The Vision of Hell in Dantes Inferno - Essay Example

?Dante: Inferno Dante Alighieri was a 14th century Italian poet who wrote the epic poem en d Divine Comedy in which we find Inferno. Inferno is the Italian word for hell and an allegory that depicts Dante’s journey through Hell accompanied by the poet Virgil. The poem portrays the nine circles of Hell that host sinners according to the level and category of their sins. Dante sets up a very complex but seemingly fair relationship between sins committed and the punishment received. Almost all members of the society may be represented in the circles he designed: In terms of Dante’s Inferno, lawyers and judges are condemned to different fates depending on the ‘circle of Hell’ in which they find themselves. Recall that in the structure of Dante’s Hell, occupants of different levels suffer different punishment, with relatively little suffering in the first circle of Hell, but significantly more suffering in the lower circles; indeed, the suffering increases at each level in proportion to the seriousness of the sin that is being punished. (Caudill) His vision of Hell indicates a balanced proportion between the sin and the punishment which explains the separation of people into different circles depending on the degree of their crime. Dante portrays a very gloomy image of Hell that does not guarantee any hope for sinners. Even though the Christian belief offers sinners repentance and an eventual redemption, Dante proposes sinners a painful punishment that makes sinners pay for their sin a very hard way. Unlike the Christian ideology that offers sinners a possible redemption, in Dante’s vision of Hell, each sinner is afflicted for all of eternity by the chief sin he committed (Wikipedia), and the punishment of the sin is appropriate to the sin committed. It is true that Dante targets only those who have sinned and refuse to repent; however, he does not focus on redemption either. The relationship between the crime committed and the punishment inflicted are measured accordingly so that each sin is appropriate to a certain punishment. This balance comes from a concern to reflect social justice and equity so that each circle’s sinners are punished according to their sins. However, In Dante’s view people who sinned but prayed for forgiveness before their death will not be found in Hell but in purgatory, where they labor to be free of their sins (Wikipedia). Instead of simple redemption, they have to go through purgatory to be cleaned of their sins. Those in Hell are people who tried to justify their sins and are unrepentant. Basically, these sinners defy God by refusing to ask for forgiveness and repentance and are, therefore, punished for their arrogance and lack of judgment. As this statement informs: “Dante’s only explicit reason for this is that many have willingly embraced death in the hope of living hereafter, but of course an empty, yet natural life. Hope would also infringe the fundamental Aristotelian principle that nature does nothing in vain” (Stephen). In Dante’s vision, this hope may be vain since for him sinners have to pay either way—through purgatory or severe punishment. “Allegorically Inferno represents the Christian soul seeing sin for what it really is” (Wikipedia), so even though the punishment seems to be very severe a Christian soul understands that sinners who refuse to repent deserve to be punished accordingly. Even though Dante does not follow exactly the way Hell is described in the Bible, he got the inspiration from there because many of the images he uses are somewhat similar to that description: “In Hell, the lost souls are arranged in three main groups and occupy nine circles; Purgatory is divided into an Ante-Purgatory, seven terraces, and the Earthly Paradise, for a total of nine locations” (Lawall 1458). So Dante got his nine circles from the real Paradise even if he uses his imagination to complete the rest. The speaker’s attempt to gain access to the sunny hill is blocked by three ferocious beasts: “The three beasts in the poem represent the three types of sin: the self-indulgent, the violent and the malicious. These three types of sin constitute the three main divisions of Dante’s Hell. The Upper Hell contains the first five circles for the self-indulgent sins, circles 6 and 7 are for the violent sins, and circles 8and 9 represent the malicious sins” (Wikipedia). This subdivision gives an idea of the hierarchy that exists in Dante’s Hell where sins are measured according to their depths. Analyzing these divisions this writer comments: “It is moreover, a model that allows Dante to anticipate, in microcosm, an overarching concern of the Commedia by juxtaposing the glorious redemption of the virtuous with the radical alienation of the wicked, who are denied even a passing glimpse of the divine good that they so roundly rejected in their lifetime” (Gittes). Actually the virtuous have a hope for redemption. But they have to go through purgatory to get their sins cleaned. The first circle of Dante’s Hell is Limbo where “reside the unbaptized and the virtuous pagans who though not sinful, did not accept Christ. These guiltless damned are punished by living in a deficient form of heaven” (Wikipedia). Even though they did not sin they still receive a punishment for not acknowledging Christ. Even their virtue is not enough to grant them the entrance to the real Heaven, so they are offered a second class heaven which is nothing compared to the real Heaven but is much better than the lower circles. Because of the rank they occupied in the society, the indwellers possess some good characteristics of people deserving to enter