Analysis of The Levels of Dante's Hell

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It is hard to place St. Augustine within just one of the levels of Dante’s hell for his sins were varied and not great. Today many of his sins are ordinary. For example, most people attempt to better their own lives without regard of others. They attempt to increase their standard of living and gain more worldly possessions. They are neither good nor evil but are just trying to make a living and keep up in today’s society.
Before Augustine’s conversion, this was his goal. He was continually searching for “honors, money, (and) marriage” (Confessions, 991). This allows Augustine to be placed in the first area of hell, the Vestibule. It is a place for opportunists such as Augustine was before his conversion. It is a place for the “nearly soulless. . . who were neither for God nor Satan, but only for themselves.” Augustine never intentionally hurt anyone, but his actions were led by his instincts to succeed and gain praise. These actions included kissing up to the Emperor, his study of law and the art of persuasion, and the mocking of newcomers to his profession. Since each of these sins also falls within a different realm of Dante’s hell, they will be discussed later in this paper.
The second level of Dante’s hell, Limbo, does not apply to Augustine because he was baptized and was blessed with the knowledge of Jesus Christ’s existence. Therefore, Augustine cannot be placed within this first circle of hell.
The second circle of hell, a realm for those who fell victim of their carnal desires, is another level at which to place Augustine’s soul for he was consumed by lust in his pre-conversion days. He was encouraged by his family to learn the art of persuasion and making of fine speech when he was only sixteen. He used these skills,...

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...difficult to place Augustine within only one realm of Dante’s hell. One could place him in circle eight, or in circle nine for his worst sin. However, this sin dominated a very small portion of his life. As Dido was spared being placed in circle seven, round two for the sin of suicide and put in circle two for having given into her lust for Aeneas, I too spare Augustine and place him in a lower level of Dante’s hell. Many of his sins were intertwined, and almost all of them lead back to his desire to seize any opportunity to enrich his own life. For this some would place him within the vestibule of hell. However, I believe that his carnal desires filled an equal portion of his life and were the cause of many of his hardships. Since this is the stronger of the two main sins committed by Augustine, opportunity and carnal desire, I am forced to place him in circle two.

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