Well, then maybe that's the point of the inferno. Not to applaud Christan Dogma, but to question it. Perhaps he is actually being ironic in his detailed, erudite, and elaborate descriptions of torture. By emphasizing the horrors inflicted upon the victims (or the "damned") Dante is calling into question the rationale between condemning certain groups of people to eternal suffering, also, the
concept of eternal suffering in and of itself.
I believe that, while people (Christians, etc), may throw the word "Hell" around, they don't stop to sit back and actually
consider what eternal, infinite suffering is. To contemplate the infinite is not something that people in general do, never mind
contemplate infinite suffering. What Dante is attempting to do is to put into words what eternal suffering is or might be (and while some is exaggerated, some is generalized, so that the readers can put their own assumptions on his interpretation).
So, the descriptions in and of themselves are calling into question Christian dogma - forcing people to actual
consider what this concept of "Hell" truly is. And what the consequences are in sentencing people to damnation.
Quote:
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What happens to a man driven to desperation by the state today?
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Depends on what you mean. Some make statements. Some become ex-pats. Some make horror movies. :p
I think that "The State" has become such an abstract thing, especially in the US, split between Federal and State oppression (if that's what, indeed, you are referring to).