Throughout The Inferno of Dante, translated by Robert Pinsky, there are two overall trends observed by the pilgrim throughout is journey in Hell. First is the idea of contrapasso, where the punishment experienced by a sinner in Hell mirrors the sin committed in life. The second is the severity and corresponding punishment of the sins committed by the damned become more grotesque as the pilgrim and Virgil travel closer to the center of Hell. These two points can be seen by the pilgrim feeling pity for the sinners he saw in the first few circles but ripping the hair out of a sinner he saw in final ring of Hell (Canto XXXII) and how the “sowers of schism” are themselves cut in half like the things the separated (Canto XXVII). Along these points, the …show more content…
sin of lust and its punishment follow a symbolic contrapasso especially when seen in conjunction with the sin of violence in the outer ring. The pilgrim’s experience in the second circle of Hell is his first encounter with a tormenting punishment.
“Upward or downward, driven here and there with never ease from pain nor hope of rest…” (Canto V, Lines 40-41), in these lines the pilgrim describes the “black air” which knocks the shades in all directions. It is later learned through Virgil that this circle of Hell is dedicated to the lustful. Initially this punishment doesn’t fit with definition of contrapasso given, but can be seen as contrapasso through Aristotelian logic. The sinners of lust arrived there through incontinence, or their inability to control their desire (Inferno of Dante, page 313). This can be seen in the quote above as it depicts the shades being thrown around with no control of their bodies, suffering endless pain. This symbolically mimics their lack of self-restraint as they couldn’t control their bodies sexually in life and cannot control their bodies in death. Using the symbol of the winds to deal punishment to the lustful, it allows for the punishments of Hell to directly relate to the sin by both physical and symbolic means. The use of a non-direct contrapasso can be seen by the shades’ punishment in the outer ring of the seventh
circle. Upon arriving at the seventh circle (Canto XII), the pilgrim and Virgil are met by Centaurs that lead them along a river of fire and blood. “These are the tyrants given to blood and plunder. Here they lament the merciless harm they did…” (Canto XII 98-99) This is how the Centaurs explain that the outer ring is reserved for those who murdered as can been by key historical figures such as Alexander the Great and Attila the Hun. The pilgrim then learns that the particular shade is places in the river up to a point equal to their sin while the Centaurs fire an arrow at any shade that tries to remove themselves more the river than is allowed. Clearly this punishment is not a direct relation to their sin, as they are not being constantly slaughtered like the many people they slaughtered in life. Instead they are forced to eternal pain in the boiling blood that they were responsible for in life. This shows the symbolic nature, which the sins can take as was seen at the sin of lust. In The Inferno of Dante, the idea of contrapasso is key in determining the punishments given in Hell. Through the relentless winds for the lustful and the boiling river of blood for the murders, Dante skillfully allows for the punishments to take on an unexpected poetic response to the sin. Ultimately this results in a more grotesque and imaginative journey through hell that draws more punishment into even the lower forms of sin.
In Canto XXIII of Dante's Inferno, the hypocrites, especially Caiaphas, provide an excellent example of Divine Justice as contrapasso. The hypocrites presented their ideas as pure and good, while in reality, they did not act according to their supposed morality or practice the virtues that they preached. Because in life, the hypocrites said one thing and did another, their heavy garments seem one thing and are, yet another. The ornate priestly robes worn by the hypocrites are beautiful and impressive on the outside, but are in reality leaden instruments of torture. Contrapasso is evident in this circle of Hell, because although outwardly the Hypocrites appear lovely and perfect, underneath their gilded exterior lies only the heaviness of their guilt.
Dante Alighieri presents a vivid and awakening view of the depths of Hell in the first book of his Divine Comedy, the Inferno. The reader is allowed to contemplate the state of his own soul as Dante "visits" and views the state of the souls of those eternally assigned to Hell's hallows. While any one of the cantos written in Inferno will offer an excellent description of the suffering and justice of hell, Canto V offers a poignant view of the assignment of punishment based on the committed sin. Through this close reading, we will examine three distinct areas of Dante's hell: the geography and punishment the sinner is restricted to, the character of the sinner, and the "fairness" or justice of the punishment in relation to the sin. Dante's Inferno is an ordered and descriptive journey that allows the reader the chance to see his own shortcomings in the sinners presented in the text.
This notion of the suitability of God’s punishments figures significantly in the structure of Dante’s Hell. To readers, as well as Dante himself (the character), the torments Dante and Virgil behold seem surprisingly harsh, possibly harsher than is fair, Dante exclaims this with surprise. He doesn’t actually wonder who decided on these tortures. He knows it was god. What he is questioning is how these punishments are just, since they don’t appear to be just from a human’s point of view which views each punishment together with its conjugate sin only superficially. For example, homosexuals must endure an eternity of walking on hot sand, and those who charge interest on loans sit beneath a rain of fire. At first glance, each one seems too terrible for any sin. However, when the poem is viewed as a whole, it becomes clear that the guiding principle of these punishments is one of balance. Sinners suffer punishment to the degree befitting the gravity of their sin, in a manner matching that sin’s nature. The structures of the poem and of hell serve to reinforce this correspondence.
In Dante’s Inferno, hell is divided into nine “circles” of hell; the higher the number, the more likely the sin and the pain you will endure. However, I do not completely agree with Dante’s version of hell, perhaps due to the difference in time periods. In this essay, I will be pointing out my concerns with Dante’s description of hell and how I would recreate hell if I were Dante. The first level of hell in the Inferno is for those unbaptized yet virtuous. Although some did not have a sinful life, if they did not accept Christ, they were sent to Limbo.
