LIT 231
Prof. G. Steinberg

Response Paper:  Inferno, Cantos XVIII-XXV

Choose one of the following areas as the focus of your response paper:

1. In terms of the Barrators, I'd like you to focus primarily on what Dante and Virgil have learned (or not learned) in the course of the Inferno.  How does Dante's behavior in the encounter with the Malebranche (the demons who guard the Barrators) compare to his behavior in Cantos VIII-IX (the encounter at the walls of Dis)?  What about Virgil's behavior?  Has Dante learned anything?  Has Virgil learned anything?  If Dante and/or Virgil has learned something, what is it?  Is Dante becoming a better person for having had these experiences in hell?  Is he any closer to salvation than he was in Cantos VIII and IX?  What progress (if any) has he made?  What progress (if any) has Virgil made?  How does Dante participate in the Barrators' sin?  (By the way, barrators are corrupt public officials, and Dante was exiled from Florence for allegedly being a corrupt public official who took bribes and embezzled money while in office.)
2. When Dante describes the Thieves and their punishment, what writer or literary work from earlier in the semester are you reminded of?  Who is Dante imitating as he describes the Thieves?  Why does Dante imitate that writer?  What does his imitation of that writer have to do with theft?