Translators Choices

Translators Choices

After reading both translations of the Inferno it is obvious that different translators have different ideas of what is important. The version that came out of out literary books seemed to have been translated for a younger audience. However the version not from the book had a much darker feel to it. It is this difference that made me realize that censorship has not always existed.

The two translations show you how time changes the way things are censored. The version in the book seemed to have been translated earlier than the other. Over time the ability to say what you want has changed, as time has gone on we have seen that people have become less and less opposed to new ideas and generally more open minded. The translator in the text book knew this and chose what he put into the translation and what he kept out. In this version he paints a picture of Satan that makes it seem as though anyone could stand before him.

The other translator did not have the same standards to go by and therefore could put more of a dark perspective on Satan. As Dante walked up to Satan he says "I did not die- I was not living either! Try to imagine, if you can imagine me there, deprived of life and death at once." He looks upon Satan and gets that feeling that nothing could be more horrifying, more grotesque, or more evil that it actually felt as though his soul was gone and he was nothing but a shell.

Both translations paint a good picture of Satan but any translation can only give you the ground work to form your own picture of Satan. Dante gave us his idea of Hell and Satan, but I think that he left it up to us to form our own ideas. Everyone has there own Hell, but you can always chose not to end up in it.