There are several ideas I can deduce from the poems Hell and the Plague. Considered somewhat complex in structure and written with images and allegories, the texts are a rich source of human life expectations. The lyrics explain the purpose for which human life was created, how lives can acquire their meaning and how humans can harness their potential, and finally explain the obstacles in humanity's achievement in life. In the text Dante's Inferno, there is the purpose of life shown in trying to avoid taking our bodies to hell after death by avoiding sins while on earth. This was demonstrated in the journey through hell taken by Dante and Virgil in which Virgil uses human reason and self-knowledge as key ways to discover our purpose in life. Our purpose in life is also to give meaning to our life. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay There are several ways through which we can give meaning to our lives according to Dante. This can be achieved by gaining awareness, having reasons for living, taking responsibility for our actions and sins, and knowing that true wealth lies in God. We can also give meaning to our life by harnessing our full potential in life and knowing exactly who we are as individual human beings. According to The Inferno, there are several ways to realize our full potential as human beings. The first step towards this is the recognition of our sins and the demonstration of our responsibility towards them. Virgil explains to Dante that the problem with people in hell is that they are irresponsible for the sins they have committed. The other path to once realizing the full potential is to know the truth. This can only be made possible through the knowledge of God. The other way is through an examination of our lines. This simply means that we need to know who we are and what we are capable of accomplishing in life and relate them to those we are unable to do. However, there are serious bottlenecks that stand in the way of reaching our full potential. According to Dante and Virgil, these were probably the rounds of experiences lived in hell. What summed it all up was the lack of salvation. This was also supported by people like Socrates who stated that “to be without salvation is worse than death”. Salvation has been made necessary by many since we have been committed. Sin has acted as a barrier to harnessing the full potential of human beings. The three beasts that served as a barrier to Odysseus ascending, as told to Gilgamesh, symbolized the sins in place to prevent humans from exploiting their potential. Unless sins are overcome through a demonstration of responsibility towards them, it will not be possible to make much progress towards a desired destiny. “Three beasts stopped him as he went up the hill” (Sowell, 547) Sins can be showcased in several ways. The first way humans are seen to sin is by cheating. It was said that Odysseus went to hell because he was a liar. However, Enkidu came to his rescue as the direct path to heaven had been lost for him. It was because of one of those sins that seemed to resemble the appetite that cannot be satisfied. Another form of sin was that of anger and sadness. The other was the inability to control one's passion and desire. This can be demonstrated through the lust of human flesh. The causes of this scene aredifferent and their control is normally difficult to achieve. Sins make us less human, thus losing our reason and freedom. These sins include craving for food, sex, and money. In all these lusts, the soul is usually clouded. An example of lustful sins was shown in Francesca and Paolo. Francesca was having an affair with Paulo's brother and the two were killed. There are also other ways in which people sinned as Dante explained. This included the practice of wasting and hoarding money which involved the use of weights in gold trading to create wealth. This was unfortunate because people focused on material wealth instead of focusing on God for wealth. Virgil further explained that luck is usually random and humans should not focus on material wealth that depends on death. As Job said, "Never know what your fortune will be" (Sowell, 552) According to Dante, of all sins, fraud is the most punishable by God. This is because it is usually done by man himself. This causes the fraud to increase more pain during the punishment process. Fraud comes in the form of intellectual harm and is usually committed by people. Dante explained two types of fraud that varied depending on the level of severity. These include complex fraud and simple fraud. Simple fraud is believed to have occurred when an individual deceives another, especially the elderly person, for personal benefits. Complex fraud occurs when one person deceives another, especially those they trust. This can happen, for example, in the case of betrayal. Other sins include violence, lack of truth in knowing God, and failure to take a stand between good and evil. The Plague The plague of mice symbolized our conscience as human beings. There is the purpose of life as life is seen as absurd and meaningless, yet we must make it meaningful to us. The old woman talks about how the life she lived was such a burden to her, yet she always remained resilient to the situation. The two that Dr. Rieux comes from in the 1940s are such boring and monotonous people. All people do is walk, love and die. However, people's main interest is basically to work and get rich. This is the main purpose of life here. Truth and justice were some of the areas where the meaning of life was explained in an environment where life was useless. This is explained in Doctor Rieux's meeting with Raymond. Tareua also understood the meaning of life by gaining his consciousness. This was after the rat menace had gotten out of control and so they began to look into why this was happening. The dead mice only symbolized the level of consciousness in humans. There are those things that must be done to ensure that we achieve their purpose in life. The inhabitants of Oran had to keep their existence in mind, no matter how meaningless their life had become. They had to give up sleep to ensure they remained conscious. “Something frightening would have to happen if they were to realize this form of consciousness” (Camus, 78). Stepping on the dead mouse, for example by Doctor Rieux, worked as a wake-up call for the people of the city. It was something terrifying that caused an individual like Dr. Rieux to be alienated from boring and routine life. The encounter with the dead mouse was symbolism of a life that went unexamined. Raymond Rambert and Dr. Rieux used two dimensions of life examination that conflicted with each other. Dr. Rieux, however, did not want to speak to Raymond as he valued truth and justice. Raymond remained persistent.