Just Desserts: Dante´s Allegorical Situations and Hell as a Threat in The Infero

There are many people in this world that you wish would get a taste of their own medicine. Some people call this karma while others refer to it as just desserts. All the same, the feeling is similar, that some people need to get what they deserve. Within Dante’s The Inferno, there are numerous situations in which the sinner has gotten what he has deserved. Some are rather funny, while others are seemingly a bit cruel. The first half of this essay shall be that of some personal favorites amongst Dante’s allegorical situations within The Inferno.

The first of many favorites is the hypocrites in canto twenty three. They have to walk around continuously in a circle and walk over Caiaphas, who decided to crucify Jesus, all the while wearing heavy, leaden friar robes. Dante describes these robes by saying, “The outside is all dazzle, golden and fair;/ the inside, lead, so heavy that Frederick’s capes,/ compared to these, would seem as light as air.” (Dante) These notions represent that though they told everyone one story, their secrets ate at them inside. The robes are golden and beautiful on the outside, representing the outward appearance, but the weight of the robes represent the massive guilt that hung from them in life. This is a favorite because hypocrites should have to deal with that guilt in the next life. They shouldn’t be able to turn on everything that they say and not be punished. This is also a hit to the church, as Allen Mandelbaum, Anthony Oldcorn, and Charles Ross say, “Dante and the medieval vox populi associate hypocrisy with the clergy.” (Mandelbaum, Oldcorn and Ross).

As Dante descends into circle seven, round two, the next allegory emerges to show its interesting head. The intriguing part of this canto is the s...

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...ngs right. The only part disagreeable is the Suicides. Suicides are to be scrutinized and judged based on reasoning and logic, because sometimes there is no other way out, especially if the cause was noble. Not all stories are what they seem.

Works Cited
Ennis, Adolphous Thomas. Introduction to Dante’s Inferno. N.p.: The Gorham Press, 1904. Print.
Fowlie, Wallace. A Reading of Dante’s Inferno. N.p.: U of Chicago, 1981. Print.
Harris, James C. “The Woods of the Self-Murderers: The Harpies and the Suicides.” Arch Gen Psychiatry. N.p.: American Medical Association, 2003. 229. Print.
Mandelbaum, Allen, Anthony Oldcorn, and Charles Ross, eds. Lectura Dantis: Inferno. N.p.: U of California, 1998. Print.
Vernon, William Warren, Benvenutus, and Gioacchino Rossini. Readings on the Inferno of Dante. Vol. 2. N.p.: Macmillan and Co, 1894. Print.
Dante's The Inferno