Reading Notes (Extra Credit): Dante's Inferno Part A

In Dante's Inferno the visual cues are very strong in each aspect of the comedy. Details are given at key moments to show the reader what it is that Dante is seeing at the moment. For instance, the part where Dante and Virgil come to the gate leading to hell they see a cave with an inscription at the top basically saying "abandon all hope, ye who enters". I love the visual cues and I want to try and replicate that in my project. This will help the reader get a better sense of the environment.

Another aspect of Dante's Inferno is the character of Dante himself. Dante is basically having a midlife crisis and is lead to the path towards evil and hopelessness when Virgil steps in helps Dante, guiding him through the circles of hell. Even throughout his journey, he is constantly afraid and saddened by what he sees. I want my character, Charley, to embody these same emotions when he travels through hell with Death. However, in my version, Charley will be taught a "lesson" for his constant sinning, so the emotion of scared and afraid will play a huge part in my rendition.

The wide array of fictional characters, hero's, gods, goddesses, poets, beasts, etc. is very eye opening to me because that gives me free reign when picking my own people for Charley to visit. The endless possibilities is very assuring because I can pick and choose anybody in recent history or current history. Not just ancient history like Dante did.

Lastly, I like the structure of hell itself. First there is the gateway to hell where there is a ferryman who takes them on a boat to the first circle of Limbo. Each circle goes deeper into the Inferno and with each decent there is an increase in wickedness and evil. I want to keep this aspect of the original story in my own. It creates a very easy visual cue for readers to imagine as my character makes his way down to the center of hell. However, since I'm only doing 3 stories, I won't have time to visit all 10 circles of hell, so I'll have to cut it short and visit only 3.

Dante's Inferno by Dante Alighieri, link to online reading

(Circles of Hell, Source: Pinterest)