Dante and Despair
When Dante encounters the lion, wolf, and leopard he is coming out of the dark woods and is on the path to hell. Although the animals symbolize different things, they all scare Dante. They share one goal: to scare Dante and make him lose hope and have despair, the most serious sin.
Unlike many theories, I do not think that the animals are there to simply tempt Dante nor do they each stand for a specific deadly sin. Instead, I think that their goal is to monitor Dante so that when he does wander into sin, and into the woods, they will be able to control him until condemned to hell. They want to push Dante farther down the wrong path until it is too late for him to turn back and attempt to return to the right path.
The leopard is a supervisor outside of the woods. I think the leopard is like God, except he is working against Dante. The leopard continually watches Dante while he is in the dark woods. He pays special attention to Dante’s weaknesses that will cause him to falter off of the right path. The leopard’s job is to learn enough about Dante to make sure that he remains off of the right path and follows the wrong one.
I think that the lion symbolizes a guard. As we know the story opens with Dante coming out of the dark woods. Right outside the exit is a lion that will slay those who have exited. The lion knows that Dante has just wandered off of the right path. The lion then knows that Dante is lacking faith and courage thus making him more susceptible to temptations and complete lack of faith.
The wolf then recognizes that the lion has found someone on the path to hell and the wolf takes advantage of their vulnerability. The wolf presents Dante with temptations and adds to the fear that the lion has already supplied. The wolf insures that Dante will remain on the wrong path and continue sinning and falling into temptations until he reaches hell.
The leopard symbolizes sin and how it is always around us. The leopard also symbolizes the devil and how he plays off of your weaknesses, whether they are physical, spiritual, or lack of faith. The lion symbolizes people who can lead you off of the right path. Sometimes when we wander off of God’s path we look to other people to help us. The lion is the wrong person that voluntarily helps you but in the end only pushes you farther down the wrong path. The wolf represents the power of sin. Once Dante had been watched, lured, and captured, by the leopard and the wolf the power of sin becomes even stronger. The leopard symbolizes how hard it is to get back onto the right path once sinning, despairing, and losing faith and hope become habit or regular.
The animals foreshadow Dante’s journey to come. Most importantly, Dante is on his way to hell. His sight is transforming from earthly sight to corporeal. This is the main reason for his great fear. Dante only sees the animals’ physical features, thus adding emphasis to their dangerous attributes which adds to Dante’s fear of them. This suggests that Dante’s vision will continue to change throughout his journey which will in turn change his emotions. He will be frightened by different things and for different reasons because of his altering vision. Also, the animals indicate that throughout the journey Dante will always have enemies. He will always have someone there to try to lead him permanently off the right path and on the path to life in hell forever. This constant fear that Dante will have throughout the journey encourages a lack of faith and causes him to despair. Therefore, Dante will need to have courage and faith throughout the journey while overcoming the various temptations that are ever present in hell and along the way to heaven.
Unlike many theories, I do not think that the animals are there to simply tempt Dante nor do they each stand for a specific deadly sin. Instead, I think that their goal is to monitor Dante so that when he does wander into sin, and into the woods, they will be able to control him until condemned to hell. They want to push Dante farther down the wrong path until it is too late for him to turn back and attempt to return to the right path.
The leopard is a supervisor outside of the woods. I think the leopard is like God, except he is working against Dante. The leopard continually watches Dante while he is in the dark woods. He pays special attention to Dante’s weaknesses that will cause him to falter off of the right path. The leopard’s job is to learn enough about Dante to make sure that he remains off of the right path and follows the wrong one.
I think that the lion symbolizes a guard. As we know the story opens with Dante coming out of the dark woods. Right outside the exit is a lion that will slay those who have exited. The lion knows that Dante has just wandered off of the right path. The lion then knows that Dante is lacking faith and courage thus making him more susceptible to temptations and complete lack of faith.
The wolf then recognizes that the lion has found someone on the path to hell and the wolf takes advantage of their vulnerability. The wolf presents Dante with temptations and adds to the fear that the lion has already supplied. The wolf insures that Dante will remain on the wrong path and continue sinning and falling into temptations until he reaches hell.
The leopard symbolizes sin and how it is always around us. The leopard also symbolizes the devil and how he plays off of your weaknesses, whether they are physical, spiritual, or lack of faith. The lion symbolizes people who can lead you off of the right path. Sometimes when we wander off of God’s path we look to other people to help us. The lion is the wrong person that voluntarily helps you but in the end only pushes you farther down the wrong path. The wolf represents the power of sin. Once Dante had been watched, lured, and captured, by the leopard and the wolf the power of sin becomes even stronger. The leopard symbolizes how hard it is to get back onto the right path once sinning, despairing, and losing faith and hope become habit or regular.
The animals foreshadow Dante’s journey to come. Most importantly, Dante is on his way to hell. His sight is transforming from earthly sight to corporeal. This is the main reason for his great fear. Dante only sees the animals’ physical features, thus adding emphasis to their dangerous attributes which adds to Dante’s fear of them. This suggests that Dante’s vision will continue to change throughout his journey which will in turn change his emotions. He will be frightened by different things and for different reasons because of his altering vision. Also, the animals indicate that throughout the journey Dante will always have enemies. He will always have someone there to try to lead him permanently off the right path and on the path to life in hell forever. This constant fear that Dante will have throughout the journey encourages a lack of faith and causes him to despair. Therefore, Dante will need to have courage and faith throughout the journey while overcoming the various temptations that are ever present in hell and along the way to heaven.
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