Heaven, but they are condemned for the faith they have chosen or their lack of faith altogether. Here is an illustration of the first circle: “Comparatively speaking the first circle of Hell in Dante’s Inferno—Limbo—is not bad. For those virtuous unbelievers at this level who died unbaptized or otherwise preceded Christ, there is no physical suffering, but there is mental anguish in the knowledge that one will never see Him” (Caudill). Virgil, Dante’s guide, lives there with the wisest men of antiquity among whom Homer, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle and many others (Lawall1467). The presence of these great men who marked the history of their time in Limbo gives it much credit but also raises many questions concerning the reason why they are being punished. These poets and philosophers greatly participated in bringing awareness to their communities and raising the consciousness of their people. Their punishment may also seem unfair if we know that these people lived and died long before the birth of Jesus Christ and the existence of Christianity. This reality makes you wonder how they can be punished for something they are not responsible for since Christianity did not exist in their life time. Through this point Dante raises a crucial question about guilt and responsibility but also the notion of faith that goes beyond the belief in any creed but only deals with the simple belief in God. These thinkers take matters seriously and try to understand all aspects of life; however, they lack the faith that rational minds cannot understand. They have to see things or have the evidence of their existence in order to believe in them (Wikipedia), which may go against the foundation of faith. Unlike Limbo, all those condemned for sinning willingly are judged by the Serpentine Minos who sentences them to one of the lower circles. Beyond this stage, all souls are punished because they have sinned. The lower circles are structured according to the conception of vice and virtue, so they are grouped into the sins of wantonness, violence and fraud. The sins of wantonness which reflect a weakness in controlling desires and natural urges are the mildest among them and correspondingly come first while the sins of violence and fraud appear lower down (Wikipedia).This hierarchy indicates the degree of seriousness of the sin committed and the proportion of the punishment inflicted. The foundation on vice and virtue reveals that people are judged according to what is considered good or evil, and the categorization from higher to lower stage reflects the depth of the sin. The higher circles represent those nearer Heaven while the lower ones basically symbolize the pit. “In the second circle of Hell are those overcome by lust. Dante condemns these ‘carnal malefactors’ for letting their sexual appetite sway their reason. They are the first ones to be truly punished in Hell” (Wikipedia). This shows how serious committing adultery is, and their punishment is even more revealing. As a matter of fact, “they are blown to and fro terrible winds of a violent storm, without any hope of rest. This symbolizes the power of lust to blow one about needlessly and aimlessly” (Wikipedia). Dante compares the mind of the adulterer to a terrible storm that keeps blowing and urges the person to engage in forbidden relationship. This assertion gives a hint of what happens in the second circle: “In the second circle of Hell, Dante first confronts those who are punished for their sins, and the scene is grim” (Caudill). The storm reflects the chaos in the fellows’ lives without any hope to stop since they are addicted to the vice. The punishment seems very severe and endless; however, it just demonstrates how lust is evil and leads straight to the person’s destruction. Through this horrific image, Dante sensitizes people about the danger of lust and warns them that the few minutes of pleasure are not worth the painful punishment in Hell. The third circle houses those guilty of gluttony. “The gluttons are forced to lie in a vile slush produced by a ceaseless foul, icy rain” (Wikipedia). This pitiful sight in the punishment they receive for their addiction to food and drink indicates how serious the matter is. This image of them lying in the slush being submerged with the rain symbolizes the relationship they had with not only food and drink but other addictions as well. The abundance of food in their lives is replaced by the fat and grease continuously coming from the slush and being fed by the rain. Dante expresses his feelings at the sight of the sinners: “At the sight of these two kinsmen lovers, / a piteous sight confusing me to tears, / new suffering and new sinners suffering” (Dante, Canto VI: 1482). This is the pitiful fate of those who indulge in gluttony and have a scary addiction to food or anything else. This is a fate they cannot escape since they are being guarded by the “Great Worm” Cerberus who will not give them any chance to rest and whose sight is scary enough to be a punishment by itself. Virgil had to fill his three mouths with mud to get the passage (Wikipedia). The fourth circle is about those who have problems with greed. It concerned those whose attitude toward material goods is found inappropriate and deviant from the norm. This group included the avaricious or miserly who kept possessions but also the prodigal who wasted them. Both groups are guarded by Pluto. The two groups joust using as weapons great weights which they push with their chests (Wikipedia). This violent fight the two groups engage in is the punishment they receive for the sins they committed. This painful and pitiful sight reflects