Circles Of Hell In The Divine Comedy

The Divine Comedy is a very interesting story, even though it is fiction one may wonder if hell is something similar of Dante how describes it to be. If one is a Christian one must not only believe that Heaven is a real things, but that Hell is also a real thing that people go to. However, a lot of Christians do not believe that Hell is a real place for them to go to until it is too late. Many people get caught up in the worldly things instead of focusing on the godly things on Earth, however the worldly things will catch up to one if they let it. The worldly things will catch up with them when their time on Earth is done and it is time for them to be judged, however by that time it will be too late. Unfortunately in The Divine Comedy we meet a lot of

people: politicians, poets, and yes even people in the bible. The Divine Comedy not only has people from the bible placed in the different levels of hell, but it also has different elements from the Christian faith as well.
Dante’s Inferno has a lot of Christian elements in it besides people from the bible.

In the Divine Comedy Dante describes the nine different circles of hell in which sinners are punished in an appropriate way for their sins that they committed on earth. In the bible it does indeed tell us that in hell there will be different degrees of punishment however it does not tell us that there will be different “circles” of hell. This is just one example out of many from the Divine Comedy that portrays certain elements from the bible.

The Divine Comedy not only brings us small examples from the bible, but it also brings us different people in the bible as well. In the first circle of hell which is also known as Limbo is considered pre-hell. Limbo is where all of the unbaptized and all of the good people who died before the coming of Christ are at. The people in Limbo can also be people who are not necessarily bad enough to be in hell, but not good enough to enter the gates of Heaven. The people who are in Limbo are waiting for the second coming of Christ because they will get a second judgement and may get liberated into Heaven. However, along these good people are people from the Hebrew Bible. Even though people in Limbo are waiting for their

second judgement, some people have already had the opportunity to transfer into Heaven and leave Limbo. Virgil saw this happen with his own eyes. When Jesus died on the cross and went into hell during the three days he was dead, he came into Limbo to get some people from the Old Testament. The people that Christ transported into Heaven were Noah, Abraham, Moses, Rachel, and David. If one is not familiar with the bible they do not realize what importance the following people had in the bible. In the book of Genesis is talks about God flooding the earth because of the sins his people were committing and he wanted to start over, therefore “Noah’s Ark” plays a huge role in the bible. During the passage it shows us the importance of a rainbow which is a promise God will not flood the Earth ever again. Another story in the book of Genesis tells of a story of Laban’s second daughter, Rachel. Also in the book of Genesis it tells of a story of a man named Abraham who gained the title of becoming a father of all nations because of his commitment to God. In the book of Exodus it tells of a passage about a man named Moses who split the sea and wrote the Ten Commandments. In the book of First Samuel it tells a story of a young boy named David, who conquered the quest of defeating a giant also known as “David and the Goliath”. These five people were chosen to be liberated into Heaven in which Dante describes this scenario as “the Harrowing of Hell.” The people in Limbo are different from the other sinners of hell. They do not necessarily suffer like the other inhabitants of hell, the only pain they feel is the absence of God’s love which is more of a constant ache than true pain. However, the absence of God’s love can be torturing enough because without his love we would not feel whole.
In the ninth circle of hell we also meet more people from the bible: Lucifer and Judas. When Dante and Virgil enter in the ninth circle of hell they come upon this beast with three hideous looking faces with each mouth carrying three of the biggest sinners in human history. The beast they are admiring is Lucifer himself and one of the sinners he is holding in one of his mouths is Judas Iscariot. Lucifer also known as the devil is the enemy of God, however it was not always like this. Lucifer used to be the most handsome angel in Heaven and he was also head of the choir, however his pride went up in flames when he tried to become God. Also in the bible Judas was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus Christ, however he is known for the betrayal of Jesus Christ. Dante placed him as one of the biggest sinners in human history because of how he betrayed Jesus Christ himself.
In conclusion the Divine Comedy has a lot of elements of the bible from different scriptures to different people. Even Beatrice Dante’s lover is considered a guardian angel. Beatrice sees that if Dante does not change his ways he will soon be in hell himself, therefore she asks God to take him on a journey to change his perspective so in the afterlife he will be in Heaven and not hell. However, the Divine Comedy is all based around God himself because if one gives in to the worldly pleasures they will be punished for wanting the world and not God. It is fascinating to see Dante describe characters from the bible. During this era a lot of poems and stories was based around the bible, however Dante put a twist on thing still contributing it to the bible but showing us a different side as well.