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How Does Dante Use Punishment In The Inferno

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Dante Alighieri’s, “The Inferno” describes how Dante interprets the punishment of numerous sins that occurs in life and as a result the everlasting punishment of those sins in hell. He goes on to describe with each sin how the punishment intensifies, and it will last for eternity. Dante uses symbolic punishment to raise the will of God in relation to the sin committed. Dante’s belief about the punishment received in the afterlife is a reflection the sins committed in life. Dante described the punishment of those who lacked the motivation to serve God, “In this alone we suffer: cut off from hope, we live on in desire “(Dante Alighieri, 2006, p.1476). Although they had not committed a sin but lacked baptism or born before Christ they could not identify with his death burial and resurrection as a result they would be rejected and tormented by this repeated cycle of punishment in having no identity or position just stuck. The symbolic retribution is they lack the motivation to serve God and therefore would be stuck in limbo in desire for eternity and not experience the presence of God. Dante goes on to describes the …show more content…

Dante interpretations of sin is that it is universal in comparison to the biblical view and that hell is a place for sinners and that receives intense and everlasting punishment for the sins committed in life. The afterlife of torment and punishment is in relation to the earthly sins. In fact, his worldview is like Paul the Apostle, and that sin needs to be punished. Paul writes about the crime of men and how every person should be punished for those sins. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness (Romans 1:18, New International Version).” The verse is clear and it shows both Dante and Paul’s view of sin and highlights even more the

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Dante illustrates the personal consequences of sin while

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Dante’s Inferno depicts the writer himself traveling through the afterlife with his guide Virgil, and details all the aspects of hell as Dante descends towards the ninth circle. Throughout his journey, he witnesses souls in every circle of hell for the sins they committed in their lifetime, each suffering punishments different based on the specific circle they reside. Not only are the punishments different, but they tend to be perfectly suited to the sin that has been committed, a concept called “Contrapasso”. Contrapasso essentially translates to “the punishment fits the crime,” and this notion permeates throughout Dante’s poem as he describes to the reader how the numerous souls in hell are all uniquely experiencing retribution for their

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Based on Dante’s Ninth Circle of Hell, Dante views betrayal as the ultimate sin and a transgression much worse than any sort of sexual immortality or violent crime. As scholars such as Paul Chevigny suggest, this speaks to the social and political values held in Italy during Dante’s time that were based on honor and loyalty (794). Iscariot’s betrayal of Jesus Christ contradicts Dante’s deep-rooted value of being loyal and faithful to one’s leaders instilled in him by the Florentinian culture. Furthermore, betrayal of Jesus Christ is, in Dante’s opinion, the worst offense one can commit and, thus, deserves the ultimate punishment because Christ is the ultimate power in Dante’s Christian faith. This speaks to Dante’s piousness as a Christian.

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In Dante’s Inferno, Dante the author’s idea of Divine justice is punishing the sinners in a way that the sinners punished others (or themselves) on Earth, but with a harsher consequence that only God himself could conjure. While this may seem cruel at times, God is delivering justice in a way that will teach sinners and prospects why their acts are wrong. This is clearly shown by the contrapassos of each circle and Dante’s journey that is meant to teach him to follow God. Dante descends into a Hell where pity is not encouraged. At the beginning of the journey, Dante has not learned of the sins, so he weeps and faints several times, showing his ignorance and weakness.

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In the Inferno every punishment manages to correspond with the crime that person committed in a symbolic way. Dante's "Inferno" is all about punishment. Whether the punishment seems just or not depends. In the book, Dante describes different ways sinners in Hell get punished, and he tries to match their punishments with the sins they committed. Understanding why Dante thought it was important to have fitting punishments that have a symbolic connection, gives us insight into his beliefs.

