The Thieves: Fourfold Analysis
To further interpret The Inferno, the Italian poet, Dante Allegheri, created a method called The Fourfold Analysis. This method involves analyzing the historical, moral, political, and spiritual effects of the topic. For example, Dante’s fourfold method helps the reader to further understand the thieves and their allegorical symbolism. The Thieves are found in the Seventh Pouch of the Eighth Circle of Hell in Dante’s Inferno, guarded by Cacus, a centaur. They are found with their hands tied up, being punished by snakes and lizards. The Thieves played a significant role in The Inferno, as they take up two entire cantos. The sight of the thieves in hell makes Dante’s “blood run cold with fright.” (Ciardi 197) At first glance, the actions of a thief seem to only affect 2 groups of people-the thief and the victim(s)-however, the effects include damage of community trust, personal costs, and continued separation between good and evil.
Historically, theft has been addressed by cultures since biblical times. Theft, a type of fraud, is the wrongful taking and carrying away of the personal goods or property of another without violence. Theft differs from robbery and burglary. Robbery is a crime committed involving theft and violence. Burglary is entry into a building illegally with the intent of committing a crime. A thief that plays an important role in The Inferno is Vanni Fucci. Vanni Fucci is known for stealing holy objects from the church in Tuscany. During the time period of Dante’s Inferno, taking objects from the church was a costly sin. His punishment entails him being bit by a snake, turned into ashes, and restoring his human form. His crime is classified under a theft, as it did not involve violence.
When theft occurs, it affects a community and hits them hard, hence the rationale that Dante placed thieves in the eighth circle of hell. Politically, thieves corrupt communities. They teach people not to trust others. For example, almost everyone locks his or her doors. If people trusted each other and thieves did not exist, there would be no need to take precautionary measures such as locking doors. Citizens of a town with a history of stealing can never rest. They remain on alert making sure they are not the next victims of a theft.
The actions of thieves can be related to a slippery slope. They may start out by stealing something small, but nothing is keeping them from stealing something of more worth, so the tendency is to escalate their behaviors.
There are many views on crime and deviance and many theories to why they occur.
...results but continues to do them. An example of a thief is Vanni Fucci. – “I am Vanni Fucci, the beast…/ I am put down so low because it was I/ who stole the treasure from the Sacristy, / for which others once were blamed.” (24.124-139) Vanni Fucci was also known as a man of violence but Dante places him in the eighth circle because theft is a greater sin.
In Dante’s Inferno hell is divided into nine “circles” of hell; the higher the number correlates to the grimmer the sin and the pain you will endure. However, I do not completely agree with Dante’s version of hell, perhaps due to the difference in time periods. In this essay I will be pointing out my concerns with Dante’s description of hell and how I would recreate hell if I were Dante.
Personally, I believe that the overwhelming number of historical cases of theft conducted by the poor can be attributed to a whole host of potential motivations. Firstly, the motivation to survive, many of those who were distinguishable as impoverished were often unable to live subsistent. Nevertheless theft was perceived and punishable in a very serious manner. However, the economic climate of the 18th and 19th century was begin to boom as a result of industrialization. The overwhelming pressure to cater to the emerging notion of consumerism promoted further potential for crime to arise, because the poor would often engage in pickpocketing or begging, whereas women often engaged in shoplifting to acquire goods for her family to outwardly
Criminal attitude and learning of dealing skills begins long before people become full-fledged thieves. Most have shady pasts that has influenced their intuitions about criminality and hustling, and this background often informs them of the best ways to evaluate information and situation. In Sam’s case, his experiences in jail were where he learned the most. Being around people with a similar ingenuity is crucial for fostering criminality. Ingenuity refers to the ability to actively exploit one’s environment by creating and controlling opportunities. It’s a furthering of larceny sense and springs from the street smarts retained with interactions with the underworld. It takes initiative to manipulate persons and resources, and a certain combination of cleverness and
When I think of crime I think of an action someone has done that society sees as unfit, whether that action is justifies by the person. Most of the time people don’t really care if the person was stealing so they could feed their family or stealing so they can pay for medical bills, a crime is a crime. Although crime is unlawful there usually is an origin. Some argue that it comes from desperation, which are the usual ordinary crimes you hear on the news, others believe it comes from greed. Where does this constant state of despair come from, research points to poverty. It’s widely known that neighborhoods that struggle in poverty are more likely to be prone to crime. The greed aspect comes from people wanting to make a profit so they join organizations that revolve around crime, which would be organized crime. The greed that makes people do crime is brought by organized crime, while others firmly believe that crime comes from the desperation that poverty causes.
