Punishment in Dante’s Inferno Essay

     Infidelity, murder, betrayal, and conspiracy all play an integral part in the story of the relationship between Jason and Medea. Jason is guilty of all four acts and Medea involves herself in three. Yet, perhaps, in the eyes of Dante, Medea might fall further into the realm of Dis than Jason. But, should she? And, is Dante's view of Jason and his sentence in Hell appropriate?

Central to “Inferno” is the concept of contrapasso, the idea that the punishment one experiences in Hell is the reversal of one’s sin on earth: gluttons are forced to consume filth against their will; prophets and soothsayers have their bodies disfigured to turn their heads backwards; adulterers are forever forced to couple with their lovers; it is a poetic, medieval take on Exodus’s reciprocal punishment of “eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot” (King James Bible, Exodus 21:24). Within Canto XIII Dante meets those who have committed suicide: those that have taken their lives are “reborn” into bleeding, deformed trees upon which harpies feed and onto which harpies nest. There they remain forever, subject to all forms of abuse--and completely unable to abuse themselves again (as they did in life). While Dante’s intent may be to illustrate the justice of God’s punishment for sins done on earth, the forest of suicides found in Canto XIII questions the punishments delivered by God through the words and actions of the unfortunate souls found in this level, the words of our guide, Virgil, and our the words of our protagonist, Dante.

Circles six through nine are those who have committed a more serious, heinous crime than those in one through five. “For Dante, the most serious crimes are those of betrayal.” (Pg 788, Chevigny) Circle six is the introductory of lower levels. The theme of this level is heresy. Those who have questioned or attempted to stray from church reside here. The people of level six are in tombs that are on fire. This is a slight preview of the hell we think of today. To question the Christian faith and to knowingly and openly think that there is no afterlife, but instead believe that the soul dies with the body is the best to describe their punishment. People become aware of a heaven or hell the moment they die. And once that hit that moment, it’s too late to decide whether or not there is such existence. For that reason, they are forever stuck in their tombs (or modern day caskets) and live in constant sensation of being burned.

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.

Since these souls lived their lives in a windstorm of emotions and feelings, their penalty represents the literal way in which they sinned. In addition to the punishments relating to the sins of the sinners, there are also punishments which contrast with the actions of the sinners and represent what the sinner was lacking in life. For example, the neutral souls were people who could not choose between good and evil during their life, being untouched by cares of religion and faith. As punishment in hell, they have to forever chase a blank banner in circles and are constantly stung by wasps and hornets. By taking no action on Earth in regards to their faith, they have to spend an eternity running after a banner with no hopes of catching it. And because they were untouched by cares, hornets and wasps symbolically sting them forever. The neutral souls' retribution was opposite of their sin, but most punishments represent the crimes in an ironic fashion. By choosing this method of eternal punishment, God is able to inflict the most pain on the souls in hell because they are constantly reminded of their sins at all times and are never able to escape the truth of what they did. This punishment closely resembles the eye-for-an-eye tactic preached in the Old Testament, but is done mainly to carry out perfect justice. Even the inscription above the gates of hell, "justice it was that moved my great creator" (89), suggests that the sole purpose of this place

“No one thinks of how much blood it costs. “The person who said this is the same revolutionary that wrote the Inferno. He is talking about war, and about what violence brings, when no one thinks about the consequences. In his poem, The Inferno, he goes through hell meeting and talking with people in the different circles. These layers get worse the longer the poem lasts, and as long as Dante traverses the unknown depths of the devil’s kingdom. In canto 12, Dante and his guide Virgil, come across some interesting creatures that are watching and are helping torture their victims. In most people eyes, these beings are the most deserving of their punishment in the inferno, and the interesting thing about this sin is that not everyone can

Circle one, Limbo, this circle consists of souls who were born before Christ or souls who were unbaptized as a child or did not worship God. It is clear that religion is a social value to the society, however, it is not as important as the social values in the inner circles. Dante thought to himself “I knew that beings of great worth were here suspended in this Limbo” (Dante, Inferno, IV, p.63), this shows that Dante feels bad for the souls in Limbo. He then goes on to ask his guide, Virgil, if anyone ever redeems himself or herself from Limbo. Virgil goes on to to tell him that once the Mighty One came and took a number of souls to Heaven. Since religion did not hold has much importance as the other social values there was a chance for redemption for the souls in Limbo. Some of the other social values important to their society are lust, greed, materialism, prodigality, anger, and hostility. All of these crimes are before the Gate of Dis, and the crimes behind the Gates of Dis are the crimes that hold a higher social value. Heresy, Violence, the 10 Malebolge, and the Frozen Floor of Hell consists of higher crimes. Within Circle Nine are the ones that went against

