No Exit and Inferno
Uploaded by Kimmerli on Apr 08, 2002
From folklore to fairy tales there is the use of violent action to convey a specific message to the readers because violence never occurs without having a point to be made. Violent scenes often are the most gruesome and horrific yet they can contribute to the entire meaning of a work. Violence in a story always has a hidden purpose, and is there to enhance the inner meaning of the story while offering an extremely graphic visual to its readers. In Dante’s The Inferno and Satre’s No Exit, there are numerous accounts of violent imagery expressed through precise diction and symbolism that captivate the reader to experience “hell” through the eyes of the authors.
Each direct physical setting of the circles of hell in the Inferno show a unique atmosphere in which there is a parallel between the sins committed on earth and the punishment. The similarity between sin and punishment of each circle of hell maximizes the level of gruesome violence. This can be easily seen in the third circle of hell, the gluttons are punished by being forced to live in a garbage dump, in an environment they never could survive while actually living. They live half buried in a snowy hell as Cerebus, the three-headed dog, eagerly rips and tears their bodies to pieces. Another instance of violence is clearly seen in circle seven: round one where Violence Against One’s Neighbors are immersed into a bloody river while Centaurs are waiting on the sides with arrows. Also, in all the circles of hell minus limbo there is constant reference to the wailing and fiendish noise of hell this adds to the realistic imagery of this terrifying underworld. It is this descriptive diction in the numerous cantos that allow the reader to truly experience “hell” to it’s fullest.
The scenes of violence are continuously read in each canto, from an intense war amongst the Hoarders & Wasters, to the Suicides who are encased in thorny trees, and the Grafters who are stuck in boiling pitch and are torn to pieces by demons. These scenes contribute to the complete meaning of the Inferno because in hell one must imagine the vivid graphic punishments of each circle in order to comprehend the severity of the sins committed. The Inferno is seen through Dante’s eyes; so with his finite detail of each circle it enables the reader to experience the violence surrounding...