The Seven Circles In Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy

limbo, 2. lust, 3. gluttony, 4. greed, 5. anger, 6. heresy, 7. violence, 8. fraud, and 9. treachery. Dante journeys through hells layers and as he gets closer to the center of hell, the sins, and their penalties get crueler. In the first level, limbo, all the individuals who died before becoming Christians reside, including famous philosophers Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates. After limb, arrives the part of hell which is comprised of sins of the flesh: greed, anger, gluttony, and lust. In the last remaining circles, Dante witnesses’ souls that have committed severer sins such as; violence against God, fraud, false prophets, violent against nature, thieves, and hypocrites. The punishments for these sins are extremely painful, including souls being submerged in boiling blood and fire. The last circle of hell is treachery. This round is separated into four compartments corresponding to the gravity of their sins and all of the sould are stuck in the frozen

Dante Alighieri was a major Italian poet of the Late Middle Ages, he was born into a family with a complex involvement in the Florence political scene. In the Dante Alighieri's epic poem The Inferno, Dante, the protagonist, witnesses the Circles of Hell, guided by Virgil the character representing Human Reason. Alighieri shows compassion towards different sinners in Hell, which provides an insight on the way he feels about people who do not repent. Although they are illustrated as good people by the poet, they are punished within the different circles of Hell because they did not cleanse themselves of sin. Through the uses of diction, actions of Dante and Virgil, and imagery, Alighieri was able to show readers he felt compassion towards Farinata Degli Uberti, Pier Delle Vigne, and Count Ugliono.

Domenico di Michelino (1417-1491), an Italian painter and medieval poet was known best for his epic poem, The Divine Comedy, which includes sections representing the three tiers of the Christian afterlife: Purgatory (Purgatorio), Hell (Inferno), and Paradise (Paradiso). This poem was a great work of medieval literature and was considered the greatest work of literature composed in Italian. The Divine Comedy was a Christian vision of mankind’s eternal fate. When The Divine Comedy was written, Dante made a cathedral painting that represents his poem called Dante and His Poem. In the painting, the Dante shows the 3 tiers related to the Christian afterlife. Dante was standing in a red robed colossus, revealing his poem to the city of Florence. The painting was full of great meaning, inspiring so many artists from Rodin to Robert Rauschenberg.

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

Upon entering an antechamber to hell, Dante and Virgil come upon large gates. Dante hears screams from souls that were damned and rejected by God, but also not accepted by hell. The “nowhere” souls are punished because of their refusal to make a choice in life. Tormented by flies and hornets on a furious pace forever, the souls are held captive by these large gates. Crossing through the gates, Dante and Virgil are met by the boatman Charon at the windy River Archeron. Rescinding from the boat, they enter the First Circle of Hell, known as Limbo. Dwelling in this circle are the honorable and righteous souls known as the “virtuous non-Christians”. The souls here are free of torment and live in desire, but will never see

For instance, the third circle of hell is meant to punish the gluttons, those who produced nothing but garbage. Their equivalent punishment here is to be buried in sewage, like garbage themselves. Some of the circles make those dwelling in it become a literal embodiment of their sins, while others are punished by the crimes they had committed while living.

In Dante’s Inferno, Hell is nine circles. Each circle or layer is asigned a specific punnishment for a specefic sin. Circle nine is no different. Nine is designated for the traitors. And while all the traitors are all in one circle, there are many divisions in these souls.

In literature during the medieval and renaissance time a comedy meant that characters in a play, peom, or movie had to endure a hardship or disaster and the come to a happy ending. Comedy sometimes isn’t even a comedy, sometimes it has a deeper meaning. The significance of comedy in Dante`s Divine Comedy is that it stands up to the structural meaning of comedy. For example, it has a happing ending, which in most literature works, is the meaning of comedy.

Dante Alighieri weighed in on the sins committed by Achilles in Homer’s Iliad and placed him in second circle of Hell. In Dante’s Inferno, hell is shaped like a funnel under the city of Jerusalem. The funnel extends toward the center of earth. Going down, hell is characterized by nine circles, each contains a category of sinners.

Dante's `Divine Comedy', the account of his journey through hell, purgatory and heaven is one of the worlds great poems, and a prime example of a most splendidly realized integration of life with art. More than being merely great poetry, or a chronicle of contemporary events, which it also is, the `Comedy' is a study of human nature by a man quite experienced with it. The main argument I will make in this essay is that Dante's `Comedy' is chiefly a work of historical significance because in it lies the essence of human life across all boundaries of time and place. I feel that such a reading is justified, nay invited, by Dante himself when he says;

The Divine Comedy depicts the journey through Hell and into Heaven lead by the Italian poet, Dante Alighieri. The Devine Comedy is an epic poem set in the year 1300 and it details Dante’s trip through the afterlife. His journey is prompted by a spiritual crisis in midlife when he finds himself lost in the woods. The woods that Dante finds himself lost in represents a personal sense of confusion and darkness. This is the kind of symbolism that is seen throughout Dante’s long journey. The two major themes portrayed in this Epic Poem are justice, sin and punishment as well as love; both spiritual and human. Some may argue that the theme of justice is too harshly portrayed in the Inferno and that it could also be taken quite literally.

The Divine Comedy is an epic about Dante’s journey through the three hells. It begins with Dante lost in a forest with monsters chasing after him. Virgil’s spirit, an influential Roman poet, appears and guides Dante out of the forest and through the gates of the Inferno (Alighieri). The Divine Comedy is made up of three parts: the Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradise. Critics say that the Inferno is the most compelling and brings about

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

The beginning lines of The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri indicate a pragmatic journey through the dark woods. It is soon evident that The Divine Comedy is in terms of an allegory. Midway through his life, Dante finds himself lost and in darkness. He is confused and unaware of how he has ended up in these dark woods. Dante soon comes across Italian poet Virgil, who will guide him through the Nine Circles of Hell. Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy: Inferno portrays Dante’s life and adventure through Hell which allegorically represents a much broader subject: man’s journey through life to salvation.

The Divine Comedy is considered the greatest work of Dante. The author worked on it for many years and inserted all his internal and external experience in it. He called this poem a comedy meaning its middle style and a happy ending. The Divine Comedy is written in the genre of vision which was highly popular in medieval literature. In this genre, authors described people walking through torments. Dante modified greatly this genre, adding the whole universe to the abyss of Hell. Moreover, he goes personally through all the circles of the otherworldly place where he to his surprise comprehends such entities as truth, love, and beauty. The Divine Comedy is infused with the theme of love, which is especially noticeable when Dante enters Heaven and meets his beloved.