Introduction
Inferno is the first cantica of Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy (written between 1308 and 1021), which has today acquired the status of the central epic poem of Italian literature. The entire poem is written in the first person and is based on Dante’s journey through the three realms of his vision of the Christian afterlife. Inferno, his account of Hell, paints a picture so vivid through its analytic descriptions and its references to the bible that it has become the most famous, and most often read part of the Divine Comedy.1
No Exit is an existentialist play written in 1944 by Jean Paul Sartre and where Sartre’s famous quote “Hell is other people” has been derived from. His perception of life was a bleak one, replete with endless pain and suffering and he viewed death as the final nothingness. Hence, hell for him was actually representative of life. His existentialist philosophy is present throughout the play. 2
Both texts are great works of literature from their respective eras, Inferno being from the 14th century and No Exit a World War II play, and what truly differentiates both from other writings and authors is the fact they constantly invite new interpretations, as they introduce new ideas and stand the test of time by not becoming archaic. This paper focuses on these two works specifically as both were influential and inspiring writers and both Inferno and No Exit interestingly use hell to be a metaphor not for death, but for life.
For Dante, the Divine Comedy was not a substitute for the two Testaments, but an extension of them and because of this, Inferno is a critical part because it serves as a reminder of the inevitability of hell and the relentlessly cruel punishment meted out to the unrepentant sinners. Sartre does not describe hell through dreadful portrayals of torture, but rather via feelings of misery and helplessness as the characters wallow in a suffocating atmosphere from where there is no easy exit. And this is not an analogy for the afterlife, but rather for life on earth. Hence both are memorable modern portraits of hell which have a unique and lasting impact on the reader’s mind.
Hell in Dante’s Inferno
One of the most distinct attributes of Dante’s style of writing was that his works were usually very related to the Bible. As Peter Hawkins noted in his essay ‘Dante and the Bible’, “underwriting the entire world in which Dante lived is a single book, the Bible”.3 The Bible had great authority and Dante directly cited it in his works, more often than any other writer did, and he seemed to be very influenced by it. Hence, it is not surprising that Inferno shows the same version of hell as does the Bible. However, an important point to note is that while reading Inferno, one can not help but agree with Hawkins when he says that the hints to the Scriptures are there “less as a source of proof texts than as a divine ‘pretext’ for his own story”. 4
“Abandon all hope ye who enter here” because Dante’s hell is a place where there remains no possibility of repentance or escape. It is an eternal abode, where nothing will change ever: sinners chose their sins, did not repent and now they will not able to repent ever. Punishment is often given to sinners in the form of contrapasso, which means the punishment fits the crime by either being very similar or completely opposite of the sin itself. Terrifying violence is particularly depicted in the cases where contrapasso is meted out to sinners in each circle of hell. The circles are concentric, and from the first to the next and so on, represent a representing a continuing increase in the severity of sin and punishment, until they culminate at the center of the earth, where Satan is immobilized.
For example in the Third Circle of hell, Gluttons are punished by being forced to lie in the mud under continual cold rain and hail, in utter filth as they are guarded by Cerberus, a monstrous three-headed dog who had a snake for a tail.
“Thick hail and dirty water mixed with snow/comedown in torrents through the murky air/ and the earth is stinking from this soaking rain” (Canto VI, 10-12).
“His eyes are red, his beard is slobbered black/ his belly swollen, and he has claws for hands; /he rips the spirits, flays and mangles them” (Canto VI, 16-18).
Violence is a characteristic common to most circles of hell, and even before the souls of sinner enter hell, those which were not wanted by hell and heaven alike because of their indecisiveness in life are attacked by flies and hornets. The First Circle contains people who were not actively sinful, but did not accept Christ like the un-baptized and the virtuous pagans and for this they are not meted out any violent punishment, just the grief of separation from God, with no prospect of reconciliation. However, in the subsequent circles, violence is present in varying forms and intensities.
In the Second Circle, the lustful are punished by having their souls tossed and turned by raging winds, without the hope of rest. This is an analogy for the powerful way in which lust left them helpless in life. The Fourth Circle pits the misers and the spendthrifts against each other as each group pushes a heavy weight against the strong weight of the other group in a repetitive process as sinners are punished for either hoarding possessions or squandering them in their love for material goods.
In the Fifth Circle, the Wrathful bite and fight each other on the surface, and the sullen or slothful lie under the surface of the marsh. Violence starts escalating with increasing circles as sins become more serious. Heretics (those who chose their own opinions instead of following the teachings of the Church) are punished by being cornered in flaming tombs, suicides are encased into gnarled thorny bushes and trees and Blasphemers live in a desert of flaming sand with burning flakes raining from the sky.
