Dante's Inferno Research Paper

Life on earth is similar to life in Hell because in both places there are consequences for your actions. For example if a person robs a bank they would then be placed in jail, therefore jail is similar to Hell with different building and dorms based on the type of crime that you committed. They do this because they would not put a thief in the same room as a murderer, this is similar to the circle of Hell. The life that you portray on earth determines whether you will be admitted into Heaven or damned to Hell. The type of sins that are committed on earth are broken down into different circles of Hell. For example, Canticle six represents the Gluttons who are

The nine circles of hell are as follows: limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, and violence. While, it may seem that God is harsh for sending those sinners to hell, Dante believes that God created everything out of

As demonstrated would be the second circle of hell which consists of the lustful. As their punishment for their unholy desires, they are being blown violently back and forth by strong winds which prevents them from getting rest in comparison to a higher level such as the fifth circle which contain the wrathful who live in the mud river and is constantly fighting and hurting each other because they could not manage their anger in life. The punishment reflects the type of sin committed during their lifetime. All of this organized based on the severity of the sin. Dante teaches us that whatever you do will always come back regardless. Justice is considered one of the most important theme and concept that it comes with. The term “right of law” means that a person does what is “just” or “ morally right” and for things to be overall fair which ties in with the concept that involves people getting what they had coming for them.

Dante’s The Inferno is his own interpretation of the circles of hell. The people that Dante places in hell tried to validate their offenses and have never seen the injustice of their crime or crimes. They were each placed in a specific circle in Hell, Dante has nine circles in his hell. Each circle holds those accountable for that specific crime. Each circle has its own unique and fitting punishment for the crime committed. There are three different main types of offenses; they are incontinence, violence, and fraud. These offenses are divided into Dante’s nine rings of Hell. Each of these rings has a progressively worse punishment, starting with crimes of passion and

The text answers the question in a direct way using the works of Aristotle, “How his Ethics describes, and deals with at length, the three dispositions rejected by Heaven, Incontinence, malice, and bestial rage and how one of these offends God less and so incurs less blame?” (Canto XI 80-83). At this explanation a reader could draw the conclusion that God’s judgment is merciful and perfect. The question though still remains, if those of previous levels offend God less why do they still incur such a horrible punishment? This question leaves implications that God’s punishment might not be perfect and just. In previous cantos Dante seems to have developed some pity for those shades he has met in previous circles, such as Ciacco, and Francesca. He sympathizes with those damned almost as if he is realizing his own sins of his world. The implications of an imperfect and unjust God can ripple right to the very core of our own existence. If god is not perfect then

2) Main Points: Dante's Inferno enables man to understand that the punishment of the soul is

“The Christian church … conceived of hell as a place where the good were separate from the evil, and the deeds on earth were weighed and judges.”(Bondanella XXXIII) Hell is a place that was created as a punishment for those people who died with mortal sins and did not ask for forgiveness. In this case Dante’s hell in the Inferno is divided into three sections and nine circles. These circles within hell were based off of the seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. Along with the seven deadly sins Dante’s Catholic religion also influenced him in his choices about who to put and where to put people in Hell. According to his beliefs, if you were not a Christian, you automatically went to Hell. (Trotter) As well even though Dante's hell affected all people no matter their religion, the representation of how Hell

In Dante’s Inferno, Part 1, the fictionalized version of Dante is traveling through the nine circles of Hell. In the story, Dante is revealing his imaginative perspective of hell and what he believes to be the most deadly sins. Each sinner is punished differently depending on the sin that they committed. The farther down you travel to hell (the closer you get to the Ninth Circle) the worst the sins become. However, the punishments for this sins may get more and more brutal depending on your own beliefs. Regardless of whichever sin and punishment combination you think is worse, the punishments correlate fairly to the sins.

Circle one of Hell is reserved for those whose only crime is living before Christianity and therefore not worshipping God as is deemed proper by God. These shades are the unbaptised infants and virtuous pagans who came before Christ. Virgil explains the sin in lines 34-39:

This final circle of Hell is described throughout four rings, the first being Caina and the second called Antenora. Dante immediately sees the sinners suffering in an icy lake sobbing and some who were without limbs. In the first ring, Dante sees two sinners attached together eventually learning that they were brothers who murdered each other in a dispute for inheritance. One can argue that God believes betrayal is the biggest crime one can commit because it can include a little piece of all the crimes. In this case, the wanting of power, authority, money, and political control all contributed to the two brothers killing each other.

In the first book of the Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri attempts to show God’s perfect justice, mercy, and love by presenting his own interpretation of Hell. In this endeavor, he fails miserably, instead showing a vicious God eager to punish the most miniscule of slights. When the setting of the book, particularly the time, is considered, one might argue that Dante did a fair job with his current representation. However, most of the punishments are insanely brutal and cruel, and most of the sins linked to them are paltry at best. What is worse, most of the truly heinous crimes are completely overlooked. Even for his time, and particularly in our time, Dante’s vision of hell brings God into a negative light.

Base on Dante’s construction, Hell has nine circles arranging from the first circle to the ninth circle which are Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Avarice and Prodigality, Wrath and Sullenness, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery. Limbo circle includes those souls who are not sinful, but did not accept Christ, therefore they do not deserve enough to live in Heaven. The unbaptized and the virtuous pagans live here in green fields and a castle with seven gates to represent to seven virtues. The second circle is called Lust. Here, souls are punished by the terrible winds of a violent storm for their lust. The next circle of Hell is Gluttony. Here is used to punish the gluttons by forcing them to lie in a vile slush. The “ Great Worm” guards this circle. In the fourth circle, which is Avarice and Prodigality, souls are divided to two group, one is hoarding people, and another is squandering people. The hoarding group will use their chest to push the squandering group and shout out “why do you squander?”. In the other hand, when the squandering group turned around, they will push back those

     The Inferno by Dante is a story of a mans voyages through the treacherous depths of hell. Dante is a man who has strayed from the path of a catholic way of life. Now he needs to travel through hell to reach the virtuous path that will take him to heaven. He is guided through hell by a man who is in limbo, the first circle of hell, named Virgil. Virgil takes him through hell and shows him people suffering for the sins that they have committed. Together they travel through the nine different stages of hell observing who is in each stage, what there punishment is, and what sins they committed to get there. Virgil was sent to guide Dante through hell by Beatrice who is the love of Dante’s life. Beatrice plays a

The sin that Dante has performed is never told to the reader. Presumably, it is unimportant. Dante Alighieri is obviously writing about himself. The author and the Dante in the book are one in the same, therefore, we have to look at Dante the author and Dante the character as one. Dante the character, to be honest, he is a weenie. Not to put down that fact that he is literally walking through Hell, which is no stroll through the park. Within the first six cantos Dante has already proven his frailty by passing

Dante, the author, punishes Caiaphas harder than the other hypocrites in Circle Eight and gives him the title of Chief Hypocrite. "He is punished by being himself crucified to the floor of Hell by three great stakes and in such a position that every passing sinner must walk upon him. Thus, he must suffer upon his own body the weight of all the world's hypocrisy, as Christ suffered upon His body the pain of all the world's sins"(Alegheri 186). Because Dante is a Catholic and views Caiaphas as the ultimate hypocrite, he shows no remorse towards him because as a high priest and a man of God, it was his responsibility, to recognize Jesus as the Messiah and he failed to do that. As Dante, the main character goes through the Fifth Circle, he exposes the clergy and their wrong doings. "Papa Satan, Papa Satan.../"(Canto, Line). Because Dante Alegheri criticizes the clergy and their control, he reflects his opinion by comparing them to