Dante’s The Divine Comedy illustrates one man’s quest for the knowledge of how to avoid the repercussions of his actions in life so that he may seek salvation in the afterlife. The Divine Comedy establishes a set of moral principles that one must live by in order to reach paradise. Dante presents these principles in Inferno, where each level of Hell has people suffering for the sins they committed during their life. As Dante gets deeper into Hell, the degrees of sin get progressively worse, as do the severity of punishment.
Shoplifting is a plague that is sweeping this nation. Because shoplifting has become such a problem, stores are forced to raise prices to make up for lost sales. This is not their fault, however, few people put the blame where it belongs. The thieves that plague our economy are to blame and the stores have every right to try to stop these people at all costs.
Shoplifting is a major problem in today. The temptation of not paying for something, just hiding it away and saving your own money is a large factor for some people. The culprit just thinks he's getting a product for free and doesn't know what he's actually doing to himself and the community. Shoplifting effects everyone, yourself and the everyone in the local neighborhood.In this essay I'm going to explain some of the circumstances of stealing from local stores, or any store. After I've been caught stealing I found out how wrong it is and how it is a disadvantage to everyone.
Crime is a highly complex and important problem that changes across cultures and across time. This briefing provides a summary of some of the key explanations that try to explain the causes of crime. It is by no means a thorough list. Each of the explanations covered has its own strengths and weaknesses, has gaps and may only be related to certain types of crime, and not others. There is no “right” or “wrong” explanation to justify it.
Crime exists everywhere. It is exists in our country, in the big cities, the small towns, schools, and even in homes. Crime is defined as “any action that is a violation of law”. These violations may be pending, but in order to at least lower the crime rate, an understanding of why the crimes are committed must first be sought. There are many theories that are able to explain crimes, but three very important ones are rational choice theory, social disorganization theory and strain theory.
This is known as the theory of differential association which states that “people commit crime when their social learning leads them to perceive more definitions favoring crime than favoring conventional behavior.” (Criminology) According to Edwin Sutherland, deviant and criminal behavior is learned through social interactions with other people in society, and just like learning in school, crime can be learned in the same fashion. As a result crime is more prevalent in environments where crime and deviant behavior is more acceptable, like in poor inner cities. Most of these inner city environments lack opportunities meaning that they do not provide the people living there with the structure they need for success. This along with constant exposure to gangs and illegal activities are what lead people to participate in these types of deviant behaviors. Interactions with gangs along with “Social interactions seem to create a sense of invulnerability and a willingness to violate social norms and take risks, as long as one is in the company of likeminded individuals.” (Crime and Social Interactions) As long as people have a support system, they will continue to commit illegal acts like robbery. The reason for this is linked to the interactions they make with the people around them. If people observe others making money off of illegal activities when they can barely support themselves off of legal work, the vast majority will quit their job in order to participate in the process of making a profit off of illegal activity. As stated before crime and deviance is learned through social interactions and
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.
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.
People commit robbery for endless reasons. However, many argue that poverty is a factor that plays a huge role of influencing someone to commit a crime. Poverty is defined as a feeling of hopelessness because one does not have the financial means to support oneself and the loved ones to the standard that society has deemed fit and appropriate. Robbery is an act of taking goods or