This paper illustrates how all three works have used
journeys as symbolic representations through which each story's protagonist
has learned that
suffering is inevitable when surrounded by evil. In the "Aeneid," Aeneas is characterized as a mortal who has witnessed, discovered and explored the life of other mortals in what was later identified as hell. A similar scene is depicted Dante's tale, wherein the title character must witness the suffering in the City of Dis. In the Bible, the reader understands that Jonah's journey is in the form of repentance and humility. Suffering was illustrated through Jonah's ordeal when he was swallowed by the whale. The writer contends that despite the differences in the cultural contexts of the three
journeys, each had similar themes that entailed suffering in either hell or the underworld, which was the result of man's moral decline.