Literature be an extremely influential and useful tool in helping its audience to understand the implications of human nature and its sins. Examples of texts that achieve this feat are Dante’s Inferno by Dante Alighieri and One Thousand and One Nights. Within both, human beings (or their afterlife counterparts found in Dante’s Inferno referred to as “shades”) experience various negative and often painful situations brought on by the sinful actions of individuals. Dante’s Inferno and One Thousand and One Nights contain parallel themes, such as infidelity and justice, which address the consequences of human imperfections and failure. Infidelity is a theme found throughout both Dante’s Inferno and One Thousand and One Nights. In the first text, Dante -the protagonist and narrator of the story- first happens upon the unfaithful in the Second Circle of Hell found in Canto V. These individuals are facing punishment for eternity due to their lustful nature as human beings (Alighieri Canto V). The consequences of acting upon their lustful urges result in the adulterers eternally being thrust into an:
“infernal storm, eternal in its rage, sweeps and drives the spirits [shades] with its blast: it whirls them, lashing them with punishment” (Canto V, lines 31-33).
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Despite the fact that treason is not always associated with infidelity, it is notable to point out that seeing as treason is an act of betrayal, the individual that committed treason has been unfaithful to some entity. Dante lists this as the last circle in Hell, suggesting that committing treason, and therefore infidelity, against any other being is the absolute worst action that an individual could perform in his or her lifetime. As punishment, the traitors are frozen in a lake of ice for all
Dante’s concept of sin and punishment conflicts with the modern American idea of morality. Not only sequence and grouping but also the punishments of sin in the original Circle of Hell are much different of that in a modern American version.
In analyzing this gradient of morality, it is useful first to examine a work from early literature whose strong purity of morality is unwavering; for the purposes of this discussion, Dante’s Inferno provides this model. It is fairly straightforward to discover Dante’s dualistic construction of morality in his winding caverns of Hell; each stern, finite circle of Hell is associated with a clear sin that is both definable and directly punishable. As Dante moves downwards in this moral machination, he notes that
The Inferno is a story of Dante traveling through the nine levels of Hell. While Dante is traveling through the different stages of hell, he explains the different consequences for the different crimes that are committed. The most impactful moral lesson that can be learned from The Inferno is that one should understand you must take credit for your own actions and know with the action will be a consequence. One example from the story, Dante explains that during the second circle, Lust, the punishment for people who are overpowering lust. Dante explained the punishment as “The hellish hurricane, which never rests, drives on the spirits with its violence: wheeling and pounding, it harasses them. When they come up against the ruined slope, then there are cries and wailing and lament, and there they curse the force of the divine.” In today’s society, many believe that there should not be consequences for specific actions one makes, but this has been a fact of life for many years. During The Inferno, one can see the change in punishment depending solely on the crime at hand.
Dante Alighieri's The Inferno is a poem written in first person that tells a story of Dante’s journey through the nine circles of Hell after he strays from the rightful path. Each circle of Hell contains sinners who have committed different sins during their lifetime and are punished based on the severity of their sins. When taking into the beliefs and moral teachings of the Catholic Church into consideration, these punishments seem especially unfair and extreme.
Inferno, the first part of Divina Commedia, or the Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, is the story of a man's journey through Hell and the observance of punishments incurred as a result of the committance of sin. In all cases the severity of the punishment, and the punishment itself, has a direct correlation to the sin committed. The punishments are fitting in that they are symbolic of the actual sin; in other words, "They got what they wanted." (Literature of the Western World, p.1409) According to Dante, Hell has two divisions: Upper Hell, devoted to those who perpetrated sins of incontinence, and Lower Hell, devoted to those who perpetrated sins of malice. The divisions of Hell are likewise split into levels corresponding to sin. Each of the levels and the divisions within levels 7,8, and 9 have an analogous historical or mythological figure used to illustrate and exemplify the sin.
Dante’s Inferno presents the reader with many questions and thought provoking dialogue to interpret. These crossroads provide points of contemplation and thought. Dante’s graphic depiction of hell and its eternal punishment is filled with imagery and allegorical meanings. Examining one of these cruxes of why there is a rift in the pits of hell, can lead the reader to interpret why Dante used the language he did to relate the Idea of a Just and perfect punishment by God.
Dante Alighieri presents a vivid and awakening view of the depths of Hell in the first book of his Divine Comedy, the Inferno. The reader is allowed to contemplate the state of his own soul as Dante "visits" and views the state of the souls of those eternally assigned to Hell's hallows. While any one of the cantos written in Inferno will offer an excellent description of the suffering and justice of hell, Canto V offers a poignant view of the assignment of punishment based on the committed sin. Through this close reading, we will examine three distinct areas of Dante's hell: the geography and punishment the sinner is restricted to, the character of the sinner, and the "fairness" or justice of the punishment in relation to the sin. Dante's Inferno is an ordered and descriptive journey that allows the reader the chance to see his own shortcomings in the sinners presented in the text.