In Dante’s Inferno, Dante takes a journey with Virgil through the many levels of Hell in order to experience and see the different punishments that sinners must endure for all eternity. As Dante and Virgil descend into the bowels of Hell, it becomes clear that the suffering increases as they continue to move lower into Hell, the conical recess in the earth created when Lucifer fell from Heaven. Dante values the health of society over self. This becomes evident as the sinners against society experience suffering greater than those suffer which were only responsible for sinning against themselves. Dante uses contrapasso, the Aristotelian theory that states a soul’s form of suffering in Hell contrasts or extends their sins in their life on earth, to ensure that the sinners never forget their crimes against God. Even though some of the punishments the sinners in Hell seem arbitrary, they are fitting because contrapasso forces each sinner to re-live the most horrible aspect of their sin to ensure they never forget their crimes against God.
In the Inferno we follow the journey of Dante as he wanders off the path of moral truth and into Hell. The Virgin Mary and Santa Lucia ask Beatrice, Dante’s deceased love, to send some help. Thus, Virgil comes to the rescue and essentially guides Dante through Hell and back to the mortal world from which he came. However, things begin to seem kind of odd. When reading the Inferno one may begin to question the way Dante describes Hell and the things that occur within, or even the things we have always believed about Hell. Despite the way it is described and well known in western civilization, Hell is not at all how we expect it to be because of Dante's use of irony throughout this poetic masterpiece.
...ards monstrous figures and sympathy towards those who seem to be tortured unjustly. In his perverse education, with instruction from Virgil and the shades, Dante learns to replace mercy with brutality, because sympathy in Hell condones sin and denies divine justice. The ancient philosopher Plato, present in the first level of Hell, argues in The Allegory of the Cave that truth is possible via knowledge of the Form of the Good. Similarly, Dante acquires truth through a gradual understanding of contrapasso and the recognition of divine justice in the afterlife. Ultimately, Dante recognizes that the actions of the earthly fresh are important because the soul lives on afterwards to face the ramifications. By expressing his ideas on morality and righteousness, Dante writes a work worth reading, immortalizes his name, and exalts the beliefs of his Christian audience.
Upon entering hell with Virgil, Dante becomes witness to the true perfection of the justice done to sinners after their earthly life is over. This divine justice inflicted by God chooses to punish the souls in hell in a way very similar or representative to how the souls sinned on Earth. For instance, those guilty of the sin of wrath "tear each other limb from limb" (133), a punishment which directly relates to the actions of the sinners. However, there are also punishments that are more symbolic of the actions of the sinners, such as th...
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.
Dante Alighieri's The Inferno is a poem written in first person that tells a story of Dante’s journey through the nine circles of Hell after he strays from the rightful path. Each circle of Hell contains sinners who have committed different sins during their lifetime and are punished based on the severity of their sins. When taking into the beliefs and moral teachings of the Catholic Church into consideration, these punishments seem especially unfair and extreme.
Dante’s Inferno presents the reader with many questions and thought provoking dialogue to interpret. These crossroads provide points of contemplation and thought. Dante’s graphic depiction of hell and its eternal punishment is filled with imagery and allegorical meanings. Examining one of these cruxes of why there is a rift in the pits of hell, can lead the reader to interpret why Dante used the language he did to relate the Idea of a Just and perfect punishment by God.
One of the most interesting literary techniques an author or poet could include in his or her literary work is the use of cruxes. A crux is a crossroad which consists of a difficult or ambiguous passage in a literary text that can determine a certain direction of the literary work as a whole, depending on the reader’s interpretation of such passage. Within Dante’s The Inferno there are a variety of instances in which he provides an example of a crossroad. The Inferno contains the journey through hell that Dante the pilgrim undertakes, guided by the poet Virgil, in order to eventually reach heaven. One example of a significant crux in the poem is the instance in which Dante (the pilgrim) and Virgil explicitly demonstrate the act of being wrathful
The “law of nature” that applies to Hell, in Dante’s Inferno, states that for every sinner’s crime there has to be an equal and fitting punishment. The mistreatment has to match with the crime of the sinner. The level of Hell that best represents contrapasso is circle 2. The sinners in circle two are those who are guilty of lust; in this circle, they are condemned to eternal torment. For instance, Dante states that “ I came into a place mute of light, which bellows as the sea does in a tempest, if by opposing winds’t is combated” (Canto 5). The sinners are being blown around in circles by never-ending winds. The sinners, who couldn't control their appetite for lust, do not have control in this circle; therefore, the punishment is a perfect match for the
In conclusion, a great deal of tension and contrast between “dark” and “light” in The Inferno helps us to explore Dante’s self portrait—he fears dangerous desires and sinful darkness, but shows much courage and hope towards life since he nevertheless follows his guide Virgil to dive into horrible Hell. As shown in Canto I, such emotional reaction to dark and light symbols lays a great foundation for developing Dante’s broad and universal traits as his journey progresses.
In Dante’s Inferno, Dante is taken on a journey through hell. On this journey, Dane sees the many different forms of sin, and each with its own unique contrapasso, or counter-suffering. Each of these punishments reflects the sin of a person, usually offering some ironic way of suffering as a sort of revenge for breaking God’s law. As Dante wrote this work and developed the contrapassos, he allows himself to play God, deciding who is in hell and why they are there. He uses this opportunity to strike at his foes, placing them in the bowels of hell, saying that they have nothing to look forward to but the agony of suffering and the separation from God.