Click on any of the term papers to read a brief synopsis of the research paper. The essay synopsis includes the number of pages and sources cited in the paper.
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Women's Role in Dante Alighieri's 'Inferno'
A 2 page paper looking at the fact that women's sins as depicted by Dante tend to be overwhelmingly of a sexual nature as compared to men's. The paper concludes that this may be because women in Dante's time were considered to have a limited sphere of influence, and their role was seen as primarily procreative. Bibliography lists 1 source.
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Dante's 9th Circle/A Contemporary Vision
A 5 page research paper that discusses Dante Alighieri's medieval masterpiece The Divine Comedy. The writer states that this poem is a profound statement on medieval theology, but is also a commentary by Dante on medieval society. These verses picture Dante, being led by the pagan poet Virgil, through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven. In Hell, i.e., The Inferno, Dante pictures meeting notorious sinners: some contemporary with his era; some from the past. This inspires the question of how the present day's most notorious compare to those whom Dante included in his epic poem. The writer discusses John Walker Lindh, Timothy McVeigh, Jeffrey Dahmer and the Unabomber in relation to where they would go in the Ninth Circle of Dante's vision of Hell. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
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Dante’s Inferno & Humanism
A 3 page essay that discusses “The Inferno” from Dante’s medieval epic poem The Divine Comedy. This poem describes the experience of the author, led by the specter of the ancient Roman poet Virgil, through a journey of spiritual enlightenment that takes him through Hell, Purgatory and finally to Heaven. The punishments that are inflicted on the souls in Hell strike Dante, as a character in the poem, as inhumane, but Dante, the poet, makes it clear that each punishment is ideally suited as retribution for the sins committed by these souls while the individuals were alive on earth. Therefore, as the poem’s narrator moves through Hell, he receives progressive lessons pertaining to what it means to be fully human and fully in accord with the expectations of God. No additional sources cited.
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Dante’s Inferno & Humanism
A 3 page essay that discusses “The Inferno” from Dante’s medieval epic poem The Divine Comedy. This poem describes the experience of the author, led by the specter of the ancient Roman poet Virgil, through a journey of spiritual enlightenment that takes him through Hell, Purgatory and finally to Heaven. The punishments that are inflicted on the souls in Hell strike Dante, as a character in the poem, as inhumane, but Dante, the poet, makes it clear that each punishment is ideally suited as retribution for the sins committed by these souls while the individuals were alive on earth. Therefore, as the poem’s narrator moves through Hell, he receives progressive lessons pertaining to what it means to be fully human and fully in accord with the expectations of God. No additional sources cited.
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Dante’s Inferno/Canto XX
A 3 page essay that analyzes Canto XX from Dante Alighieri’s epic poem “The Divine Comedy,” which begins with the book entitled “Inferno” and records how Dante journeys through Hell led by the specter of the ancient Roman poet Virgil. In Canto XX, Dante, the poet as opposed to the character in the poem, reasons that piety lives but that pity is dead. This may seem hard-hearted to the modern-day reader, but it fits with the theological reasoning of Dante’s era, which believed that God’s justice should be accepted unequivocally and with complete faith, that is, with piety. Bibliography lists 2 sources.
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Canto 3 of 'Inferno' by Dante
An 8 page research paper that analyzes Canto III from Dante's Inferno (which is a part of his epic masterpiece the Divine Comedy). This examination uses a representative portion of the Inferno, namely Canto III, to illustrate how Dante used the framework of the poem to convey his ideas concerning religion and morality. Bibliography lists 5 sources.
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Dante, the Inferno, and the Question of Gender
This 4 page paper discusses the way Dante treats gender in his poem, The Divine Comedy. Bibliography lists 4 sources.
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Gothic Cathedral and Dante
(5 pp.) It has been suggested that there are
several ways in which Dante's complex poem the
Inferno is similar to a Gothic Cathedral. This
discussion will look at those possibilities. The
physical Cathedral, which will be used as a mental
picture for comparison will be St. Elizabeth
(1233-1283 ) in Marburg, Germany
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Journeys and Their Philosophical Meaning in 'Inferno' by Dante Alighieri and 'The Odyssey' by Homer
A 5 page paper which examines the role of philosophy in the similar journeys taken in each of these epic poems. No additional sources are used.
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Analyzing Canto XIII of 'Inferno' by Dante Alighieri
A 4 page paper which examines the suitability of the penalty of suicide, evaluates whether or not the punishment fits the crime, and considers Dante’s thoughts on the punishment. No additional sources are used.
