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Pain and Human Suffering in Shahnameh and Dante’s Inferno

Human suffering usually is in the form of pain as people develop through the stages of life. Pain and suffering are therefore part and parcel of a human being that is resulted by various circumstances. Shahnameh and inferno are examples of literary works that despite their differences, have a common theme that is pain and human suffering. Both works illustrate how human suffering and mortality is evident in human beings, whether alive or dead, but discusses the suffering in different ways.

Shahnameh is a narrative by Ferdowsi Tusi entailing in-depth epic story that comprises the history and the civilization of thousands of years of Iran and the Iranian. The core source of pain and suffering that is evident in Shahnameh is death. Death has been a constant concern for humanity and has never compromised. According to the author, even the people who had been prepared to leave and settle with death never died without pain and sorrow (Ferdowsi). Death was supposed to be a permanent fear and suffering to people in this world. The suffering of death is in various forms that include the suffering of entrusting the human body to the grave, the suffering of losing all things acquired on earth, the suffering of saying farewells to the loved ones as well as the suffering of going to an unknown world. Another cause of suffering in Shahnameh is aging as he complains of the weaknesses, pain, and hardships that are associated with aging. Every person grows old, and thus, they experience the same pain and suffering associated with aging that is followed by death.

On the other hand, Dante’s Inferno illustrates pain and suffering as emotional suffering that is associated with punishment from God. Suffering in hell is the prominent cause of suffering in the Inferno, and as the word inferno suggest, sinners are burned in huge flames as a way of being punished based on their evil doings on earth. Dante develops an imaginative picture that corresponds between the soul’s sin in the world and the punishment that they are exposed to in Hell (Dante). In the inferno, there are various punishments that result in emotional suffering that include the sullen choke on mud, the greedy people being forced to eat excrement as well as the wrath attack to one another. All these suffering are an indication of God’s perfect punishment on the evil doers that causes emotional suffering to humans.

Aging, death, and punishment seem to be inevitably tragic about human existences as they are the main causes of pain and suffering to humans. Pain and suffering, therefore, become part and parcel of humans since conception and birth. Humans are inevitably deemed to suffer, they will grow up hunting to make a living, and in the end, they will have to abandon their properties to hug the cold soil, and afterward, they will have to face hell for their sins.

Dealing suffering in Shahnameh has not been clearly indicated, but according to the narrative and causes of pain and suffering, there is no way that a person can be able to evade suffering as long as they are born, as they will age and eventually die passing through pain and suffering associated with aging and death. From the Inferno, emotional suffering is based on the punishment for sins, and this means that if a person has lesser sins, their punishment will not be severe and thus dealing with suffering would be possibly avoiding sinning or engaging in activities that would provoke sin to avoid facing hell for judgement.

One of the most important lessons that can be learned from understanding human mortality is that pain and suffering are inevitable and that every human being has to die regardless of the amount of wealth accumulated. Aging is a must, and the pain associated with it will have to make a person suffer, followed by suffering in death and eventually, the deeds committed in the world will be subject to punishment in hell. Therefore, human mortality is not the end of pain and suffering for humans.

Works Cited

Dante, Alighieri. Dante’s Inferno. Рипол Классик, 2015.

Ferdowsi, Abolqasem. Shahnameh: The Persian book of kings. Penguin, 2016.