the relationship they had with the material goods they used to handle. The contrast in the two groups demands a reflection about fortune since the offence may not be the same. The miserly which refuse to spend any money but prefer to store it are punished because they deny themselves and their community basic needs. Some people from the church are found guilty of this sin: “While Dante mentions nameless cardinals, popes, and clerics among the avaricious in the fourth circle, most of his references to specific members of the clergy are in the cantos devoted to the fraudulent” (Gittes). Even though squandering goods may seem to be a more serious offence, Dante puts them in the same circle to indicate that the avarice is as condemnable as the prodigal. The gap between being wealthy and being poor is so narrow that Dante chooses a unique punishment for these two groups. They were so absorbed in fighting that Virgil didn’t get the chance to talk to them. They lost their personality and individuality in their attempt to destroy each other which symbolizes the life they led before their deaths. The fifth circle is where those guilty of anger are punished. “In the swamp like water of the river Styx, the wrathful fight each other on the surface, and the sullen lie gurgling beneath the water” (Wikipedia). This reflection sums up the situation: “This swamp that breathes with a prodigious stink / lies in a circle round the doleful city / that now we cannot enter without strife” (Dante, Canto IX: 1491). This continuous fight on the water, the screams and sound they make express the painful situation they are in. Unable to have self-control in their lives, they still do not have any control over the river and certainly not over their fellows with whom they are engaged in the battle. Dante draws an attention to the destructive nature of anger that may lead you to make questionable decisions that may endanger those around you. This lack of self-control condemns them to this perpetual fight in a swamp which reflects the degree of their anger. The souls in Hell are eternally fixed in the state they have chosen, so there is no hope for them to come out of this situation. The sixth circle concerns those overcome with heresy. Here “heretics are trapped in flaming tombs” without any possibility to be free (Wikipedia). These people who held controversial opinions about the church or any other institution are severely punished for their rebellion and lack of conformity. Their unorthodox opinions that conflict with established belief make them a threat to the community. The punishment they receive reflects the severity of their offence. Being trapped in tombs put them in a very desperate situation where they are denied any freedom of movement. In addition, the flames worsen an already difficult state. However, some writers do not agree with Dante’s use of heresy: “First that the question of our souls’ post-mortem survival is a matter of profound conviction and importance for Dante, even curiously influencing (perhaps indeed distorting) his treatment of heresy in the Inferno” (Stephen). Through the portrayal of this circle, Dante foregrounds the seriousness of the heresy offence and warns those who may be tempted to openly challenge established religious or political doctrines the punishment awaiting them. Church and political issues were so sensitive during that time that any attempt at such controversy is discouraged and therefore severely punished. The severity of the punishment makes us also wonder if Dante is not trying to question the authority of these institutions that do not allow any contradictory opinions. In fact, as shown through the literature of the period like Beowulf, the political and religious institutions during the Middles Ages were so hermetic that they did not allow any opposition to their views. Worried about the stability of the nations and fearing any foreign invasion or even any opposition from inside the country, leaders would not allow any challenge to their rule. However, Dante’s Hell takes care of the business by inflicting to heretics painful punishment. Dante invites readers to a reflection about political and religious affiliation. The seventh circle is about violence; it houses the violent and the gate is guarded by the Minotaur. This stage is divided into three rings that deal with different types of violence. The Outer ring takes care of the violent against people and property. Their punishment consists of being immersed in Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood and fire to the level of their sins (Wikipedia). The speaker explains: “There I saw people sunken to their eyelids, / and the huge centaur explained, ‘these are the tyrants / who dealt in bloodshed and plundered wealth” (Dante, Canto XI.1498I). Their violence against people and property led them to such a punishment. Their offense to God’s children—the people they were living with, who may be parents, children, neighbors, co-workers or just strangers—reveals the evil in their character. As a threat to God’s creation toward whom their violence is directed, an appropriate punishment is served to them. Whatever the violence they committed before which may be battery, theft, insult or murder, Dante inflicts them a punishment in Hell. The punishment is very specific in so far as it consists of swimming in a river of boiling blood. The blood is very significant and reminds them of the crime they had committed. The blood that stained their hands during their lifetime followed them in Hell and came with an unbearable heat since the blood itself is boiling and the presence of fire adds to the heat. Dante gives no