The brave and unlikely journey of Dante in The Inferno by Dante Alighieri takes him through the depths of Hell in a search for Heaven. During his quest, he witnesses sinners belonging to various levels of Hell, who receive a specific punishment according to their sins. In Circle 8, Ditch 9 sowers of discord were cut in half to the degree of the schism they caused, like the lives of the people who were divided, clearly showing the punishment is fitting of the sinners’ crimes. Additionally, Circle 1, or Limbo, contained those who were uninvolved in Christianity, so the punishment was to exist in eternal inactivity to represent their lack of an active religion, perfectly appropriate for the sins. In The Inferno by Dante Alighieri, those who were …show more content…
First, Dante explains how he saw “in front of [him] doth Ali weeping go” as Ali’s face was sliced down the center (Alighieri XXVIII.32-33). Ali was responsible for creating the split between Shia and Sunni Muslims, so he had his head cut in half down the middle. This clearly proves that his punishment is fitting for his sin since he too was cut in half, representing the split of Islam he caused. Also, Dante recalls that all souls found in this ditch were “disseminators of scandal and of schism while living…and therefore are cleft thus” (Alighieri XXVIII.35-36). The extent of the discord that the sinners had caused was directly related to how badly they were sliced in half. For example, only Ali’s head was cut in half since he was responsible for the division of sects in Islam, but Muhammad’s entire body was sliced in two since he caused Islam to split off from Christianity (Alighieri XXVIII.23-31). Each of those sinners found in this ditch was responsible for a division of society to some degree, so cutting them in half according to the severity of the division they caused is evidently a fitting punishment for the
all that we need on Earth, but that doesn't mean that we are supposed to have
In The Inferno of Dante, Dante creates a striking correspondence between a soul’s sin on Earth and the punishment it receives in hell for that sin. This simple idea serves to illuminate one of Dante’s recurring themes: the perfection of god’s justice. Bearing the inscription the gates of hell explicitly state that god was moved to create hell by justice. Wisdom was employed to know what punishments would be just, power to create the forms of justice, and love to show that the punishments are conditioned with compassion, however difficult it may be to recognize (and the topic of a totally separate paper). Certainly then, if the motive of hell’s creation was justice, then its purpose was (and still is) to provide justice. But what exactly is this justice that Dante refers to? According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is the So hell exists to punish those who sin against god, and the suitability of Hell’s specific punishments testify to the divine perfection that all sin violates.
In the first bolgia of circle eight Dante describes one of the most provocative punishments, which is being beaten with lashes. The souls who reside here deceived women for their own advantage. Because of this they are stuck in a place where they have no advantage. Either way they turn they meet the same terrible fate. More provocative than lashes in The Inferno is being exposed to burning rain in the third round of the seventh circle of hell. In the third zone the usuers must sit under the fire rain with purses around their necks. These purses contain the family emblems that they stole while they were living. Burning constantly would be a terrible, painful punishment. In bolgia five of the eight circle yet another provocative punishment, being plunged into boiling pitch and tormented by black devils, is seen by Dante and Virgil. The demons take chunks out of their skin, much like the grafters too chunks of money from other people while they were alive. This punishment is appropriate when considering the sin, but the thought of enduring something so painful is what is what makes it provocative. After reading this poem it is obvious that it had an intended audience. Dante was trying to set people straight and put them on the right path. The fear of hell is a good way to do that because fear is what motivates people above all else. Dante was provocative at times, but it was only in order to reach his intended
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...
Hell, as envisioned by Dante Alighieri in his Inferno, is described by Robert Hollander as a “perfectly functioning bureaucracy” . The organization of it, however, creates many conflicting issues within the text. The way Dante organizes the circles and each of the sins within them is complicated and problematic, especially when considering how interrelated each of these sins are and how easy it is for a soul to fit into more than one circle. Not only does Dante fail to explain how these problems are dealt with, but his condemning of real people to his fictionalized version of Hell only serves to further convolute his concept of Hell, in its entirety.
The most forgivable sins in Dante's mind are found in the first few levels of Hell. The first layers of Hell are filled with people who have committed sins that go against the will of God. Unintentional, the lowest evils are multi-faceted and offensive in many ways but don't have to do with misuse of reason or politics. Most of the lesser sins in Hell are those of weak-willed people. Those who did not know God in life and committed no other sins were kept in the first circle of Hell, excluded from God's presence in heaven, but not punished, as they were not sinners otherwise in life. The lustful are the first of the truly punished, since the souls in Limbo do not suffer, but rather exist in the absence of the bliss that comes with knowing God. The lustful are battered by wind and rain, just as their minds swirled in storms of lust during life. The second circle is the home of the gluttonous, who are appropriately punished by raining excrement. Because they could not...
