Adriana MoranWorld Literature 2403Professor Amy Brady10 March 2014MessagesThe definition of a theme is not concrete, but can have many meanings among literary scholars. In the semester we considered the term theme as a message that the reader takes from the text. Literary scholars can take a text and choose numerous themes throughout the written work. Themes vary from reader to reader because it depends on how they portray the text. In the books The Divine Comedy: Dante's Inferno and The 1001 Nights we are taught to do careful reading. By doing this we learned to read literature and learned what to look for. Reading Dante's The Divine Comedy: Inferno, the further you descend into the underworld, the more extreme the punishments. Additionally, when studying The 1001 Nights I found the repetition of words to illustrate morals throughout the narrative incorporated as a theme present in the work. In Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno, the theme that to reach heaven, you must go through hell struck me. The allegory begins with Dante walking alone in the woods. He is trying to find paradise to be with Beatrice, who Dante is in love with. While Dante was walking the path to reach paradise, the beasts blocked his path. Virgil, sent by Beatrice and Dante's new guide, is there to help find the way to paradise. Virgil and Dante are now together and must go to heaven, but the only way to get there is to go through hell. Even in the first three cantos, Dante explains that the only way to see Beatrice is to travel through the nine circles of hell. As the story continues, Dante and Virgil reach Limbo where Virgil resides and the second circle of hell. hell. Limbo is here for the people... middle of the paper... point out to the King how the Cadi, the King, the Vizier, the Governor and the Carpenter reacted at the end of the story. Also, how can trust be restored in women and that they are not the enemy. In short, the definition of a theme is not concrete, but it can have many meanings among literary scholars. Literary scholars can take a text and choose numerous themes throughout the written work. I discovered in Dante's Divine Comedy: Inferno that the further down one goes into hell the more extreme the punishments are. Additionally, in 1001 Nights I found the repetition of words to illustrate morals throughout the narrative incorporated as a theme present in the work. The examples I used for each literary work demonstrate that the themes I produced exist. The themes I have put together for both works are just one of many literary critics can conclude that make literature so interesting to study.