“The Least You Should Know About Any Work of Fiction” Worksheet

by | Nov 21, 2021 | Pharmacy

  1. Identify the protagonist in 3-5 sentences, describe his/her life situation and basic personality, and then state his/her problem and/or primary motivation. What is the central idea, need, or problem that drives the protagonist? How does the protagonist change by the end of the story? What have they learned?
  2. Identify the antagonist(s) in 3-5 sentences, describe his/her/its basic situation and qualities, and then state his/her/its main motivation. What is the central idea, need, or problem that drives the antagonist? Remember that antagonists are not always characters, though, and that many stories feature more than one antagonist. Finally, explain how the antagonist’s drive interacts with the protagonist’s motivation, thus establishing the central conflict of the work.
  3. In no more than 3-5 sentences, summarize the plot. Include enough of the deeper level to show all that’s at stake for the protagonist and to suggest how he/she does or doesn’t change by the end of the work.
  4. Describe the conflict in less than 50 words. What is at stake? What are people fighting over? What is the problem? Remember that there is always a problem in literature. The human condition—the subject of all literature—is about problems.
  5. Identify the one scene or line or chapter or stanza that is the climax of the story. What are the moments of crisis, or scenes, that lead up to the climax? Describe each scene/chapter in a couple of words, then briefly chart the “rising” structure of the work.
  6. Write 3-5 sentences which describe the importance of setting in the work you are analyzing.
  7. Write 3-5 sentences on the connotation of important images, metaphors or symbols in the work. How does this connotation enrich your understanding of the work as a whole?
  8. Write 3-5 sentences on important historical or cultural background that might enrich your understanding of the work. Connect the historical or cultural information to the development of the story.
  9. Write 3-5 sentences about the story’s themes. What world or life view is the author expressing? How do you know? What is his/her message about these themes?

Sample Solution

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.


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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 Studies, 4(8), 487.

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

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