chance of survival to those who commits violent crimes. Even those who are violent to property undergo the same fate. Even though human beings and property are totally different, Dante treats them as almost the same to discourage any attempt to be violent to property. Possessions are used for the well-being of people, so any violence to property is also a violence to human beings, which explains why the punishment is the same. Moreover, the Centaurs “patrol the ring, shooting any arrows to any sinners who immerge higher out of the river than each is allowed” (Wikipedia). The presence of the Centaurs and their arrows urge them to stay in the boiling blood and experience again through this painful reminder the atrocity of their act. To ensure equity each soul immerses according to the degree of his offence. The Middle ring is about the suicides; those who committed violence against self are “transformed into gnarled thorny bushes and trees and then fed upon by harpies” (Wikipedia). Those who took their own lives are punished by being transformed into trees. Taking their own lives denies them of their humanness forever; therefore; they are transformed into thorny bushes. Since they don’t want to live, any personality is taken away from them, and they suffer Hell in the shape of trees. This punishment makes sense and informs that those who willingly take their lives do not deserve to get it back again. Dante offers a sound lesson that highlights the importance of human life. He warns about the danger of suicide and sensitizes about the inhuman punishment awaiting them. When Dante broke a twig off one of the bushes, blood came of the branch (Wikipedia) which symbolizes the blood that the sinners took from their own lives. This touching story reveals the value of human life which cannot be exchanged for anything. The most amazing part is that the branch told Dante the tale about the suicide which happens to be a famous story about the time. Suicides will not even be resurrected after the final judgment since they gave away their bodies, which is an ultimate sacrifice (Wikipedia). They will maintain their bushy state with their bodies hanging over them. “The other residents of this ring are the profligates, who destroyed their lives by destroying the means by which life is sustained. They are perpetually chased and mauled by ferocious dogs” (Wikipedia). When they destroyed their means of subsistence, they also destroyed their own lives, which is the reason why they are being punished likewise. Being chased and mauled by ferocious dogs is not only scary but painful, but this is the price they have to pay for their offence. In the Inner ring are the violent against God, blasphemers and the violent against nature. They all reside in a desert of flaming sand with fiery flakes raining from the sky. The blasphemers lie on the sand, the usurers sit, and the sodomites wander in groups (Wikipedia). Violence against God is scary enough to think about; however, these sinners dare to commit it. Blasphemy is a serious sin condemned by the church and everybody who believes in God. It is one thing to be violent against people, but violence against God is a totally different matter. People are free to believe or not believe in God since Atheists have the right to exist; however, violence against God finds no excuse anywhere. That’s why the punishment they are inflicted is proportional to their offence. This image of a desert of flaming sand reflects their loneliness in the act they committed, and the burning of their feet will continually remind them of their crime. Their isolation is real and signifies not only a true loneliness in the desert but also in the sin because very few people will actually commit such an offence. Moreover, the rain of flakes (Wikipedia) may be the direct hand of God who decides to take action and get His own revenge. Although the real location of God has not been determined by any religion, people tend to believe that God lives in the sky, so the rain of flakes may come straight from Him. The different positions of the three groups—the blasphemers, the usurers and the sodomites—explain the difference in their sins since each soul is punished according to the sin he committed. The eighth circle is about fraud. “The last two circles of Hell punish sins that involve conscious fraud or treachery.” These circles can only be reached by descending a vast cliff, which Dante and Virgil undergo by riding a winged monster. The monster itself symbolizes fraud because it has the face of an honest man but the rest of the body reflects other characteristics of other animals (Wikipedia). It is the embodiment of fraud itself: “While Dante does not actually personify hell—for this is the stuff of miracle plays, not miracles—he does, I would argue, achieve a similar (though infinitely more powerful) effect by infusing the inanimate fabric of hell with forms and functions that deliberately mimic human physiology” (Gittes). This is the lowest part of the pit, and the inaccessibility of the place shows the sensibility and seriousness of the matters handled there. Fraud is a very sensitive issue even in real life; so it may be even more serious in Hell. “The fraudulent—those guilty of deliberate, knowing evil are located in a circle named Malebolg divided into ten bolgie” (Wikipedia). As indicated below: “Dante himself was probably inspired by the graphic torments seen in medieval renderings of the Last Judgment, which he then expanded and organized into his complex system of circles and bolge—the pouches that comprise the eighth circle” (Barnes). Each bolgie houses a category of sinners and the punishment