I thought it was so interesting when the professors brought up Milton today. I don't mean to spoil anything for you, but there is a huge difference in Satan's role in Hell. I have been mulling the difference over all day. Why is that? Well, I think a lot of it had to do with each of the author's own personal experience. Milton was a rebellious politician, and he wrote Satan as a rebel king of hell. Dante creates his own character in the story as a pilgrim, meaning that all that he sees in the tale has a greater meaning for him. Neither of these epics should be taken as theological ground for forming your view of hell. What they do is reveal much about the author and his view of the world... There's more to it than that, but in Dante's case especially I think this has a lot to do with the understanding of the medieval world he lived in. I think, as weird as it is, that it is incredible interesting, for it chiefly illustrates an interesting view of sin. Sin is not only the crime, it is the punishment. When we choose it above God, it is what we are left to. It destroys us. God is the best thing for us, that is why he is jealous for us. Yet he leaves us to our own passions... It is interesting that in a sense, we are our own punishers, not Satan. Satan doesn't rule Hell for Dante, God's justice does. Without God's mercy saving us from our punishments, all that is left is God's justice--and that cannot stop punishment that is sin.
Commented on Becca's.
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