Seeing as this work was written by Dante, and the journey is taken by Dante, he has a unique opportunity to judge his fellow man and decide how they will be punished. He also gets to place his enemies in hell, forever besmirching their names for generations to remember. Perhaps unknowing to Dante, that is worse than any of the punishments that he placed his enemies in. The reality of The Inferno is unlikely and therefore these punishments are nothing but a fictiona...
... of the characters portrayed in his epic poem shine light to the biased nature of his judgment. With Francesca, loving too much was what she was condemned for. Dante completely overlooks the elements of her sin that included those belonging to the ninth circle of hell: the circle of treachery. By kissing the man that was not her husband, Francesca not betrayed her husband but also her marriage. On the other hand, Pope Boniface VIII was predicted to receive condemnation for a severe sin versus a lesser sin while he was still alive. Dante’s damnation of souls in the Inferno may be based on their sins, but the placement of the sinner’s soul once in hell was somewhat skewed by Dante’s opinion of them. Dante’s Inferno does not portray god’s justice purely. It is in Dante’s humanistic feeling of emotion that make this Dante’s hell instead of a purely supernatural version.
Dante Alighieri, 14th century Italian poet, wrote The Divine Comedy with many allegorical meanings behind it. He is famous for three books: Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso. These books are about how Dante travels to the three stages of the afterlife. He ventures down to Hell and Purgatory with Virgil, and finishes in Heaven with the help of Beatrice. Through all these stages, Dante has to get back on the right path, or the True Way and be one with God. Throughout Dante’s allegorical journey, he has experienced many obstacles and met many different people and their situations.
“How stern the power of Almighty God who crushes sinners with such righteous blows(Canto XXIV lines 109-110)!” In Dante’s Inferno, Dante Alighieri describes a trip through Hell, visiting the various sinners and circles of Hell. Dante also uses many experiences and beliefs from his real life to enrich his views of Hell and his idea of Divine Punishment. Dante’s perception of Divine Justice includes sinners whom he places in Hell for committing crimes without regret, they are placed lower in Hell according to the severity of their sins. Dante is not always just in his placement of sinners, his personal grudges and archaic Catholic beliefs get in the way of true Divine Justice.
The second circle of Hell is home to the souls of those who were overcome by lust. Dante saw many well-known historical figures such as Cleopatra and Semiramis in this circle of Hell. The punishments for these adulteress souls were to be blown around in a stormy wind amongst the darkness within the Earth. The justified reasoning behind their punishment was so the sinners would have no control over their bodies, such as the desire to satisfy their pleasure
It is with the second circle that the real tortures of Hell begin. There lie the most heavy-hearted criminals in all of Hell, those who died for true love. Here, those who could not control their sexual passion, are buffeted and whirled endlessly through the murky air by a great windstorm. This symbolizes their confusing of their reason by passion and lust. According to Dante, ?SEMIRAMIS is there, and DIDO, CLEOPATRA, HELLEN, ACHILLES, PARIS, and TRISTAN? (Alighieri 57).
Sinners in this section are punished for their lust. The punishment that they have to endure is to be ripped apart by vicious winds (Dante 41). This circle has people included in it that shared a mere kiss with a married person. One lady that is being punished in this section fell in love and kissed her husband’s brother while reading a steamy romantic book (Dante 43). The sinners in this circle are unjustly punished and there should be more fitting punishments. Along with more fitting punishments there should be different levels of punishments based on how severe of lechery was committed. Dante had a lot of different reasons for putting the lustful sin in this order. One reason that he had for doing this is because of self-pity for himself. His love for Beatrice would have placed him in this circle and he realized this. He placed this sin really low on the scale because he knew he was prone to committing this sin. Dante’s own personal experience influenced his decision to put the lustful as only the second circle in the organization of
If only Dante’s development stopped here, he would remain grieved but personable, but the final circle of Hell, and the despicable people in it drive him towards an emotional stance that borders on sinister. He still feels intensely towards the inhabitants of Hell, but in the final circle, he temporarily adopts an attitude of frustration and damnation. George Santayana elaborates on this new Dante, saying he feels "...that good is dishonored if those who condemn it can go scot-free, and never repent of their negligence… and that the everlasting shrieks and contortions of the damned alone will make it possible for the saints to sit quiet, and be convinced that there is perfect harmony in the universe" (98). In this circle, where sinners are