appropriate to the sin they committed. For example: Bolgia 1 is about seducers and panderers who marched in separate lines whipped by demons in opposite directions; Bolgia 2 deals with flatterers who also exploited other people using language. They are steeped in excrement which represents the words they used; Bolgia 3 handles those who committed simony; they are placed head-first in holes in the rock with flames burning in the soles of their feet (Wikipedia). This gives you an idea about the sins committed and the punishment inflicted. In the other bolgies almost all professions are represented from politicians to poets and astrologers and false prophets (Wikipedia). This diversity of careers and people indicates that sin is not just found in one aspect of life but involves almost every one. The motivation for sin may be a lack of self-control, inability to handle difficult matters or any other reason involved; however, whatever the cause may be, Dante indicates an appropriate punishment for the sin. No sinner can escape Dante’s Hell. The representation of almost all professions in the bolgies reflects a scary situation which indicates the overwhelming number of sinners. If so many people are sinners what will become of virtue? And if all these people go to Dante’s Hell, there may not be many people who will enter Heaven. This situation requires a deeper reflection from all those concerned about the issue. The ninth and last circle punishes sins about treachery. “The circle is ringed by classical and biblical giants, who perhaps symbolize pride and other spiritual flaws lying behind acts of treachery. […] The traitors are distinguished from the ‘merely’ fraudulent in that their act involves betraying a special relation of some kind” (Wikipedia). Dante is inspired by the realities of the period: “The reminder of a social history behind forgery and punishment for forgery suggests how the illustrations, dealing with divine or Dantean punishment fit the whole debate on capital punishment and on law and order which was running through Britain post-Waterloo, and Peel’s belief in the powers of ‘preventive policing’” (Tambling). There are four groups “of traitors put in order of seriousness: betrayal of family ties, betrayal of community ties, betrayal of guests, and betrayal of liege lord. The sinners are frozen in a lake of ice known as Cocytus; they are progressively plunged to greater depth according to their offence” (Wikipedia). This article comments on Dante’s punishment: “In Roe’s influential study, Blake sees Dante as the uninspired poet subservient to Empire, under the influence of classical poets who represent Memory and thus the failure of imagination and vision. This inclines Dante towards a stasis whereby he believes in people being held in fixed states, and in vengeance for sins” (Tambling). Betrayal is a very serious sin which explains why it is housed at the lowest level of the pit and belongs to the lowest circle. Each of these categories of betrayal deserves much attention and will be punished according to the sin. Being frozen in a lake of ice is very significant and reveals how serious betrayal is regardless of how and where it happened. Kept in this frozen state, they will no longer be able to betray anybody. The static state they are in will immobilize them for eternity. Dante’s Inferno draws a complex picture of the circles of Hell that represent the various stages of punishment that exists in Hell. Dante organizes the circles from the higher level to the lower ones where each stage corresponds to a different punishment according to the sin committed. This hierarchy of sins and the choice of appropriate punishment reveal Dante’s intention to be fair and treat all sinners according to their sins. Except the first circle which houses the unbaptized and the virtuous who did not commit a sin, all the other categories are filled with sinners with different degrees of offence. If the Christian faith offers sinners the possibility to repent and an eventual redemption, Dante’s Hell proposes severe punishment to all sinners regardless of their sin and only purgatory to the sinless and virtuous unbaptized. Dante does not foreground redemption but simply devices means to punish sinners. Dante may be disappointed with the injustice going on in the society and wish to establish a balanced and fair society where citizens may be more cautious of their behavior if they know the punishment expecting them. He may also be sending a message to those who enjoy scaring people to death in their attempt to get them to embrace religion. This may be his view of what these people expect to happen to sinners. Works Cited Barnes, Bernadine. “Metaphorical Painting: Michelangelo, Dante, and the Last Judgment.” The Art Bulletin 77.1 (1995): 64- 81. ProQuest. Web. 14 Avr. 2012. Caudill, David S. “Parades of Horribles, Circles of Hell: Ethical Dimensions of the Publication Controversy.” Washington and Lee Law Review 62.2 (2005): 1653-67. ProQuest. Web. 14 Avr. 2012. Gittes, Tobias Foster. “O Vendetta di Dio: the Motif of Rape and Retaliation in Dante’s Inferno.” MLN 120.1 (2005): 1-29. ProQuest. Web. 14 Avr. 2012. “Inferno.” Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. 2012. Web. 14 Avr. 2012. Lawall, Sarah, ed. The Norton Anthology of Western Literature. 8th ed. Vol. 1. New York: Norton, 2006. Print. 2 vols. Stephen, Bemrose. “God so Loves the Soul: Intellections of Immortality in Dante.” Medium Aevum 74-1(2005): 86-108. ProQuest. Web. 14 Avr. 2012. Tambling, Jeremy. “Illustrating Accusation: Blake on Dante’s Commedia.” Studies in Romanticism 37.3 (1998): 395-420. ProQuest. Web. 14 Avr. 2012. Read More