A Comparison Of Nine Circles In Dante's Inferno

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From The Divine Comedy, Dante presents Inferno. The book takes us through Dante’s journey through Hell. There are nine circles in Dante’s Hell. Each circle of suffering is located within the Earth. The nine circles are divided into three major groups: Incontinent, Violent, and Fraudulent. For each circle, a different sin is recognized. In my opinion, the punishments that correspond with the sins that are committed on Earth are justified in Dante’s version of Hell.
Before the first circle of Hell, there is the Ante-Inferno. The Ante-Inferno contains the lost souls or “The Neutrals”, the souls of those who didn’t choose God, nor did they choose Satan after he rebelled against God. The punishment for the neutrals is to chase a blank, white banner and to be tormented by hornets and flies for all of eternity. This justified punishment is logical because they chose themselves over God. …show more content…

In this circle, the souls of those who died before Jesus’s time and the non- Christians reserve a spot here. Pagan poets and many other historical figures such as Caesar, Aristotle, and Plato live here in a castle. The castle represents a substandard version of Heaven. There are seven gates to the castle, which represents the seven heavenly virtues. The souls in this circle of hell do not experience any kind of physical torment. The punishments for these sinners are justified because they never had the opportunity to choose between God and Satan, so they live in peace.
The second circle of Hell is home to the souls of those who were overcome by lust. Dante saw many well-known historical figures such as Cleopatra and Semiramis in this circle of Hell. The punishments for these adulteress souls were to be blown around in a stormy wind amongst the darkness within the Earth. The justified reasoning behind their punishment was so the sinners would have no control over their bodies, such as the desire to satisfy their pleasure

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