What was hell? Hell was a fiery pit of loneliness—never ending torment and pain. I never really believed that there was a better place after your heart stopped beating. There was no magical force that was going to make everything better in the world. All there was was now. The present. You can't believe in darkness without believing in light so I also never believed that there was an evil force to punish you for all eternity—that seemed a little steep. The only person that was going to hold you accountable for what you have done is yourself—your conchence. That seemed to be punishment enough. To have to look at your face everyday and know that you can never change the past. It keeps you up at night. That was hell. You can never get away from yourself.
My life had been pretty pleasant. I grew up in a small town that bordered the west end of England. It was named after the founder of the land Mr. Petersonsway. The population was fairly small with only around two hundred people and it was dwindling by the day. It was a dying town—people that founded the place were dying off day by day and the children of the founders were growing up and moving to the big city for work. Farming was becoming a thing of the past and factory work was more alive then ever. Businesses were booming and the demand for people growing.
Petersonsway wasn't the only small town in the area—Landonpresent was just down the river. But other than that we were out in the middle of no where. That was where I had grown up and I planned to stay as long as I could. You might think, “why don't both Petersonway and LanodnPreset join and make a bigger town?” This is reasonable thinking—but there was a petty rivalry between us. Landonsprest was a mining town and they w...
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...l to my knees. “How are you guys still alive?” I asked through gasps for air.
He knelt down beside me, “same way you are.” He said simply, after a small pause he elaborated further. “They make sacrifices every week to the 'monster.' We cook up the meal and eat it. For water, one of the walls has a small trickle that constantly drips down it.”
Looking up at the tunnel all I could think about was how I would never see the clouds again, or another sunset, or sit on my favorite stump. This was hell. The one and only. Sure it wasn't a never ending inferno but it was a pit of lonnlyness. To wallow in what could have been for the rest of your days, to sit and wish that things could have been different but never be able to change them. That was the worst pain, worst then the pain in my leg and back, that was the worst torment. You can never get away from yourself.
What is Hell? According to the online Oxford Dictionary, “ A place regarded in various religions as a spiritual realm of evil and suffering, often traditionally depicted as a place of perpetual fire beneath the earth where the wicked are punished after death.” A horrible place to be. Have you ever see someone tortured? I hope not, it is a terrible thing. Imagine this scene: An individual, engulfed in flames. Screaming for help but no one can do anything about it. Skin boiling, shrieks of agony, truly a horrid scene. What crime could someone have done to deserve such a punishment. Let us use an illustration. A good father would punish his child when he has done something wrong. But a cruel father would torture him. Hell from this perspective is illogical.
... rife with suffering away from the benevolent god. La Loca mentions that Sofi’s husband, who has returned towards the end of the first chapter, has been to hell and is no longer afraid. Essentially, in this alternate religion that she has created, through her unnaturalness, Hell is a place of healing, where the individual understands the truths about themselves.
Can you imagine yourself locked up in a room with no doors? Similar to a room with no doors, there is no way out of hell if it was one's destiny. In the short story "The Devil & Tom Walker" by Washington Irving, the main character's fate is hell because of his wrong decisions in life, accepting a deal with the devil for earthly benefits. Irving reinforces his message about not making decisions that may damn your soul with the use of literary elements and figurative language. Wisely, Irving combines characterization, mood and point of view to perpetuate the theme of the story in the reader's mind.
Hell is like a government. The bureaucracy is, of course, run by their “Father Below” who is Satan (Lewis 6). In other words, the system is a dictatorship. Additionally, the demons in Hell think that they can only “advance at the expense of another” (Schultz 368). Hell was not the intention God had when He gave His people free will, but it was rather a side effect (Hill and Smith). Hell was a consequence for what Satan and his followers tried to do. God created Hell for everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46). In return, Satan and his followers have devoted themselves to corrupt societies so it is easier to tempt those societies (Schultz 368). This consequence had eternal effect on everyone including God and His angels (Hill and
My idea of Hell would not be a permanent destination, but rather a place of rehab where someone’s soul could be changed. From experience, I know that when someone dies, their body is placed in a casket and buried in the ground. It is doubtful that there is a system in which the body is removed from the casket and escorted to Hell. With this in mind, my hell would only consist of the souls of those who have passed on.
is exemplified in No Exit. It is a portrayal that life in Hell is just
Everyone has a different perception of what really is heaven and hell and where people end up in the after life. Some people are not even religious and have their own personal thoughts about what is next after death. The Inferno or to be more precise “Hell” can be described and defined as a place where people end up after death in the natural world, when people have not followed God’s ways and laws of living. It is has been depicted throughout the years of time that suffering in hell is horrific, gruesome, and unimaginable. In Dante’s Inferno, Dante portrays the protagonist as he is guided by his ghostly friend Virgil the poet through the nine chambers of Hell. The transition from one circle to another is very shocking and graphic at what he witnesses through each circle. Dante uncovers where each sin will lead people to once the sinners souls face death. He faces many trials and tribulations through the beginning to end of the Inferno. Dante felt impelled to write the Inferno because he was going through his own personal struggles at the time. In a way he was extremely depressed because he was exiled out of Florence, and the love of his life Beatrice died. While Dante was in exile for so many years, it allowed him to write some of his most significant works of literature that people still read to this day.
