Theme Of Punishment In Dante's Inferno

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. In the second circle of hell, Dante explored the sin of lust with Francesca and Paolo, whose sin was punished with adequate justice. Francesca and Paolo were guilty of lust, the physical desire

A particular line from the book, “the longed-for smile… was kissed by that most noble lover,” motivated Paolo to kiss Francesca (V, 119). Francesca implied that she had set her heart upon Paolo for a long time, because he was a lover worthy of her, demonstrating that she was unhappy in her marriage. They blamed the book for stirring their feelings for each other, calling it a “Galeotto,” referring to the man who encouraged the Lancelot and Guinevere liaison (V, 122). She then said “that day we read no further”, meaning they continued the affair and likely slept together (V, 123). Eventually Francesca’s husband discovered the affair and murdered them both; a story so sad that Dante fainted from pity at the retelling. The sin of lust was so seductive it pulled Francesca away from her husband, deceiving the lovers into neglecting their future eternity in heaven and instead leading them to hell. Dante’s version of the second circle of hell featured a world of torrential rains and insane winds no soul could escape. This justice was especially fitting because the rain and wind continually engaged the senses of the body just like sex, it was a physical wind like the waves of

Once they reached hell, the souls realized that their individual sins hurt not just themselves, but also people around them, particularly close friends and family. Each character had had an opportunity to cease sinning, and repent in turn back to God in order to cleanse themselves of their sin, but they each spurned God, shrugging off fault for their sins and choosing not to see the evil they had done. Those who had been careless or whose status was viewed as immoral were condemned to hell, but at the higher levels. As Dante descended to the depths of hell, those who had more actively chose their evil behavior and refused to repent were found — sinners that Dante viewed as being most evil, the most deliberate turning away from God, and therefore most deserving of