Dante vs. Everyman
Dante’s Inferno and Everyman clearly have certain similarities and certain differences in their main characters and themes. The similarities begin with the goals of each character. In Inferno, Dante suddenly wakes up in the dark woods and knows he must get out of them. As it says, sin has “harassed [his] heart with so much fear” (Inferno 1837). The dark woods are representative of a sinful life, and the only way to get out of them, and ultimately get to Heaven after he dies, is to take a trip through Inferno or Hell, which Dante does. In Everyman, God sends Death to get Everyman, which obviously means that it is time for Everyman to die, but Everyman knows he is not ready to get into Heaven, and will have to go through a rough pilgrimage in order to do so. He must figure out which friends, who are symbols of certain virtues, can help him get into Heaven and which ones can not. In both of these plots the goals of the characters are similar in that both are ultimately trying to get into Heaven and both must go through hard times to get their (or realize what they need to do to get there). The characters are similar in that both are willing to do what is necessary to get into Heaven. Obviously thei
Everyman. The Norton Anthology of World Literature. Vol. B. 2nd Ed. Sarah Lawall, et al. New York: Norton, 2002. (2121-2141). Lawall, et al. New York: Norton, 2002. (1836-1942). The fact that they both are educated as to what it takes to get into Heaven raises an interesting point because, upon further examination, the two works differ somewhat on exactly how to get to Heaven. Dante, by the end of the story, realizes the evil in certain sins and how much they offend God, but there is not much mention of good deeds and if they can help you get into Heaven. Dante’s journey ends when he gets out of the dark forest and those sins that offend God also offend Dante in the same way. Everyman is shown by Death that the good deeds in his life are what will get him into Heaven, however, the sins, in essence, negate his good deeds because he has “many bad deeds and good but a few.”(Everyman 2123) These two stories show sin in slightly different lights. In Inferno, sin is seen as what gets you to Hell to suffer for all eternity, but in Everyman, sin is seen as what stops you from getting to Heaven and being with God for all eternity. Also, the stories have similar themes, but they go about presenting the
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Approximate Word count = 833
Approximate Pages = 3 (250 words per page double spaced)
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