"The Inferno" is the first book in the epic poem called the “Divine Comedy” by the Italian politician Dante Alighieri and it is followed by "Purgatorio" and "Paradiso”. The book "Inferno", which is the Italian translation for Hell, tells the journey of its author through what he believes is Hell, which consists of nine circles of pain and suffering. In his journey, he is guided through the nine circles by the Roman poet Virgil. Each circle in the book represents a different type of sin with a different type of punishment, varying according to the degree of the offense they committed in their life. By the end of his journey through all of the circles, Dante realizes and emphasizes the perfection of God's Justice and the significance of each offense towards God’s unconditional love.
There are copious beliefs that the uncommitted life is not worth living, which is especially believed within Jesus. In the Bible, the story explains how Jesus was sacrificed by dying for our sins. Jesus died for all of humankind to have a chance of redeeming our sinful acts, but not for wasteful lives. This relates to Dante’s Inferno because being uncommitted is a sin, as it is in the real world. Being Uncommitted is enough to be doomed to Hell, which is where suffering really exaggerates pain and distress.
Contropasso refers to the punishment of the souls in Dante's Inferno. Specifically, contrapasso refers to punishment as a process, "either resembling or contrasting with the sin itself". Limbo The souls residing in Limbo include virtuous non-christian adults and unbaptized infants. Included in Dante's vision of limbo are Homer, Socrates, and Plato.
‘Could you find pleasure only in what was forbidden, and only because it was forbidden? (Confessions Book II, page 1186).’ One of Dante’s rules in the inferno is contrapasso, which states that for every crime there must be a befitting and equal punishment (Dante, Durling and Martinez 70-71). Punishment is always derived from the offense and not from the consequences of the crime itself. ‘Even when they sin against thee, they are also committing impiety against their own souls (Augustine and Outler 42).’This is to say that there are various levels of crime which are all punished differently.
Cantropasso of the sinners in Inferno suffer equivalent to their crimes committed during their lives. Watching the sinister souls endure their contrapassos furthers Dante’s understanding of what is expected of Heaven and what the consequences of each sin are. Traveling through the Fifth Circle of Hell, Dante and Virgil encounter the wrathful and the sullen (those who allowed anger overcome them) at the Synx River. Souls of the wrathful sit naked in the Synx’s muddy water, while “striking each other: with a hand But also with their heads, chests, feet, and backs, Teeth tearing piecemeal,” while the sullen, submerged in the mucky water of the Synx, “gargle from the craw, Unable to speak whole words,” ( VII . 97-100 ) ( VII .
In the beginning Dante is in the gloomy forest, lost and alone in the abyss and Virgil approaches him and invites him into the depths of hell to explore down. In many
Virgil answers Dante’s questions, some simple and others quite profound. Every time, Virgil has an eloquent response to the question. Virgil is the perfection of the human intellect, capable of understanding so much of the world without God. He seems to know all that could be known about Hell, and the sinners within. A good government will allow science and philosophical thought flourish.
The principle of “an eye for an eye,” exemplified by Dante’s use of contrapasso in the Inferno, is not a viable justice system in the modern world. In Dante’s Inferno, there is a specific punishment, that goes along with each sin, that the perpetrator must endure. Each punishment is a direct reflection of its corresponding sin, almost like a mirror image showing the same crime being committed on the sinner. For example, the lustful and carnal sinners are blown around in a violent, never-ending storm with no rest. This is an example of contrapasso because the sinners lived life uncontrolled, purely with emotion, and never settled down.
In Canto IV, Dante addresses two theological issues of salvation. According to Christianity, all souls that lived sinless life but were not baptized, are denied salvation. Dante designates his first circle of hell, called Limbo, for those poor souls. In Limbo, they are not tortured, but the cannot have salvation. It was a very simple and brilliant solution.
(354-357) Born then says the final line within Canto 28, “Thus is observed in me the counterpoise.” (358) Not all of Dante’s Hell continues the trend of being a place made only for people who have committed grave sin. The reader finds in Canto 4 that many great poets and people that existed prior to the death of Jesus Christ inhabit the first circle. (88-90) Finally, Dante’s phrases his idea of hell in a very interesting way in Canto 3 by saying those in hell have “foregone the good of intellect” (18)
In The Comedy, Dante the Pilgrim develops a relationship with his damned idol, Virgil, in order to journey through both Inferno and Purgatory. Even though Virgil was a good man while living, he lacked understanding of certain virtues, like pride, which prevented him from being able to reach higher levels in the afterlife. Dante the Poet’s choice to damn Virgil conveys that obeying a higher order is the way to one’s salvation. The developing relationship between Virgil and Dante the Pilgrim throughout the first two canticles brings light to the opposing separation between the two characters because of the devotion Dante has to Christian virtues in comparison to Virgil’s pagan misunderstanding of virtue. While Dante the Pilgrim experiences many
Unfortunately, Dante’s journey transitions from the wood into the depths of Hell where he and readers discover the Christian view of sin, repentance, and the need for a savior. The author introduces his readers to Jesus Christ during Virgil and Dante’s conversation about the lost souls in Limbo. In the First Circle of Hell, known as Limbo, the lost souls that did not have an opportunity to meet Jesus Christ dwell in this place. Although they did not sin, they did not have a proper relationship with God through Jesus Christ. However, Virgil testifies about Jesus’ decision into Hell when he says, “ I saw a mighty lord descend to us…
In his travels, Dante is lead by the symbol of human reason, Virgil, who takes Dante to talk to sinners of each circle in Alighieri’s depiction of Hell. His bias is extremely evident towards three specific sinners in Hell.
When starting to read Dante’s Inferno a person is often confronted by a very distinctive kind of writing style. This writing style is distinctive of the time in which the Inferno was written estimated to be around 1314 to 1317, before Dante’s death in 1321. This can lead to questions about the composition of certain lines in a passage of the text. One of these questions, why did he write it like this, popped into my head not long after starting to read Cantos I. In the first Canto, Dante meets the three beast of hell and Virgil (Alighieri 392-394).
In the “Divine Comedy” the writer, Dante Alighieri uses his own namesake to create a character, Dante, whose moralistic qualities change dramatically as he journeys through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. In the beginning, Dante finds himself lost on the path of sin and is sympathetic to others who have strayed as well. As he begins his journey, Dante shows concern and sympathy to the suffering sinners. It is only once Dante ventures deeper into the circles of Hell, when his demeanor changes and hatred begins to show. Dante, once weak and blindly empathetic to the sinners who turned their back to God’s love, becomes consciously aware of the importance of faith and justice.
