Daodejing And Inferno Essay

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The texts Daodejing by Laozi and Inferno by Dante both provide a powerful definition and illustration of virtue, which determines the future of an individual. Under Daodejing, virtue is defined as the power intrinsic in each thing in its natural state and the force that allows humans to reach their full potential. To achieve this power, one must follow the natural way of being uncorrupted, and ultimately it will reach their goals. The Inferno talks about a number of virtues as well as sins that make a person unvirtuous. The Inferno explores various sins a person can commit and it categorizes each sin from bad to unforgivable. The people Dante meets in hell were sent there because they did not lead a virtuous life and they were punished for …show more content…
The main difference between the arguments of Daodejing and Inferno, is that the text Daodejing focuses the definition of virtue on power and strength of mankind whereas the inferno describes definition of virtue as judgement of individual’s after life. In Daodejing, Laozi emphasizes to follow way and virtue over the vices which makes life more truthful and reliable. He illustrates his point by giving the example of strong and weak. He said, “A man is supple and weak when living, but hard and stiff when dead. The strong and big takes the lower position, the supple and weak takes the higher position” (Daodejing, 1354) This evidence suggests that if living person is sturdier than the dead even though it is physically weaker as it follows the virtue of control and power and consequently, it decides the survival and welfare of living beings. On the other hand, Inferno focuses more on God’s judgements and judges the kind of person they are. For instance, on Canto XI, Dante looks more about sin and it talks about how sin is an offense against god. God hates vices such as fear, hatred and violence which leads to a greater punishment after life (Inferno, 426). Moreover, vices are the opposite of the virtue. So, it suggests that if a person is completely virtuous, only then he/she will get a place at

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