Canto V Tone Paragraph
Dante’s
cruel diction fulfills Dante’s purpose of making the reader scared of and
not-wanting to go to Circle Two of Hell. When Dante approaches the second
circle he can begin to hear and feel the wickedness; He says,” I can hear the
notes of agony In sad crescendo beginning to reach my ear; Now I am where the
noise of lamentation Comes at me in blasts of sorrow” (5:24-27). In using
expressions as malicious as “I can hear the notes of agony in sad crescendo,”
and,” Noise of lamentation comes at me in blasts of sorrow” the noise and scene
is vividly imagined by the reader to be incredibly sinister. Later in the canto
constant tempest in the second circle is described by Dante. Dante writes,” The
hurricane of Hell in perpetual motion Sweeping the ravaged spirits as it rends,
Twists, and torments them. Drives as if to land, They reach the ruin: groaning,
tears, laments” (5:30-34). Phrases like, “Sweeping the ravaged spirits as it
rends, twists, and torments them,” invoke feelings of pain in the reader by
being so brutally descriptive. By using
grim and pain-invoking diction in Canto 5, Dante makes the reader want to avoid
ever going to Hell and its second circle.
Canto V Tone Paragraph Revised
Dante’s
cruel diction fulfills Dante’s purpose of making the reader terrified of and
not-wanting to go to Circle Two of Hell. When Dante approaches the second
circle he begins to hear and feel the wickedness. Dante says,” I can hear the
notes of agony In sad crescendo beginning to reach my ear; Now I am where the
noise of lamentation Comes at me in blasts of sorrow” (5:24-27). Dante’s point
in using expressions like “I can hear the notes of agony in sad crescendo,”
and,” Noise of lamentation comes at me in blasts of sorrow” is so the noise and
scene is vividly imagined by the reader to be incredibly sinister and horrid so the reader will try to never go there. Later in the
canto Dante describes the constant tempest in the Second Circle of Hell. Dante
writes,” The hurricane of Hell in perpetual motion sweeping the ravaged spirits
as it rends, Twists, and torments them. Drives as if to land, they reach the
ruin: groaning, tears, laments” (5:30-34). Dante’s purpose in using malicious
phrases like, “Sweeping the ravaged spirits as it rends, twists, and torments
them,” is to invoke feelings of pain in the reader by being so brutally
descriptive. By using grim and
pain-invoking diction in Canto 5, Dante makes the reader want to avoid ever
going to Hell and its second circle.