“Early in the spring of 1300, "midway along the road of our life," Dante is lost and alone in a dark, foreboding forest. To survive this ordeal, he must visit the three realms of the afterlife, beginning with Hell.” (Smith) Dante’s Inferno, one of the great classical poems that have come out of literature that’s topic is hell. Dante’s Inferno, gives a descriptive look into hell, from the eyes of Dante. Dante goes into detail about every part of hell. The people, what it looks like, sins to go there, the whole shah-bang. Dante splits up hell into nine different parts. In which he sends different types of sinners to each part. Each hell is made up differently, each has different systems that make up that particular systems. For example, circle three, has Cerberus the three headed dog, and another circle is completely frozen over. There are three circles of hell in Dante’s Inferno that are the best in the book: Circle one, circle six, and circle three.
The first thing you would notice is the overall irony of Hell itself. As mentioned, most people have a view that Hell is very chaotic and in disarray. However, In Canto IV we find out that Hell is actually very organized. The structure of it is in fact “a great funnel-shaped cave… with its bottom point at the Earth’s center. Around this great circular depression runs a series of ledges, each of which Dante calls a CIRCLE.” (Alighieri 25). Most pictures you see of hell show images of very distressed people and demons running around in turmoil. They are usually all over the place and no sense of organization is apparent. There is also a map of hell that Dante has drawn in order to give us a clearer image of what Hell supposedly looks like (Alighieri 26). Through this we find that Dante has applied his use irony into the very structure of Hell. We also see that the people we thought were myths actually exist – in Dante’s eyes. Scattered throughout the book, we see several mythological characters that have indeed descended into Hell. On...
The first being that there was a certain construction to his hell. The shape, first and foremost, was with a cone. Being largest at the top and getting smaller and smaller as you went down. Of course, the farther you went down, the worse the sins. When taking into consideration how I would construct my own hell, I decided I would follow this same format. The people who committed the worst sins would sit in the bottom on hell, in like a pit. The people that committed sins that were the least offensive would be at the top of the cone, where it’s the widest. As far as the actual geography of hell, I don’t think I would follow Dante’s schemata exactly, although I would draw a couple ideas from it. One thing that I would keep the same is the fact that the punishment of the sinner would reflect the sin that he or she committed while on Earth. The thing that I would change would make hell a lot more personal. For example, the sin committed would deal with the person directly. What the person feared or dreaded the most would be the punishment inflicted upon them. Depending on the severity of the sin. For instance, someone simply lied, then the extent of their own fear wouldn’t be as severe as it would if they had killed
When I was nine years old, my parents, two siblings, and uncle decided that it was time for us to move from Missouri up to chilly Massachusetts. Both my uncle and father were construction workers. There were so many projects in Massachusetts, it was sensible for us to move. Financially, this was also the solution to our money problems. All around we were all very excited for this move, all except for myself. About halfway to Massachusetts, I had a gut feeling that this was a bad decision. Upon arrival, I felt like a fish out of water and, I was. Everything was so different compared to how Missouri was.
Despite the obvious flaws of Dante himself, he does give a clear vision of how punishments will be taken forth in the afterlife. He gives reason to fear and respect the law of God lest eternal punishment be your only promise in the afterlife. These punishments are as relevant as can be, so he offers a very vivid picture of hell. The men that he puts in hell give it a realistic twist, enhancing the fear that is felt upon reading this work
Milton’s adherence to orthodox views resulted in an uninspired portrait of Heaven. Hell, in contrast, was greatly developed; the vivid imagery of the volcanic and desolate terrain gave Hell a genuine ambience. Milton described Hell as a “lake of fire” (280) and commented on the “Floods and Whirlwinds of tempestuous fire” (77). He indicated that darkness is given off instead of light: “No light, but rather darkness visible” (63). The devils, especially Satan, were characterized in more detail than the angels or God. The first two books of Paradise Lost featured the fallen angels’ debate regarding their future plans. As a “true Poet” Milton sought to appeal to the emotions of his readers. The natural human inclination towards evil inspired Milton’s powerful description of Hell as opposed to his unimaginative view of Heaven.
I’d never have believed it. You remember all we were told about the torture-chambers, the fire and brimstone, the “burning marl”. Old wives’ tales! There’s no need for red-hot pokers. Hell is-other people!” (No Exit, 45). Hell is other people in many situations. There are seven billion and counting people on earth, all with an incomprehensible amount of freedom. This infinite amount of freedom varies from person to person, one may have a different view on freedoms that one should have, depending on many factors, and because of this many things are viewed differently, this causes hell. These varying in freedoms and what one views as right and wrong can be affected by those one gives authority, such as Garcin and Estelle. Those who are similar to Inez, that face their actions, are seen as ones that creating hell, because they refuse to conform. Within existentialism, the reason why hell is other people is because of
Inferno, the first part of Divina Commedia, or the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, is the story of a man's journey through Hell and the observance of punishments incurred as a result of the committance of sin. In all cases the severity of the punishment, and the punishment itself, has a direct correlation to the sin committed. The punishments are fitting in that they are symbolic of the actual sin; in other words, "They got what they wanted." (Literature of the Western World, p.1409) According to Dante, Hell has two divisions: Upper Hell, devoted to those who perpetrated sins of incontinence, and Lower Hell, devoted to those who perpetrated sins of malice. The divisions of Hell are likewise split into levels corresponding to sin. Each of the levels and the divisions within levels 7,8, and 9 have an analogous historical or mythological figure used to illustrate and exemplify the sin.