A 36-year-old female with a medical history of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) complains of constantly feeling tired even after a period of rest or sleep. She was diagnosed with MS 3 years ago and has been on Interferon. As a wife and mother of 2 with a full-time job, she states that by the end of the day, she has no energy whatsoever. The patient explains that she began noticing her lack of energy and tiredness a few months back, but it has gotten progressively worse. She also mentions that she has missed several days at work over the last 4 weeks because after getting showered and dressed, she had no energy left to go to work. Reports occasional glass of wine on the weekends, denies tobacco or illicit drug use. She has tried some CBD oil to help with energy without relief. Reports sleeping more than eight hours a night while needing several naps throughout the day. She reports an uncomfortable buzzing sensation traveling from the neck to the spine with what sounds like a Lhermitte’s sign. She denies loss of bowel or bladder. She denies fever, chills, weight loss, or weight gain. She reports some nasal congestion but contributes to allergies which she takes cetirizine 10 mg PO daily. Reports she is up to date on her pap smear. She does a monthly self-breast exam, which she denies concerns about. She saw her dentist and eye doctor within the last year and has no issues or concerns. Reports her mother, who is alive, has diabetes and hypertension. Her father and siblings are also alive without any health issues. She has an aunt on her mother’s side who also had MS and currently uses a wheelchair. She is alert and oriented to person, place, time, and situation. Does not appear in acute distress, is well-developed, and is slightly obese in the abdominal section. Skin is dry, warm, and intact. Normocephalic, neck supple, no thyromegaly. PERRLA is about 4mm pupil size. Conjunctivae rim pale. Optic fundi examined revealed a uniform red to pink color; the disk is pale pink, vessels emanate from the optic cup, and the fovea was slightly darker. Retinal vessels are free from hemorrhages or exudates. Face symmetrical. No lymphadenopathy. The oral mucosa is pink and moist. Heart rate bradycardic at 56 beats per minute but regular without pauses or extra beats. Lungs diminished bilaterally but otherwise clear. Abdomen soft, non-distended, bowel sounds normoactive in all four quadrants. No suprapubic or CVA tenderness. Able to differentiate between light and deep tough, no dysmetria or ataxia, normal alternating hand movements, gait steady. Muscle tone inspected and palpated, free from fasciculation, tenderness, or atrophy. Strength 5/5 in all extremities.

Sample solution

Dante Alighieri played a critical role in the literature world through his poem Divine Comedy that was written in the 14th century. The poem contains Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. The Inferno is a description of the nine circles of torment that are found on the earth. It depicts the realms of the people that have gone against the spiritual values and who, instead, have chosen bestial appetite, violence, or fraud and malice. The nine circles of hell are limbo, lust, gluttony, greed and wrath. Others are heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Dante’s Inferno in the perspective of its portrayal of God’s image and the justification of hell. 

In this epic poem, God is portrayed as a super being guilty of multiple weaknesses including being egotistic, unjust, and hypocritical. Dante, in this poem, depicts God as being more human than divine by challenging God’s omnipotence. Additionally, the manner in which Dante describes Hell is in full contradiction to the morals of God as written in the Bible. When god arranges Hell to flatter Himself, He commits egotism, a sin that is common among human beings (Cheney, 2016). The weakness is depicted in Limbo and on the Gate of Hell where, for instance, God sends those who do not worship Him to Hell. This implies that failure to worship Him is a sin.

God is also depicted as lacking justice in His actions thus removing the godly image. The injustice is portrayed by the manner in which the sodomites and opportunists are treated. The opportunists are subjected to banner chasing in their lives after death followed by being stung by insects and maggots. They are known to having done neither good nor bad during their lifetimes and, therefore, justice could have demanded that they be granted a neutral punishment having lived a neutral life. The sodomites are also punished unfairly by God when Brunetto Lattini is condemned to hell despite being a good leader (Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). While he commited sodomy, God chooses to ignore all the other good deeds that Brunetto did.

Finally, God is also portrayed as being hypocritical in His actions, a sin that further diminishes His godliness and makes Him more human. A case in point is when God condemns the sin of egotism and goes ahead to commit it repeatedly. Proverbs 29:23 states that “arrogance will bring your downfall, but if you are humble, you will be respected.” When Slattery condemns Dante’s human state as being weak, doubtful, and limited, he is proving God’s hypocrisy because He is also human (Verdicchio, 2015). The actions of God in Hell as portrayed by Dante are inconsistent with the Biblical literature. Both Dante and God are prone to making mistakes, something common among human beings thus making God more human.

To wrap it up, Dante portrays God is more human since He commits the same sins that humans commit: egotism, hypocrisy, and injustice. Hell is justified as being a destination for victims of the mistakes committed by God. The Hell is presented as being a totally different place as compared to what is written about it in the Bible. As a result, reading through the text gives an image of God who is prone to the very mistakes common to humans thus ripping Him off His lofty status of divine and, instead, making Him a mere human. Whether or not Dante did it intentionally is subject to debate but one thing is clear in the poem: the misconstrued notion of God is revealed to future generations.

 

References

Babor, T. F., McGovern, T., & Robaina, K. (2017). Dante’s inferno: Seven deadly sins in scientific publishing and how to avoid them. Addiction Science: A Guide for the Perplexed, 267.

Cheney, L. D. G. (2016). Illustrations for Dante’s Inferno: A Comparative Study of Sandro Botticelli, Giovanni Stradano, and Federico Zuccaro. Cultural and Religious Studies4(8), 487.

Verdicchio, M. (2015). Irony and Desire in Dante’s” Inferno” 27. Italica, 285-297.

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