può essere preso da noi; è un dono. "
- Dante Alighieri, Inferno

(Do not be afraid; our destiny
It can not be taken from us; is a gift.)

(It should be noted that this was said by Virgil) Destiny is the fate that lies within an individual person. Each person's destiny is always different from another's. If it is fate for one to die or if it is fate for one to be successful in life matters not and there shall be no changing it. Virgil is saying not to be afraid of fate, but to accept the role in life he was given.

"Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita mi ritrovai per una selva oscura dove la diritta via era smarrita." -Dante Alighieri, Inferno

(In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself within a dark woods where the straight way was lost.)

It should be obvious that this is not to be taken literal. Whether he was ever lost in the woods is debatable, but this is an allegory to he himself succumbed by his "Earthly Desires" or natural human sins. At the middle of his age he was "lost" within the "shadowy darkness" of the sins one should not commit.

"Voi che entrate, abbandonano ogni speranza." -Dante Alighieri, Inferno

(Ye who enter, abandon all hope)

Quite obvious is the meaning towards this. A sign before Charon arrives to gather the dead souls. It is obvious that "Beyond this point, there is no more going back" meaning is placed here.

Qui trova le anime dei primi tre cerchi dell'inferno posto Alighieri

Qui trova le anime del Limbo dell'inferno posto Alighieri

Mahatma Gandhi: The reason for Gandhi being in Limbo are the following: Blasphemy, Polytheism, Non-Christian, No Baptism.

Anne Frank: The reason for Frank being in Limbo are the Following: Judaism, Non-Christian, No Baptism

Neil Armstrong: The reason for Armstrong being in Limbo is the following: No Baptism (Sparknotes.com).

Malcolm X: The Reason for Malcolm being in Limbo is the following: Islamic, Non-Christian, No Baptism, Blasphemy.

Qui trova le anime di Lust dell'inferno posto Alighieri

Teagan Presley: The reason for Presley being in Lust is the following: Pornstar, Meaningless Sex, Sex For Profit.

Elizabeth Taylor: The reason for Taylor being in Lust is the following: Polygamy.

Marilyn Monroe: The reason for Monroe being in Lust is the following: Nudism, Sex for Profit.

John Wayne Gacy: The reason for Gacy being in Lust is the following: Homosexuality, Serial Rapist, Sex with Minors.

Qui si trova l'anima di gola dell'inferno posto Alighieri

Elvis Presley: The reason for Presley being in Gluttony is the following: Drug Overdose, Eating for Entertainment, Drunkard.

Manuel Uribe: The reason for Uribe being in Gluttony is the following: Eating for Entertainment, Eating for Profit.

Takeru Kobayashi: The Reason for Takeru being in Gluttony is the following: Eating for Profit, Eating for Sport.

Qui riposa le anime dei primi tre cerchi

Qui riposa le anime del Limbo

Publius Vergilius "Virgil" Maro: Ancient Roman poet known for three poems, the Eclogues, the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid.

Homer: Author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. Thought to be the greatest of ancient Greek poets.

Penthesilea: Amazonian Greek mythological queen.

Aristostle: a Greek philosopher born in northern Greece.

Plato:  A philosopher and mathematician in Greece.

Qui riposa l'anima di Lust

Cleopatra: She was a queen from ancient Egypt

Achilles: He was Greek hero who died in the battle of Troy.

Helen of Troy: She was a princess of the city-state of Troy.

Qui riposa le anime di gola

Cerberus: A three headed creature who guards the realm of gluttony. He feeds upon the souls here and in some translations of the divine comedy it is said that it takes up to thirty years to be digested; however, no matter how many times a soul dies it's body will be regenerated to be tortured once again.

Ciacco (Italian word for Hog): The only named soul that Dante Alighieri mentions in The Divine Comedy. Dante has a short conversation with him in which he references himself as a pig of a man in his time of life; this statement is a form of poetic justice.

Attraverso me è il modo in Inferno

CANTOS IV

Attraverso me è la strada per il primo cerchio: Limbo

The first circle, Limbo, is a region on the edge of hell. people who do not go to heaven even though they didn't sin. In christian mythology/ideology "Limbus" is a chamber or dungeon which you are to live eternally within, somewhat like a prison mimicking heaven; however, In Inferno, the poet's edition of this region is much nicer in retrospect compared to most. Dante's Limbo includes many non-Christian adults in addition to unbaptized babies. We also find many of the great heroes, philosophers, and creative minds of ancient Greece and Rome. We also find medieval non-Christians as Saladin, former Sultan of Egypt, and the famous Islamic philosophers Avicenna and Averroës. For Dante, Limbo found major figures from the Hebrew Bible, who were "liberated" by Jesus following his crucifixion. 

CANTOS V

Attraverso me è la strada per il secondo cerchio: Lust

Here Dante explores differences between love and lust. Between the overwhelming power of attraction toward the looks of a person and the carnal force of sexual desire. The lustful in hell, are according to Canto V "carnal sinners who subordinate reason to desire" . It appears that for Dante the line between lust and love is crossed when one acts on the sexual desire. Dante shows that this line is a very fine line, and he acknowledges the complexity of those who think of ideas and images of romantic love through their creative work; on the other hand, Dante's choice of lust as the first sin presented recalls the common association of sex with original sin with the fall of humankind in the garden of Eden. The punishment given here, in a poetic justice and ironic sense, is that each soul is blown back and forth in strong gusts of wind.

CANTOS VI

Attraverso me è la strada per il terzo cerchio: Gluttony

Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins according to medieval Christian and church practice. Dante uses these sins as part of his organizational strategy. While lust and gluttony were generally considered the least serious of the seven sins, with pride almost always the worst.. The two were often viewed as closely related to one another, based on the biblical precedent of Eve "eating" the forbidden fruit and then successfully "tempting" Adam to do so. Based on the less than obvious perception of the gluttons and the content of Inferno VI, Dante appears to view gluttony as more complex than the usual understanding of the sin as excessive eating and drinking. Within this circle is the Cerberus who feeds on the souls of the gluttons.