Dante's Vestibule

The Vestibule of Hell is a place of dread and grief. The people there are locked in misery forever because they could not choose a side in a situation whether it be good or bad. Dante begins the chapter with saying, “I am the way into the city of woe. I am the way to a forsaken people. I am the way into eternal sorrow,” showing that Dante thinks the person accused of the sin had the choice of making the sin or not (18 Dante Alighieri). The opportunists can be considered in modern times as a bystander to someone being bullied and not standing up for the victim. This is shown in America and other democratic countries with a witness not telling the police about a certain crime such as a robbery or murder. Dante was a staunch advocate for the Catholic Church and during the Middle Ages he was a major volunteer to convert Catholics and suppress Protestantism. Dante thought that people that were not converted were sinning just like the opportunists by not picking a side of religion

Dante hates the opportunists and expresses this with their punishment. When Dante reaches the Vestibule he says, “Voices hoarse and shrill and sounds of blows, all intermingled, raised tumult and pandemonium that still whirls on the air forever dirty with it as if a whirlwind sucked at sand,” presenting the reader with a horrific a sight in their mind (19). Could you imagine smelling the filthy air and hearing the screams of people being stung by wasps, eaten by maggots, and whipped by a humongous giant? Dante sums this up in the last quote and passes out at the end because of the amount of pain he has seen. The disgraceful actions in Hell would be overpowering to most people but Dante, again, expresses that the opportunists picked their fate were doomed to Hell.

The Vestibule of Hell is parallel to the modern day country of Myanmar, where a woman who was pro-democratic, and went against the military government of the country was put on house arrest. Suu Kyi, the leader, for seven years was on house arrest because she supported democracy and wanted to give her people a chance to stand up for what they think is right. The Vestibule is similar to Myanmar because the people are controlled and are forced to repeat the same things by a higher power. All though the Vestibule is Dante’s imagination of punishing sinners, Myanmar is a real place where people are treated cruelly just like Suu Kyi.

For the story of Suu Kyi:http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40164855/ns/world_news-asia-pacific