God's Justice in The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

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“The Inferno” was written in the early fourteenth century by Italian politician Dante Alighieri, the book is the first part of the epic poem the “Divine Comedy” and it is followed by “Purgatorio” and “Paradiso”. The book “Inferno”, which is the Italian translation for Hell, narrates the journey of its author through what he believes is Hell, consisting of nine circles of suffering underneath the earth. In his journey Dante is guided through the nine regions by the poet Virgil, who represents Human Reason, each circle in the book represents a different type of sin with a different type of punishment, varying according to the degree of offense they committed in life. In his trip through every one of these circles, Dante realizes and emphasizes the perfection of God’s Justice and the seriousness of each offense towards the creator of all life.

Certainly, Dante as a Christian realizes the perfection of God’s justice; he is able to create a connection between a soul’s sin on Earth and the punishment he or she receives in Hell. In Inferno, Dante explains that God created Hell by justice, a specific example of this, might be when he was entering the Gates of Hell, he read on the entrance of the gate the sign that said, “…Sacred Justice moved my Architect I was raised here by the Divine Omnipotence...” (Alighieri) undoubtedly, attributing the creation of Hell to God and his divine justice, and God’s divine justice is exactly what shapes Dante’s nine circles of Hell and their punishments, depending on the severity of the sin, the soul is send farther away from God and closer to the Devil.

In addition, Dante is conscious of the qualities of God, first that He is just, according to the Bible in Exodus 34:7, “...He will ...

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...Christ in the United States of America, 03 Mar 2008. Web. 17 May 2010.

This source provides information about the bible with some verses helpful to comparing God’s Justice in the bible to Dante’s book.

"MHS Composition Guide." Philosophical and Religious: The religious and ethical climate influences writers and their texts. Merryville School, n.d. Web. 17 May 2010. .

This source provides basic descriptions of a variety of criticism techniques

Wiehardt, Ginny. "Types of Characters." Types of characters in Fiction. About.com Guide, n.d. Web. 17 May 2010. .

This source provides the information we need to know about every type of character we need to know as we study literature

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