Don Quixote-Day 3

I was not present for the last class and therefore I did not complete the blog. However, there is a major theme that I have come across this far through the book. I feel like it is the idea reprocussions. In the book there are points where Don Quixote's actions seem to puzzle me because he does things that seem mean and unchivralus, but because he is a knight he doesn't fall under the same moral code. One instance is when he goes to attack the farmer on the road and steal his shiney hat, which turns out to be a basin. How is it ok for Don Quixote to steal the basin and hurt someone? However another time when he comes upon the slaves and he lets them free and he steals all of Don Quixote's belongings it is not ok? The part that confuses me the most is that I was under the impression that Don Quixote saw and treated everyone the same, but he obviously holds himself to higher standards.It is just that Don Quixote seems to keep running around doing whatever he pleases with out feeling like he has any consequences for his actions.

Don Quixote Ch. 1-9

The first post on Don Quixote:

First I looked up what it meant to be quixotic. It means a person who is foolishly impractical especially when it comes to chivalry and romantic ideas. After reading the first part of this book I can say that this description fits Don Quixote to a tee. He seems to be completely insane.

 

I believe the first couple chapters of the book do the best job in showing his radical behavior. The first inclination of this is when he is described as staying up day and night to read books about journeys of knights and romantic tales. Obviously when a person doesn’t sleep for days at a time they can go crazy and hallucinate. This showed me that I was going to be reading about some wild character. This first impression became true when he went to the inn which he believed to be a castle. He mistook every person to be a person of higher status, and even believed that he himself was knighted. I think that these first few chapters showed us his true character and set us up for the next scenes to come. Like the scolding the woods man and attempting to hurt the group of people walking by. He has a mistaken sense of reality because he believes these people to be knights and people of higher reanking.

dante's Inferno Cantos final cantos

The first quote that I want to pick out is line 34 in canto 34:

“If he was as beautiful then as now he is ugly” This line stood out to me as a conclusion to how the punishment the souls are given in hell is directly correlated to the sin they committed in life. I think that it is interesting how all through the journey people’s punishment is based on the sin. I think it could also play on the idea of myth because in a myth you are supposed to read past the literal and into the underlying moral. In just this line I think it is saying that who you are in life is the person you will be for eternity.

 

The second example that I would like to point out is just a few lines down when the three heads of Satan are described. One is red, the second white/yellow, and the third black. From the notes I read that this can be related to the blood, flesh, and bruises of the body of Christ. I think it represents how the entire journey Christ has left his mark on Hell, and how all aspects of Hell relate back Christ. Through out the book many aspects evoke the death and body of Christ.

Dante's Inferno Cantos 21-27

I think that it is interesting how the condemned souls can trick the demons, like we see in Canto 22. I feel like it shows that these demons, even though them seem to hold some power in hell as a torturers, really are powerless and not intelligent. I feel like the common conception of demons are that they do the work of the devil and are under his control, but that is not the way Dante is making them at all. We know from class that Dante makes the devil a dumb, babbling fool who has no power what so ever. This is because he was beat by God and now is suffering God’s wrath. From this it is impossible that the Devil is in control of the demons and therefore God must be in control of them.  However, the demons are more animal like than anything else. The run on emotions and lack control. That is why they can be tricked by the souls, even though the souls are of dead people they were humans at one point, and that means they still are intelligent.

 

As for a quote I chose line 37 in Canto 23 because it shows the connection that Dante and Virgil have by this point. “My leader seized me quickly like a mother who is awakened by a noise…” We began to discuss in class the relationship that is forming between Dante and Virgil, which is a caring for each other, but here we see a loving relationship. Virgil is not only leader and master, but also caregiver and protector.

Dante's Inferno Cantos 14-20

A line that I feel is note worthy is line 98-99 in canto 15. It reads “he listens well who takes note” When I read this I immediately thought again of this journey as a lesson. In this particular canto it is referring to listening to the words of Brunetto Latino. Who resides in hell with the sodomites, which is interesting because in the notes in the book that Dante seems shocked to see him as a homosexual. However, it could also be believed according to the book that in life Brunetto and Dante crossed paths at one point, and Brunetto was attracted to Dante. Dante turned down his advances at the time. I almost thought of this lesson as a foreshadow to a sin that Dante may gain interest to, which we briefly mentioned in class. Which is when Dante sees the pit of naked men has wishes to join them.

I find it very interesting that the book not only applies these lesson to Dante in his journey, but also to the reader.

 

I have  a question about something that is brought up repeatedly once Dante enters the eighth circle, I believe, with all the pits. The word “hunger” and “sated” are repeated. I am just not sure why.

Dante's Inferno Cantos 7-13

The first quote that I am going to discuss is in canto 7 lines 40-42.

“And he to me: Every one of them was so cross-eyed of mind in the first life, that no measure governed their spending.”

I chose this to look into more closely because I this is where I started to see the pattern forming of the layers of Hell. In the 6^th canto gluttony is discussed and represented in many ways by the atmosphere. Then in canto 7 greed is the sin represented. I think that “cross-eyed of mind” is an interesting way of saying that these people couldn’t see their own greed and need for material goods. In this section of Hell these souls are deprived of everything and their hair is cut short. This is interesting because I believe at this time long hair was admired and worn by the wealthy.

 

I also looked at the beginning of canto 11 lines 1-6:

“Our decent will have to be delayed so that our sense can become a little accustomed to the evil smell”

This quote just represents the horrible sight that is to come because the smell is so horrible. I can not imagine a smell so bad that you have to ease your way into it. This truly represents the journey of going deep into the bowels of Hell. It is interesting to describe the smell as evil because a smell cant really be evil. It is just representative of the evil that is lurking below.  

Inferno Cantos 1-6

OK, finally got this to post! Sorry, I think my internet has just been going in and out.

The beginning cantos in Dante’s Inferno did a good job in setting up the journey that Dante will be going on for the rest of the book. It is clear that this is going to be a rough journey. I feel like this is clear though the language use. It seems as though fear is going to be a big part because right at the beginning the wolf blocks his path. This forces him along a different one. I am a little confused who the person is that is leading him along this journey, and I am not really sure how this woman, Beatrice, comes into play.  Either way I am interested in going along on this journey.

 

The other initial impression that I have is that this is working along nicely with the idea of myth that we discussed earlier this semester. The introduction of other famous mythological and famous people from the past relate this story to other myths. I think this almost suggests that this story will be on par with every other myth/ story suggested. Which I think ultimately came true because even though I have never read Dante’s Inferno, I have heard about it before.