Weather In Dante's Inferno Analysis

What does hell look like? This question has survived throughout the millennia because people hold no clear answer to it. Various depictions of hell have been created, but one of the most incredibly vivid interpretations comes from Dante Alighieri’s epic three-part poem, The Divine Comedy. Dante’s journey through hell in Inferno (the first book of his epic) is well attributed to the different levels of torture people experience in accordance to their sins. One aspect that is often overlooked, however, is how the weather described within his poem affects the impact of each sin. In fact, weather such as hurricane-like wind, putrid rain, and flaming snow vigorously enhanced the nature of their corresponding sins portrayed in Dante’s Inferno. For instance, Dante and his guide Virgil came upon a chaotic pit “…that groans like the sea in a storm, when it is lashed by conflicting winds” after entering the second circle of hell (V.28-30). The raging winds “…which never rests, drives the spirits before its violence;” causing the thousands upon thousands of

Dante and Vigil came across three different groups of people stripped of their clothes. “Some were lying supine on the earth,” known as the Blasphemers who were violent against god; “…some were sitting all huddled,” known as the Usurers whom held violence against art, “…and some were walking ceaselessly,” known as the Sodomites who were violent towards nature (XVI.22-24). The weather that tormented these souls was the case that “Over all the sand there rained, with slow falling, broad flakes of fire, like snow in the mountains without wind (XIV.28-30).” This snow of flames scorched the sands on the ground and the spirits who resided on the lands, and “Without rest ever was the dancing of their wretched hands, brushing away the fresh burning, now from there now from there