Rowling's Inferno

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

For those of you not in the know, Dante was a medieval Italian poet who was most notable for his epic poem, the Divine Comedy, especially its Inferno chapter. I was going over Dante’s Inferno again, when I came upon some rather interesting comparisons to Harry Potter.
 
So, I was going to make this an essay about Dante’s attitudes toward certain things vs. Rowling’s attitudes, but I thought this would be more fun.
 
The Vestibule:
Non-evil Slytherins would go here (ex. Slughorn, Zabini), where they are forced to chase after a green banner while snakes nip at their heels.
 
Circle 1- Limbo:
Virtuous Muggles, Ravenclaws, and Hufflepuffs go here. It’s an asphodel-field like place where they wander aimlessly and wonder why they weren’t chosen to be Gryffindors. (ex. Cedric Diggory, Frank from Book 4)
 
Circle 2- Love interests of Harry, Ron, or Hermione that didn’t take:
These people are blown around until their hair is messed up and a ton of dirt ruins their good looks, making them shriek in horror (Ex. Lavender, and arguably Cho)
 
Circle 3- Fat Bastards:
These people are forced to lie down as piles of grapefruit and Ton Tongue Toffee rain down on them; every so often one will swell up with hot air and float for a bit (Ex. Crabbe, Goyle, Aunt Marge and Uncle Vernon- though not Dudley, since he actually repented and was reborn in the holy name of Harry-worship)
 
Circle 4- Spoiled brats and other people who made Harry feel uncomfortable because of how much more they had than him:
They have to push giant golden chunks around to assemble a statue of Harry, but everytime it gets finished, it collapses and they have to start over (Ex. Draco)
 
Circle 5- People who physically abused Harry
These people are stuck in mud and fighting each other until they get scars (ex. Petunia)
 
Circle 6- People who thought Harry was evil or incompetent
These people are stuck in a Chamber of Secrets like area that’s cold and damp (ex. Zacharias Smith)
 
Circle 7- Violent people
These people are immersed in a layer of boiling green ectoplasmic liquid like the poison in Book 6 (or Hades’s river in the Hercules movie, if you prefer) (ex. Voldemort, Grindlewald, or Bellatrix)
 
Circle 8- People who deliberately and consciously inconvenienced Harry, among them:
Subcategory 1- People who tried to ride on Harry’s popularity for their own gain
These people are whipped as they walk (ex. Lockhart)
Subcategory 2- People who slandered Harry
These people are steeped in excrement (ex. Rita Skeeter)
Subcategory 3- Death Eaters who helped to bring Voldemort back
These people are continually hacked apart by Sectumsempra (ex. Lucius Malfoy)
 
Circle 9- TRAAAAITOOOOORS
These people are trapped in ice to a degree commensurate with their sins while curse words scrawl across their faces constantly (ex. Marietta, Peter)

Note that there is no circle for Fraud, as such, because fraud, when not committed by Slytherins, is good and better than being direct. Also, there is no circle for suicides because suicide is totally heroic!

Comments

[ladyhadhafang.livejournal.com]

Very interesting! :D

And definite love for referencing THE DIVINE COMEDY, BTW. :) It's pretty creepy how well Harry's and Dante's mentalities...really match up, even going over it.

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

They match to a degree, sort of, except that DI actually HAD a circle for Fraud and Suicides- and in fact, tricking people into doing something was considered WORSE than simply killing them- the complete opposite of Harry Potter, where fraud is heroic as long as you're Harry, Ron, Hermione, or Dumbledore (or just not-Slytherin)!

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

In Harry's world, people commit sins against HARRY.

Good catch! I wonder if this is part of where people get the idea that Harry is a Christlike figure? Also, when you think about it, doesn't it sound very childish? I mean, I don't remember thinking that people that I didn't get along with were evil past about sixth grade. There's something really odd about an adult writer who still apparently thinks that way.

In Dante's world, people like Harry would be incarcerated forever underneath Judas, who is up to his neck incarcerated in ice in de deepest pit of Hell, for the sin of thinking that they are God.

So, Harry is similar to Light Yagami from Death Note? Actually, that kind of makes sense in a way, even if Light is a lot, lot smarter.

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if Harry is a lot like Light, actually. Remember that Light really thought he knew what was best for humanity- Harry is just reveling in his celebrity status for something he didn't even do.

Actually, the childishness of Harry kind-of reminds me of this article which was critical of James Cameron's Avatar movie, on the grounds that the protagonist was very childish and the alien world in which he found himself was essentially a giant amusement park. The article made the case that, like the Wizarding World of Harry Potter:

"Like toys and parents to a three-year-old, it is unthinkable that they say no or exist without you, and all that they can ever ask is that you play with them."

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Good point. Even if by the end of it Light was killing everybody who inconvenienced him, from the beginning he believed that he was making the world a better place.

Also, I like the Avatar quote. Besides the annoying preachiness, this was definitely a major problem.

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

Even if by the end of it Light was killing everybody who inconvenienced him, from the beginning he believed that he was making the world a better place.

Oh, you mean like Dumbledore.

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

So, was Harry his Misa? ;)

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

Yes. This precisely.

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

There's also the fact that a good many (though perhaps not ALL) of the sins in DI can cause objective trouble even if God isn't a factor- it doesn't take a God to tell you that being too self-indulgent, violent, or malicious will make life a living hell for you and everyone else. Whereas in this parody, as per the Harry Potter books, everything is really, truly, all about Harry's wants and needs.