Within Dante’s Inferno there are nine levels of Hell, each more gruesome than the last. Each one portrays a different group of sinners, with related sins. Each circle of Hell has a different punishment, and different gates leading to the next stage. Most every circle of Hell is made up of three mini-circles of torment, with each punishment getting progressively worse.
Dante descriptions of crime and punishment in each circle of Hell are explained, but some meanings are clearer than others. But, the organization for each circle is clear and concise. When each sinner die that arraigned to one of the circles of Hell fitting for the punishment of the different kinds of sins that committed on Earth. The
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.
There are many different kinds of sins being punished in Dante’s version of Hell. In the seventh level, three different kinds of sins are being punished each in their own separate ring. The usurers, the sodomites, and the focus of Canto XIV, the blasphemers. These sinners committed the act of blasphemy, also known as violence against God. Actions that qualify as blasphemy include burning religious texts, vandalizing churches, worshipping Satan, and other similar transgressions. Sinners who have carried out blasphemous acts were trapped on an unbearably hot, sandy beach. The souls were not only being burned from the bottom where they laid on the beach, but also being burned from “distended flakes of fire [drifting] aloft” in the air, so from
In Dante’s Poem, Inferno, we see that the main character, Dante, has horrific journey through Hell. These damn souls were put in Hell through God’s justice to those whom committed sins on earth. According to Dante the poet, there are nine circles of Hell. The deeper we travel through Hell the higher the level of sin and the higher the level of punishment we see. Dante talks to various souls in hell and creates a sense of pity and questions God’s divine wisdom. These sinners are in Hell due to acts of of violence,to themselves other other people; or their sin of fraud, either by being a hypocrite or committing theft. In Dante Alighieri’s time fraud was considered the worst possible sin compared to today world where a vast majority will consider violence as the most horrific (Terr). The reason why people at that time thought that way was because they believe that it was vengeance that brought justice (Terr). A good example that gives us the hint that fraud is the worse kind of sin was when Dante the poet saw Lucifer or Satan in the middle of the ice field as though if he was being punish as well. “The King of the vast kingdom of all grief stuck out with half his chest above...
In my opinion i believe that the punishments in Dante's Inferno fit the crimes. For example in gluttony these souls were seen being selfish always eating or drinking , their punishments were to constantly eat slimy mud. The fifth circle of hell the souls were punished for their anger through their lifetime. They were punished by being forced to fight each other in a river, so not only they were fighting someone else but they were also fighting for their lives. The punishments fit the crimes because they were put in water to clean all their bad thoughts but forced to fight because their anger through their lifetime.
Seeing as this work was written by Dante, and the journey is taken by Dante, he has a unique opportunity to judge his fellow man and decide how they will be punished. He also gets to place his enemies in hell, forever besmirching their names for generations to remember. Perhaps unknowing to Dante, that is worse than any of the punishments that he placed his enemies in. The reality of The Inferno is unlikely and therefore these punishments are nothing but a fictiona...
My level of Hell for non-believers is most similar to Dante Alighieri’s level of violence against God, nature, and art. One way in which these two level relate is my level of hell and Dante’s level of hell have people trying to change what God has already given them to follow. “Once Rhea chose it as the secret crypt and cradle of her son; and better to hide him, her Corybantes raised a din when he wept” (Dante 1494-96). Rhea tries to change her fate that God had set for her, which leads her to become a sinner. Dante sets certain punishments to different types of sinners; Blasphemer is violence against God, their punishment is to be burned on the sand. In my level of hell, people have to be burned at the stake and limbs are torn apart from their
You soon realize that Dante and Farinata are politics and are from different parties by the way they are talking. “And if,” continuing the first discourse, “They in this art,” he cried, “small skin have shown, that doth torment me more e’en than this bed.”(Verse 74-76, Canto X) In this verse, the way he speaks indicates to you that he is a politic. You can also tell that Dante has high moral values in his party and he supports his party completely. Dante believes that you should accept the consequences of your actions which can be morally performed. “The slaughter and great havoc,” I replied, “That colour’d Arbia’s flood with crimson stain- To these impute, that in our hallow’d dome such orisons ascend.” (Verse 84-87, Canto X) This verse is proof that Dante’s morals are that there will always be a consequence for whatever bad action you do such as have a slaughter of many people and cause a lot of chaos to a city. A personal value of Dante’s is that you should care and sympathize for the people in Hell but you should learn from their actions in such a manner that you will not wind up in Hell