Scenes depicting these terrifying punishments are what lead to an understanding of the entire concept behind Inferno. Graphically described punishments coupled with the constant references to the wailing and evil noises of hell engage all the senses of the reader to provide a truly vivid picture of the severity of hell. While Dante ends his poem on an optimistic note with Paradise being the final destination, hell is still the only place for unrepentant souls where they will suffer for eternity. While a thorough discussion on Sartre’s No Exit is to follow, this is one of the similarities between the two works and both Dante and Sartre do not offer any hope to those condemned in hell. However, as we will see next, the former has a distinct theological orientation while Sartre’s focus is more on using hell as a metaphor for life. 5
Hell in Sartre’s No Exit
Jean Paul Sartre was a well-known French existentialist and No Exit is a clear reflection of his points of view regarding humanity and society. It has three main characters, Garcin, Inez and Estelle, who find themselves in hell, which as represented by Sartre, is a living room with Second Empire furniture. According to Sartre, the premise of existence is to create the meaning and essence of their lives to shape their future, and this is why this room represents hell: each of the characters needs the other two to create a reassuring illusion about themselves, and no power to create their own future.
In the play, Inez calls “an economy of manpower”, simply a system where everyone exploits everyone else for their own gain and this is the similarity between hell and society according to Sartre. He had a very dark outlook on life, as he considered it to be filled with suffering and meaninglessness. While Dante’s hell had supernatural demons and terrifying physical torture, Sartre’s hell was simply all aspects of reality.
This hell is markedly different from Inferno in its physicality and appears to be comforting. But in reality, the two depictions share a number of common elements. There is no hope for change or for an end to the trials and tribulations of the members, and there is nothing they can do to get out. Time has no meaning and while No Exit generally does not use violence to convey meaning and is less descriptive than Inferno, both works lead the reader with a feeling of pity and disgust at the helpless fate of the characters.
In Inferno, punishment was in accordance with sin, and sin for Christians exists in their Scriptures. Sartre however, does not discuss the conditions people must meet to be part of his hell, the torture is just the bleak reality of life as depicted by all three characters when they torture each other endlessly: “When I say I’m cruel, I mean I can’t get on without making people suffer. Like a live coal. A live coal in others’ hearts. When I’m alone I flicker out.”
When Garcin complains that he died too early and did not get the chance to make his deeds, the answer Inez gives him, “One always dies too soon- or too late. And yet, one’s whole life is complete at that moment, with a line drawn neatly under it, ready for the summing up. You are- your life and nothing else” is, in a nutshell, Sartre’s illustration of life and responsibility. 6 And the depiction of this drawing-room scene in hell, is highly reflective of Sartre’s doctrine of existentialist morality.
Conclusion
Dante’s account of hell is detailed, vivid, and passionate as he paints a picture of a horrifying Hell which doles out equal, yet gruesome punishment for sins. Sartre’s hell is not about God or heaven, and very different from what people imagine it to be. He believed that people can create their own hell and while he and Dante both portray the concept of human accountability for actions, Sartre does not believe in divine punishment or reward. For him, hell is a state of mind. However both consider it to be the final destination of those who have been condemned to it, by God or by themselves, and they will stay there for eternity, with no hope of change and nothing to expect.
End notes
- Robert Pogue Harrison, “Comedy and Modernity: Dante’s Hell,” Comparative Literature Dec. 1987: 1043-1061.
- Edith Kern, “Abandon Hope, All Ye, Yale French Studies 1963: 3, 56-60.
- Peter Hawkins, “Dante and the Bible” in Cambridge Companion to Dante (Cambridge, Eng: Cambridge University Press, 1993) 120.
- Peter Hawkins, “Still Here: Dante after Modernism” in Dante for the New Millennium (NY: Fordham University Press, 2003) 451-464.
- The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno, trans. Allen Madelbaum (Bantam Classics, 1992).
- Jean Paul Sartre, “No Exit and Three Other Plays” (NY: Vintage Books, 1989).
Bibliography
Harrison, R. P. “Comedy and Modernity: Dante’s Hell.” Comparative Literature Dec. 1987: 1043-1061.
Hawkins, Peter. “Dante and the Bible” in Cambridge Companion to Dante Cambridge, Eng: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
Hawkins, Peter. “Still Here: Dante after Modernism” in Dante for the New Millennium NY: Fordham University Press, 2003.
Kern, E. “Abandon Hope, All Ye,” Yale French Studies 1963: 3, 56-60.
Sartre, Jean Paul. “No Exit and Three Other Plays” NY: Vintage Books, 1989.
The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno, trans. Allen Madelbaum Bantam Classics, 1992.