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Role Of Punishment In The Inferno

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When someone commits several wrongdoings during their lives, it is very problematic to decide a specific punishment. In the novel The Inferno, Dante categorizes the sinner’s punishment by the severity of their crimes. As for Nero, the Roman Emperor, it is fairly evident that he would be placed in multiple circles of hell, due to the heinous crimes that he has committed while being in charge of Rome. Nero has been linked to several crimes including murders, homosexual acts, and even being directly linked as betraying Rome during the Great fire. Therefore, the Roman emperor is evidently placed in the seventh, eighth and ninth circles of hell, where he would ultimately subside into his rightful place in the inferno. Through Nero’s wide range …show more content…

(Aligheri p.92) In The Inferno, Dante sees the wrongdoers immersed in boiling blood forever, patrolled by Centaurs. Here, because Nero murdered many romans and even his mother, his punishment is being repeatedly thrown off a cliff of doom into an abyss full of swords and knives. As the swords and knives are thrusted upon his flesh, fishing hooks grasp onto his eyelids were he is risen to the cliff again for it to start all over. Being in that Roman era, Nero was fully aware that the killing of his mother would come back to haunt him. As David Shotter once said, “This was a crime that will have caused revulsion in the Roman world, for the mother was that most sacred of icons within the Roman …show more content…

“They have their heads above the ice, but cannot bend their necks.”(Aligheri pg. 261) Here, because Nero had committed treason against his country of Rome, his eternal punishment must be getting bound to a stake in a mock-like amphitheatre of Rome, in a blaze full of fire. Here, bounded by his extremities, (same way he murdered Christians) Nero’s soldiers would shoot arrows directly at his body, while lions gnaw at his dismembered carcass. He would forever live in the ultimate guilt of betraying his people, by forever being tormented in a setting where he profusely called home. Nero has become one of the most infamous men that ever lived. Although Nero has impacted Rome positively, he has done several charges that would inevitably send him to hell. Taking part in several murders, which include the killing of his mother, partaking in homosexual acts, and even betraying his beloved country, he will endure eternal punishment in hell where he will suffer for the heinous crimes he has committed throughout his

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He was very social with the emperors of surrounding lands and would often give them gifts. But all of these good deeds did not make up for the atrocities he committed beforehand. Nero’s family was known for being very harsh and he carried on this trait. He created brutal games for public amusement, often involving senators and high ranking officials competing in fights against animals. Nero loved money and he would create new laws that give him more money, and would often put Rome in debt.

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In Rome, personal virtues contributed towards each individual’s dedication towards their empire. They directly gave the Roman republic the moral strength and ideology to conquer the world. In some ways, the Romans assimilated their beliefs from the Greeks, which they had conquered. In fact they had created such a lasting impression with successful ideology, that George Washington wore a toga, to demonstrate how the old Roman values still had an affect on what was then modern day America. Nearly all of George Washington's actions while leading America took into account the history of Rome.

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Dante’s Inferno is an epic poem by Durante “Dante” degli Alighieri, written in the 1300s. He wrote a trilogy, known as the Divine Comedy, consisting of Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise. Dante was inspired by many events and issues happening at that time, such as the war between Guelphs and Ghibellines, the Battle of Montaperti, and Christian religious beliefs. In this paper, I will explore the first book, Inferno, on the topic of Hell and how the sinners had a significant impact on Dante’s journey through Hell. In Circle 5: Styx, Canto VIII, Filippo Argenti, a sinner of Wrathful, helped Dante to symbolize to readers his anger towards Black Guelphs, political enemies of the White Guelphs.

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While the allegory “Inferno” by Dante and the play “Hamlet” by Shakespeare may seem like very different pieces, they both touch on the same central topic of sin. Dante uses a journey through the underworld that displays the punishments received by sinners in the afterlife, while Shakespeare shows the sinners before their death. Thus, both describe the widespread presence of sin and the power it has to consume someone. Dante and Hamlet start their stories out very similar-both are in the midsts of dark periods in their lives and in desperate need of intervention before they fall off the deep end. The only difference is that Dante had Virgil to lead him back to the light while Hamlet had no one.