The story of “Dante’s Inferno”, by Dante Alighieri is a dark story which depicts nine circles of Hell. The one circle of Hell that we will be discussing is that of greed which happens to be the fourth circle. In the Fourth Circle of Hell, Dante and Virgil see the souls of people who are punished for greed. They are divided into two groups (The Prodigal and the Miserly), those who hoarded possessions and those who lavishly spent it. They use great weights as a torture mechanism where they are pushing them with their chests. This symbolizes their selfish drive for fortune during their lifetime. As they make their way further down, they come across a swamp filled with naked people with their faces scared by rage. One other form of greed is that of anger, which overcame these terrorized souls. The two groups are guarded by a character called Pluto which also happens to be the God of Wealth from the Underworld. The fourth circle (Greed), is one of the iniquities that most incurs Dante's scornful wrath, thus is of great importance to understanding the text.

Have you ever wondered why in some states the death penalty is legal, while in others it is outlawed? Simply put, some jurisdictions have different opinions than others on what punishment for certain crimes is acceptable and what isn’t. There are those who believe that to take the life of someone who committed an act of murder is perfectly fair, while there are others who cry in outrage, Who are we to play the role of God? Though the time periods between now and the time Dante’s Inferno was written are vastly different in many ways, the simple fact that certain sins are viewed as unacceptable remains true throughout. Dante Alighieri, the Italian poet who wrote Dante’s Inferno in the Late Middle Ages, used his literature to convey an allegory with this same concept; and even takes a step further so as to describe the theorized punishments that were linked to each sin in his day in age.

In this section, Dante depicts hell as a downward decent through each ring. The structure portrays that hell gets darker the farther you are from heaven. Another example come from the Vestibule of hell. This passage shows how the coward angels were not treated the same as the rebel angels. The degrees of punishment based on the actions committed is a clear connection to the Great Chain of Beings structure.

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

In Dante’s Inferno, part of The Divine Comedy, Canto V introduces the torments of Hell in the Second Circle. Here Minos tells the damned where they will spend eternity by wrapping his tail around himself. The Second Circle of Hell holds the lustful; those who sinned with the flesh. They are punished in the darkness by an unending tempest, which batters them with winds and rain. Hell is not only a geographical place, but also a representation of the potential for sin and evil within every individual human soul. As Dante travels through Hell, he sees sinners in increasingly more hideous and disgusting situations. For Dante, each situation is an image of the quality of any soul that is determined to sin in

The remaining four circles of hell are separated from the previous five, in that they are considered the lower parts of hell, where Dante must pass through the walls of the city, Dis. The sixth circle of hell are where the souls of the heretics are found, and burning in their open graves is the way they suffer for the rest of eternity. The seventh circle of hell is where the souls of the violent reside. This circle of hell is separated into three different sections, representing the 3 different types of violence separated by rings; 1) violence against neighbors, 2) violence against oneself, and 3) violence against God. The outer ring, those who commit violence against their neighbors, are punished by being submerged into the Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood. Anyone who tries to leave have arrows shot at them by Centaurs. Those in the middle rings who committed violence against themselves, or suicide, are punished by being turned into trees and bushes, in which harpies feed upon them. The trees can only talk when they have their branches ripped off. The middle ring also houses profligates, or those who destroyed their lives by recklessly spending money. Their punishment is to eternally run away from dogs who try to maul

Third, and definitely the most devastating, is that of public transgressions against God. The criminal element, those that feed on the innocent of the earth, those that violate the precepts of the Lord are condemned to this torturous ring. Also included are those who not only don't believe, but also find a way to take other brothers away from the truth. For instance, those who publicly spoke against Jesus’ teachings would be residents of this painful place. For in the inner ring we find the scum of the earth in which the evil agents of the world reside. The example of Judas comes to mind.