For this week's choice from European literature, I chose Dante's Inferno for the unit to read. I have often heard of Dante's Inferno and the many circles of Hell, but I have never gone to read through the story. This led me to choosing this unit out of curiosity. The idea of Fallen Angels has always intrigued me, so the title of this chunk of the story immediately stuck out to me.
In this story, the setting is immediately set as they approach a castle that is radiating red light. We soon learn that this redness is from the eternal fires from down in Hell. This creates an eerie setting as the main character is guided close to the city of Dis. Painted in our description, we see that the castle is surrounded by a moat and the walls are made of thick iron. Thousands of fallen angels inhabit this place. I think this detail is important because mentioning the fact that angels and not humans live in this place help add to the suspense being created by the scene.
The next part of this tale is the main character and his guide getting stopped by the angels. They are not allowed to enter this fortress. Since they were stopped by the angels, this adds to the ominous feeling that the reader observes coming from these beings. Why were they the first to question why these two travelers were wanting access? I think it is odd that they got stopped trying to enter this place. I think that entering should have been a much easier objective whereas leaving could have been the more difficult part of their journey.
The guide did his best to talk his way through the guards, but this was all to no avail. All of these elements of confusion and mysterious characters add to the unsettling vibe that is created.
Bibliography
The Fallen Angels, Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline (2002).
Image Information: Fallen Angel, Wikimedia
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