It's astonishing that Karma continues to play a role in Dante. I
don't typically picture Christians holding great stock in Karma because
the main focus seems to be on Jesus and accepting him as ones personal
savior, the pagans in the Inferno are dammed for this reason alone.
When researching this question I came across a Yahoo question
in which Christians responded in regard to how they feel about Karma.
One respondent summed up the tennant which makes this surprising to me:
Karma is return for your own works.
We Christians don't want what we deserve because what we deserve is death (the wages of sin is death).
What we want is what we don't deserve; GRACE.
Many others pointed out that the Bible does include the belief that you shall "reap what you sow."
On
another note, I was pleasantly surprised by the beauty of the writing
in the Inferno. The images evoked were brilliantly detailed. Passages
such as, "As when Divine Love set those beautiful Lights into motion at
creations dawn," were especially moving. Even with the stilted reading,
sentences taking up more than one stanza, it some how still manages to
flow gracefully. I think this is a testament to Dante's great skill with
words.
Dante does show himself to be a bit less
than humble in Canto II. Not only does he have Beatrice to look out for
him, but she has been sent by Saint Lucia, who was in turn sent by the
Virgin Mary. I have to wonder if it was a common belief that the Virgin
Mary sends "guardian angels" to look after every one in those days.
Either that or perhaps since Dante can say he's not "Dante the pilgrim"
he can just say that he is writing about some one else and so not seem so conceited.
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