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All the punishments are awful. However, when Dante describes the punishments of those who committed violence against god he clearly shows his anger towards these people through the punishment he gave them. Those who are: simonists, fraudulent, magicians, diviners, and fortune tellers. The punishment for all the fraudulent is to be boiled in pitch and furthermore to have devils jab them with pitchforks. As for the other sins they have four punishments any of them could get such as: Face down in holes while their feet burn, being integrated with others forever, to wallow in ordure, and lastly being covered with sores and scabs from head to toe.

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With Dante’s journey through hell he examines the sins of others, these supposed wrongdoings, such as murder are overall worse for the population, causing, over time, a

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In Dante's Inferno, Dante who is main character is getting a tour of hell by his tour guide Virgil. Virgil his tour guide presents to him all the nine levels of hell, including the punishments the sinners must suffer with for all eternity. In the ninth level of hell, the worst sinners are frozen in a giant lake. The sinners are then eaten alive by whom is so called satan. According to Dante, Satan is described as “Than do the giants with those arms of his; consider now how great must that whole, which unto such a part conforms itself… O, what a marvel it appeared to me, when i beheld three faces on his head!

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He set Rome ablaze and used the Christians as scapegoats. He accused them of arson and persecuted many by burning them alive or allowing dogs to tear them to pieces (Lunn-Rockliffe). Emperor Diocletian (284-305) was also notorious for the persecution of Christians. A fire broke out in his palace which caused him great anger. Like the Romans did to the Christians when Nero was in rule, they blamed them for the fire.

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Him being betrayed makes it the biggest punishment as where it fits contrapasso. These insights of the bottom of hell support the theme that contrapasso is always just. The worse the sin is, the greater the punishment is. In Dante’s Inferno the worst sin was Betrayal in which the worst punishment was given. The bottom was where hell was depicted but it wasn’t full of fire as many people think.

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The prisoners receive a thematically equivalent punishment to their actions in their previous lives. As the deeper circles of hell are populated by the worst inmates, the concept of contrapasso elicits exceedingly jarring punishments the further Dante travels. The nine total circles of hell are large enough to populate a lifetime 's worth of the world’s sins. When Dante is introduced to the first circle of hell, reserved for pagans, it is clear that the inmates are bound eternally to live in the Inferno, for even those who did not conciously commit sin, are forced to stay in this realm. In his real life, Alighieri was highly vocal about political stances.

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HISTORY-Nero Emperor Nero Arguably the Worst Emperors of Rome Nero’s life was not the best but he also was not the best person. He also dealt with fires and multiple disasters. He made people listen to him sing, made them suffer being burned at the stake, and more. He is also arguably one of the world’s worst Roman emperors in the entire history of Rome. I say arguably because he also did many things in the beginning of his rein of power like lowering the taxes, plays, and games.

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In the Inferno, Dante describes the different levels of hell and the punishment which corresponds to the sin. Dante categorize hell into three major sins consisting of incontinence, violence, and fraudulent. Fraudulent is portrayed as the worse sin in the Inferno while incontinence is seen as a less serious sin. Each category has sinners which have all been punished for their wrong doings in life. The three major sins consist of circles where Dante separates the different sinners.

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He describes how the fire allowed Emperor Nero to carry out his ambitious plans for rebuilding the city, but also how Nero was blamed for starting the fire and subsequently persecuted Christians as scapegoats (Tacitus, Annals 15). Tacitus is known for his critical approach to the Roman Empire and its ruler, Nero. For example, Tacitus describes how the fire began and spread, the efforts of the people to extinguish it, and the destruction caused by the flames. He describes the fire as a catastrophic event that lasted for six days and seven nights destroying much of the city. Tacitus describes the fire as a devastating event that destroyed much of Rome and left many citizens homeless.

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"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.

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Dante’s Inferno details the long journey of Dante and Virgil, throughout the bowels of Hell, or the Inferno. Dante’s Inferno is organized into nine different levels, each distributing a different and awful punishment to every different sin. The main sins include the seven deadly sins, “Wrath, Sloth, Lust, Greed, Pride, Gluttony, Envy”, he also included “Treachery” and “Violence”. The three sins that I believe fit their sins would be “Wrath/Sulleness”, “Greed” and “Gluttony”.

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