Punishment In Dante's Inferno

While the souls that suffer in Dante’s Inferno will interact and communicate with Dante and his guide Virgil, their actions towards the other souls are never compassionate or pleasant. Throughout the nine circles of hell Dante and Virgil only observe souls interacting with each other when it worsens the punishment one or both souls suffer. We see this is two way, the first being when the souls are responsible for the punishment that occurs in their level of hell, as seen in the circles of the greedy and the wrathful. The second form of interaction is found in the punishments of Caiaphas and Master Adam, where the actions of other souls worsens the punishments they endure. Even when souls appear to be interacting without pain it is either a

By Dante’s description the sinners in this circle of hell are punished by a, “hellish cyclone that can never rest / snatches the spirits up and in its driving whirl / whisks them about and beats and buffets them” (V.31-3). When observing this circle Dante take a particular interest in a pair of souls trapped in the whirlwind who travel together. In his own words he tells Virgil that, “I greatly long / to speak to those two shades who fly as one” (V.73-4). When Dante does speak to the souls, Francesca and her lover Paolo, she tells him their story, saying that they’ve been punished for their lustful ways. At first the fact that they are still together after death may appear as romantic, a symbol for the power of love, even sinful love to endure through death. However their unity does not dilute their suffering, it increases it. By being permanently connected they experiences a greater grief, Francesca herself tells Dante this when she says, “There is no greater grief / than to recall a time of happiness / while plunged in misery.” (V.121-3). By constantly being near their lover both Francesca and Paolo experience a greater grief than if they were punished for their lustfulness independently. In this way the interactions of the lover is not one of comfort but, like all the souls in hell a source for distress and pain. Even when a soul claims

In the fourth and fifth circle the punishment is created by the actions of the souls to one another. In the cases of Caiaphas, Master Adam, and Archbishop Rugieri their punishments are worse than their fellows due to the actions of the souls around them. Even when it may appear contrary as the case of Francesca and Paolo does, or when a soul claims otherwise like the man from Navarrese one can learn that they are not contrary, but truly support the nature of soul’s interactions in hell. In this way the structure of hell pits soul against soul, further separating them from the community they lived in during their lives. As their actions wronged the community it is a just punishment that they are denied its gifts in the afterlife, as such they can only interact with souls in a manner that increases the punishments they