I was rather struck by the discription of Capaneus and how he took his punishment.
"The great one seeming to pay no heed to the fire,
who lies disdainful and scowling, so the rain
seems not to ripen him."
Comparing that discription to the rest of the men in his pariticular potion of hell who, "kindled like tinder under flint, and made/ the pain redouble-with their dancing hands." I have to wonder why Dante chose to chide Capaneus, saying his "unquenchable pride...punishes you the more."
It seems to me Capaneus is the wiser of the people. He's resigned to his fate and in being resigned to his fate he doesn't make it worse by trying in vain to undo it.
I also found it interesting that Dante did not seem to heed the warning written on the gates of Hell. "Abandon all hope you who enter here." Virgil explains to him that this means "All fear/ Must be left here, and cowardice die." Dante is often fearful though, fainting on many occasions. When he has barely entered hell Dante, faced with just the light bursting from hell, "Began to shake; so violently..and so (he) fell as though seized by sleep." Is this because he hadn't had the same luxury, of having "Divine Justice" spur him on to turn his fear to desire?
Dante seems to have a rather bleak view of sin, which I assume reflects the wisdom of the day. Many times, Virgil tell him that the sinners have no hope, even at the second coming. Only once does he have anything hopeful to say concerning sinners, which of course I can't seem to locate now. He says that those who repented of their sins can drink the waters of lethe and enter heaven, or perhaps Purgatory? Of course it's possible I'm remembering it wrong!
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