Vice And Virtue In Dante's Inferno

Throughout the years, readers of Dante’s Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso, have hailed the author’s ability to logically develop and explain the rewards and consequences associated with the various virtues and vices. Satirically written, The Divine Comedy continues to inspire Christians and non-Christians alike, to become better, more mindful, humans. However, Dante’s views presented in his masterful literary work concerning vice and virtue are contradictory to the Bible and can serve as a legalistic stumbling block to readers. Throughout The Divine Comedy, the reader is presented with the idea that there are distinct rankings of sin in the afterlife. In the first book, Inferno, Dante was lead by Virgil through the nine levels of Hell, which

While the reader cannot know Dante’s true beliefs, Purgatorio propagated the idea in order to reach earthly paradise, one must atone for sins committed on earth through adhering to various punishments that corresponded to the deadly sins. Although this same mode of punishment fitting the crime was also seen in Inferno, in purgatory souls advanced from level to level through their penitent works. The idea that salvation comes as a result of good works was not a new idea at Dante’s time and continues to plague society to this day. A term used to describe this philosophy is legalism. “legalism is “the act of putting law above gospel by establishing requirements for salvation beyond repentance and faith in Jesus Christ,” and it focuses on “narrow and rigid codes” and “obligates God to bless those who have proven themselves worthy.””(Yinger, 2008). Reading through Dante’s second book, one cannot help but to see parallels between the author’s idea of purgatory and this idea of legalism. Dante revealed his sentiments concerning how souls in purgatory worked to purge themselves of their sinful nature not through repentance and faith in Jesus Christ, but through demonstrating themselves worthy by completing contrasting action.