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Medieval Italian History and Literature
A 15 page research paper that offers brief (generally 1 page) synopses of essays that deal with Italian medieval society. Then the writer offers a more extended analysis of parts of Patricia Skinner's 2001 text Women in Medieval Italian Society; a brief essay on Dante's Inferno and Otto of Freising's Deeds of Frederick Barbarossa. The underlying theme to the entire paper is how these sources contribute to the study of history. Bibliography lists 10 sources.
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Italian Literature and the Themes of Escape, Alienation, and Entrapment
A 6 page paper which
examines the themes of alienation, entrapment, and escape in two Italian pieces of
literature. The literature examined is "The Garden of the Finzi-Contini" by Giorgio Bassani
and "The Secret Diary" by Alba De Cespedes. Bibliography lists 2 additional sources.
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Women in A Woman by Sibilla Aleramo and The Leopard by Giuseppe Di Lampedusa
A 4 page acknowledgment of the variation which exist in literature in regard to the presentation of women’s roles. Regardless of the country of origin, literature expresses the author’s liberty to be either sympathetic to women's roles or cynical as to those roles. Their portrayals can be either detailed, shallow, or stereotypical. In most cases literature produced by female authors is more positive in terms of its depiction of women than is literature produced by males. A particularly interesting point of comparison as to how women’s roles are presented in Italian literature exists in Guiseppe Di Lampedusa’s “The Leopard” and Sibilla Aleramo’s “A Woman”. Bibliography lists 9 sources.
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The Bible, Koran, And Divine Comedy
A 5 page paper. Each work is discussed separately in terms of their contribution to modern society. The influence and impact of the Bible itself can be found across life from culture to law to literature and so on. The contribution of the Koran itself is more difficult to determine although many individual Muslims contributed significantly to areas like medicine, math and architecture. Dante's Divine Comedy greatly influenced several different areas of life. The writer comments on which book contributed the most and why. Bibliography lists 7 sources.
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Italian Poet Giuseppe Ungaretti
A 7 page overview of the work of Italian poet Giuseppe Ungaretti. This paper emphasizes the varied cultural influences which undoubtedly shaped Ungaretti’s style. Noted for his use of few and very carefully chosen words, Ungaretti could accurately be described as a literary minimalist and exemplary of the hermetic movement. Like the French symbolists, he looked at poetry much as one looks at music. Even single words, had musical potential and tremendous power. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
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William Shakespeare's King Lear and Dante's 'Inferno' Compared
In 5 pages the author discusses the similarities and differences between Dante and King Lear. ''King Lear' is a tragedy that was written by William Shakespeare. 'Inferno' is part one of a three-part story, which was written by Dante Alighieri. Although both stories are tragedies and contain great suffering, Dante is without a doubt the stronger of the two characters. The men share a commonality of fate stepping in and deciding their actions for them. Dante's fate, however was a much better one than Lear's was. Dante thought himself unworthy and Lear thought himself great. They were both wrong. Both men had eye-opening experiences. In Lear's case, it was too late.'
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Hell in Dante's 'Inferno' and Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus
An 8 page paper discussing and comparing Christopher Marlowe’s “Dr. Faustus” with Dante’s “Inferno.” Dante predated Marlowe by three centuries, writing “The Divine Comedy” long before the Reformation and the rise of Protestantism that Marlowe followed. The religious teachings of the times in which these authors lived are reflected in the concept of each of the nature of hell. Dante’s character descends into it to discover its hierarchical spirals; Mephistophilis reveals to Faustus that he has not left hell at all in order to visit Faustus, that they are living in it. Bibliography lists 6 sources.
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Analysis: “In the Name of the Rose”
This 3 page paper analyzes the novel “In the Name of the Rose” by Umberto Eco. Bibliography lists 1 source
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Actors of the Italian Renaissance and Their Status
A 5 page paper which examines the popular status
of Italian Renaissance actors. Commedia dell'arte
was separate from amateur drama because of the high
level of performances. Every aspect of the drama
was top of the line from the scripts to the
costumes to performers, who might play the same
role throughout their lives. Although the older
form of this street theater had originated with
morality plays, these comedies were very different.
Bibliography lists 5 sources.
Click on any of the term papers to read a brief synopsis of the research paper. The essay synopsis includes the number of pages and sources cited in the paper.