The influence of Hell within society is
perpetually prominent, whether it is through culture, art, religion, history or
literature. The concept of Hell has been resilient through the eras that the
initial ideas are constantly being revisited with the desire to be surpassed.
I've recently gained a fascination on the concept of Hell, this commenced with my interest in Dante's Inferno. I based my new collection on the creatures dwelling within the story, conceptualising Dante's idea of hell through clothing. My work explored the snakes and serpents in combination with the Tree people whilst showcasing an array of aspects portrayed in Inferno. This interest peaked when I was viewing Dore's illustrations of Inferno in Paris a few years back. This lead me to my research on social and cultural views in relation to Hell and the impact the 'afterlife' has on people. Below is a sneak peak into the 'Inferno' Collection.
The idea of Hell
has fascinated many people from the medieval period to classical antiquity,
their ideals of hell have defined the notion for the forthcoming generations,
and hell is a concept so resilient through the eras that the initial idea is
constantly being revisited with the desire to be surpassed. Hell is a concept
that most have been educated about; the idea has in some way been brought about
and exercised within the mind. This notion alone is enough for the mind to
wander and imagine the landscape and atmosphere of hell. Artists, sculptors,
writers and inventors trying to mimic if not surpass the various concepts
brought about of the ancients.
“Human beings all
over the world believe in life after death, of the survival of the conscious
personality after the body has ceased to function. Anthropologists,
archeologists, classicists, analysts of the history of comparative religious
agree that this true of all cultures, so far as we know, Some part of us, we
believe, continues to exist somewhere. Beyond that simple statement, the particulars
of afterlife existence vary from culture to culture, from crowd to crowd,
through not so much as one might think”.
Throughout history
a number of significant writers, scientists, painters, musicians and sculptures
have depicted their ideas of hell based upon their cultural surroundings. All
these ideals have similarities portraying that the idea of hell is somewhat
shared. “This investigation is geographical rather than theological or
psychological. What is hell thought to be like? How did it come to be through
of that way? And how did its topography change with the centuries? The pull of
the Pit on the creative mind has been extraordinary. Poets and artists have
always taken an immoderate interest in Hell, and have explored it in some
curious ways. Theologically, Hell is out of favor now, but it still seems more
“real” to most people than Fairyland or Atlantis or Valhalla or other imagined
places. This is because of the sheer mass and weight and breadth of ancient
tradition, inventive fantasy, analytic argument, dictatorial dogma, and both
simple and complex faith employed over a very long time – thousands of years –
in the ongoing attempt to map the netherworld. The landscape of Hell is the
largest shared construction project in imaginative history, and it’s chief
architects have been creative giants – Homer, Virgil, Plato, Augustine, Dante,
Bosch, Michelangelo, Milton, Goethe, Blake and more”
Literary writes
such as Homer (The Odyssey) and Virgil (The Aeneid) have expressed their views
of Hell, all their ideas are drawn upon from one another with the inclusion of
religious motifs guiding their work. A number of similar ideals have been
implemented depicting the common portrayal of hell that already exits. These
writers have used their imagination to highlight the importance of Hell in
society. It was from these two authors that the awareness of hell was
recognised; they provided topographical insights through maps and illustrations
displaying the areal view of hell and its inhabitants. Over the years a numbers
of authors, artists, filmmakers and writers have assimilated their own
perspectives of hell with those of these writers. This has allowed their
concepts of hell to be further enriched with the amalgamation of contemporary
ideals with the introduction of ‘new’ authors.
Dante Alighieri based his renowned work ‘Inferno’ of his vision of hell; the piece is taken from the epic poem ‘The Divine Comedy’ in the fourteenth century. Dante’s work has continued to fascinate generations throughout history allowing generations to emphasise similarities between Dante’s work and their own, through viewing Inferno as potent inspiration. Inferno is divided into nine circles of hell, each representing a different sin according to Dante such as lust, treachery, stealing, betrayal and so forth. ‘Dante has taken characters from his surroundings in Florence, antiquity and the biblical period such as Virgil, Plato, Aristotle, Judas, Cassius, Brutus and Beatrice, positioning them in the circle of hell he feels was most appropriate in parallel to their values and actions on Earth’. Dante plays the role of god in his Inferno through this ideal of stating which area of hell people are sent, his audience are able to understand as it is an idea that many would visit themselves as ‘vengeance is something we as humans can relate to’. “Hell, the place of punishment for sinners has always been taken much more literally, perhaps because it is easier to understand. If Heaven is spiritual, Hell is oddly fleshy, with tortures that hurt and an atmosphere that is, particularly during some of Hell’s history, excessively gross. But Hell also seems darkly intriguing in a way that Heaven does not”. Dante had described his image of hell so lucidly that it was dissected to enhance his idea through science, archaeology and art; Inferno was the base for many to layer upon and further develop Dante’s idea. ‘The archeological imagery Dante put into his scenery of Hell has captivated readers, modern publications of the Divine Comedy carry maps and diagrams, while illustrators have presented not only the characters and monsters of the story but also the wonderful underground embankments, moats, castles, paved tranches and the City Of Dis with the walls of red-hot iron. Galileo himself did a technical report of the structure of Inferno in 1587 as a playful student thesis.’ Thus conveying the original influence of hell envisaged by Dante lead others to also explore the topic to further understand Dante’s vision of Inferno and emphasise the notion of hell within various domains. The theory of Hell has been irrepressible that the early ideas are frequently being reassessed with the ‘aspiration to develop’ and practice the idea. Dante was a pioneer of revisiting the ideals of hell from previous writers and creating a less conventional outlook on the notion whilst still implementing the original essences of Hell that were already present from the work of Virgil.
Dante set a framework of hell through his literature, characteristics of his vision has been re-mastered through a number of artists such as Gustav Dore emphasising Dante’s influence on Western civilisation in relation to the concept of hell amongst his ‘Inferno’ series in the 1850’s. ‘The opinion of hell within society has been rather distressing’ bringing about a feeling of physiological discomfort alongside a sense of emotional turmoil which Dore sketched upon. Incorporating reliefs from antiquity into his work such as characters, shapes and more direct influence such as mimicking idea, Dore has created a vision of Hell based upon Dante’s inferno. Through taking an already existing work Dore has captivated people through providing a visual insight for Dante’s audience. ‘Dore etched a piece for each canto of Inferno, depicting the characters and surroundings Dante anticipated’. “Dante took every theme traced in this book – philosophic, mythic, Orphic, demonic, repulsive, fantastic, allegorical, grotesque, comic, psychosocial – and put them together with meticulous care for all time. His religious views were orthodox, but his imagination was not. Even if his artistic contribution had been limited to the radical step of marrying the classical attributes of Hades to those of the Christian Hell of the vision tours, it would be a milestone. But his influence went far beyond that.”
Society’s paradigm of the model hell is imbued with concepts from medieval literature and biblical recordings. Western culture throughout the ages were so fixated on the relics of ancient and medieval literature they imitated the model principles of the classics and were determined to exceed the basic ideals from such pieces which soon became the roots for most fundamentals in society in relation to hell. The main sources that provide this to be accurate are through visiting examples of more recent work influenced by hell and dissecting various elements to draw a parallel to first-born ideas. Through these examples it can be deemed that the influence of Hell within society is perpetually prominent, whether it is through culture, art, religion, history or literature. The concept of Hell has been resilient through the eras that the initial ideas are constantly being revisited with the desire to be surpassed.
Designer Tanu Vasu