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Dante going from scared to disgusted shows that as Dante progresses, the sins and punishments only become viler. When Dante is scared, he experiences pity for the dead. But as he progresses, he realizes that the people of hell are getting exactly what they deserve, which reflects god’s perfect justice

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The heretics were punished by eternally being stuck in a tomb that was set on fire for eternity. Heresy was any dispute over Christian doctrine or any misunderstandings in the Holy Trinity or anyone accused of witchcraft, sodomy, or any other accused crimes. In middle ages, witches were burned at the stake for their crimes, and that’s what happens to heretics in the sixth circle of hell. Dante described the people in the tombs as tortured and forever damned. Dante used the burning tombs to portray to people that if you question God you will forever burn in the sixth circle of

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The reward of the soul that Dante exemplifies in his writing is supported by St. Thomas’s teachings in his novel Aquinas’s Shorter Summa. St. Thomas states, “the reward of virtue is happiness, to be granted to man by God’s goodness” (Aquinas, Shorter Summa, P.198, Par.172). St. Thomas believes that God grants happiness to souls who lived with virtue throughout their life, and punishment to those who neglected it. For God to be gracious to a soul after death, that soul must have lived a virtuous life in accordance with God’s teachings. If the soul had strayed from his teachings, God sends that individual to a lower realm where they can repent their sins.

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In his Inferno, Dante viewed God's punishments of sin at different levels of offensiveness. As he descended through the nine circles of hell, he encountered characters whose choices represented their sins. All of the characters whose stories were told deserved the justice they received when they went to hell. Each person had the opportunity to repent for their sins before they died, and they all refused to admit that they were the ones at fault, resulting in everlasting suffering for themselves and pain for other people indirectly involved in the sin.

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So far, throughout Dante’s journey, we have learned that souls direct themselves into their proper realm of Hell, Purgatory or Paradise. We have also thought that souls were mainly determined to be located in a circle and domain relating to their life's sins or virtues, although this changes as we encounter more shades. Expecting “sinful” people to be in hell is a banality or cliche, but as we travel further in the Commedia, the misdeeds and wrongdoings of an individual can still mean they can rejoice in the afterlife. Meeting Cato at the beginning of Purgatory, made reader's question or all determining factors. This I mistakenly took for Dante altering our minds and question ourselves, though a much deeper meaning broadens as we meet other “sinful” individuals in “purer” realms.

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But, as the poem continues to progress, it becomes quite clear the there is a perfect balance within God’s justice as the degree of each sinner’s punishment perfectly reflects upon the gravity of the sin. Furthermore, the inscription on the gates of Hell explicitly states that Hell exists as a result of divine justice; “ll. “ Justice moved my great maker; God eternal / Wrought me: the power and the unsearchably / High wisdom, and the primal love supernal (III.4-6).” Prior to delving into the structure of Hell and how it displays God’s divine justice, one must first familiarize themselves with both the historical context of Dante’s life, along with the beliefs of the medieval church.

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Dante’s conception of purgatory does not make sense when placed in line with Christianity. The Christian faith today is based on the life and teachings of Jesus from the study of the word of God, also known as the Bible. The Bible does not specifically state that purgatory exists. God’s word, through numerous scriptures, only states that Heaven and Hell are the two places that exist after death.

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I thoroughly believe that in a culture so reliant on religion, sin and sinners are represented reasonably well due to the detailed accounts of various sinners in Hell. In my opinion however in modern times, this is not a brilliant representation of sin as Dante allows his feelings about personal experiences to cloud the judgement of fictional characters in the poem. Before going into more specific details of Dante and his thoughts about sinners, it is important to note the overall handling of the sins and how they are fully represented. Sin is described as a corruption from one’s self and their true desires, however Tonia Triggiano writes it best when she states that the poem “describes sin as a distortion of one’s will; man’s nature wrenched itself from the nature it shared with God” .

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But when they do not, the fate of their soul is much harsher than anything else. Dante sees the sins of these people to be some of the worst which leads them to receive some of the worst

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For Dante, the punishment was fitting for both sinners because the sullen spent their lives moping and pitying themselves, when they had a promising life while the wrathful were reenacting their rage that they expressed throughout their time. There is a balance between the sin committed in Earth and the punishment received in hell. At the beginning of the poem and through the circles, Dante was a little sympathetic but after traveling to the fifth circle and encountered Philippo Argenti his feelings change. Argenti a former member of the Black Guelf was rival of Dante who was a member of the White Guelfs. When Dante was force to exile Florence, Argenti’s brother took all his property.

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