“As he has done, so it shall be done to him, fracture for fracture, eye for eye, tooth for tooth” (Lev. 24:19-21). Contrapasso: suffer the opposite. “…you are to take life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burn for burn, wound for wound, bruise for bruise” (Exodus 21:23-25). Dante Alighieri, in his epic poem, The Inferno, regarding the character Dante traveling through the Circles of Hell — witnessing the sinners and their punishments — trying to reach his beloved Beatrice in heaven, demonstrates the influence religion had on this time period; therefore, Alighieri enhanced the meaning of The Inferno by sustained allusions to the Bible.
Biblical references helped Alighieri communicate the setting of the epic poem. “When a Mighty One descended here among us, crowned with the sign of His victorious years. He took from us the shade of our parent, of Abel, his pure son, of ancient Noah, of Moses, the bringer of the law, the obedient. Father Abraham, David the King, Israel with his father and his children, Rachel, and the holy vessel of His blessing, and many more He chose for elevation among the elect” (Alighieri 28). This biblical allusion is to 1 Peter 3:19 whenever Jesus descended into Limbo and saved the first human souls. This creates a scene for the reader to grasp the time period the poem was set in and
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Throughout the epic poem Dante passed through all nine Circles of Hell. The biblical allusions made by Alighieri while Dante traversed through hell deepened the connection the epic poem created with the reader, furthering their understanding of the gravity of the sins committed. Alighieri used the sins contrapassos as a way for the sinners to confront their sin, and Dante, after facing all the contrapassos, was eventually able to reach the Mount of Purgatory and witness the stars of heaven, exemplifying Alighieri’s