Christians believe that their acts on earth, whether good or bad, shall be repaid at the end of the world. Good deeds shall be rewarded by going to heaven, while evil deeds will be punished by going to hell, where there is everlasting suffering. However, it is not certain that hell or heaven exists; therefore, Dante’s Inferno confirms hell by describing nine circles of punishment in hell made for sinners. Dante begins the poem by narrating how he got lost in the woods and was chased by terrifying beasts. He was saved by Virgil, who offered to guide and show him through hell. At first, Dante was hesitant; however, he agreed to go with him when Virgil told him that he had been sent by his muse Beatrice to rescue him. Virgil takes Dante to hell, which signifies that he gets the privilege to get in while living in the real human world. This study analyzes six circles by describing their environment, the peope found there, and their suffering in hell.
The first circle of hell is called the Limbo; it consists of a sorrowful environment where the people are depressed. High sounds of ululations expressed the sorrow the people in Limbo experienced. “True is it, that upon the verge I found me/ Of the abysmal valley dolorous/ That gathers thunder of infinite ululations/” (Alighieri 23). The environment was filled with lamentations and sighs, which arose to the everlasting air. The people in this circle had many sorrows but were not tormented because they had not commited any sins. According to Dante, these people did not believe in the coming of Christ. Some of them were those who lived long before the coming of Christ, while the others were those who lived righteous lives but did not accept being baptized. “That they sinned not; and if they merit had/’ Tis not enough because they had not baptism/ Which is the portal of the Faith thou holdest/” ( Alighieri 24). This shows that this group consisted of people who lived ethical and moral lives but did not have faith in Jesus Christ ever coming on the earth.
Some of the most prominent people on earth were found in this circle. These individuals lived in wisdom and did not have an opportunity to choose between good or evil in terms of Christ. An example of people in this circle included Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato, who lived in a hell that accepted them to dwell in wisdom and not religion. The great wise people were given the afterlife they envisioned while still living. For instance, Socrates wrote that the afterlife would be a place where one would contact befitting minds and discuss issues with great people from the past. Thus, his suffering in the afterlife was discussing philosophies and ethics with other great souls in the afterlife. “The Master I beheld of those who know/ Sit with his philosophic family” (Alighieri 27). Therefore, in the first circle, there was no suffering because the people there had lived virtuous lives only that they did not acknowledge the word of God. However, the only punishment they were given was that they could not feel God’s presence, which brought them sorrow. This punishment was symbolic of their earthly lives where they did not acknowledge the presence of God.
The second circle is for the lustful people whose sexual appetite overcomes their ability to do more meaningful things. This circle is much smaller than the first one; however, it has a wide gate, implying that the people who fall prey to this sin are many. The environment on the inside of the second circle is full of blasts of sorrow. Dante hears the lamentation noise, implying that people in this circle suffer. “And now begin the dolesome notes to grow/ Audible unto me, now am I come/ There where much lamentation strikes upon me (Alighieri 31).” The sound in this circle “bellows as the sea does in a tempest” (Alighieri 31) and its atmosphere is like a hurricane with buffeting winds. In addition, this circle has the Minos responsible for judging people. It uses its tail to wrap itself, and the number of rings it creates determines the circle in which a person shall go.
Some notable people in this circle are Helen of Troy, Cleopatra, and Tristan. “Paris I saw, Tristan; and more than a thousand/ Shades did he name and point out with his finger/ Whom Love had separated from our life” (Alighieri 33). The people in this circle are punished for having committed acts such as adultery and lust. Their punishment includes strong winds, pushing them violently so they cannot find rest and peace in the circle. This punishment is symbolic of the restlessness of the individuals who cannot settle due to their desire for fleshy desires. Just as the wind keeps changing direction, the sinners in this circle are guilty of never settling and always changing their sexual partners.
One of the notable things about the punishment of the people in this circle is that the burden of their sin is not offloaded. For instance, those who commited adultery and were in love on earth will still love each other in eternity. This punishment will ensure that they are not unburdened by their lust so that they can experience it for eternity. However, they will not be judged for sins that were not yet declared wrong during their times. For instance, women such as Dido, Cleopatra, and Helen commited suicide, but in classical times, killing was not a sin, so they were only judged for adultery.
The third circle has a swampy ground called the mire and an unpleasant smell. The sinners are all over ther ground, crawling and moaning like young children. The environment is characterized by cold rain and snow, which falls from the trees together with faeces. All these disgusting things are not only on the ground, but they are covering the bodies of the sinner too. “Huge hail, and water sombre-hued, and snow/ Athwart the tenebrous air pour down amain” (Alighieri 38). The sinners in this circle are subjected to the disgusting smell of faeces and the endless rain, which makes the environment very uncouth.
The third circle’s people are gluttonous and like to gulp food, drinks, and wealth. “For the pernicious sin of gluttony/ I, as thou seest, am battered by this rain” (Alighieri 41). The punishment imposed on these sinners is being forced to crawl in a vile made of never-ending icy rain. This punishment is symbolic because the vile symbolizes the personal degradation of individuals who gulp food, drinks, and wealth. In addition, the inability to see the others crawling next to them represents how gluttons are cold and selfish to those around them. In addition, a three-headed dog called Cerberus attacks souls in this circle. The souls avoided Cerberus because he tore them apart, and the only way Dante and Virgil could stop it was by throwing mire in their mouths. “Took of the earth, and with his fists well filled, He threw it into those rapacious gullets” (Alighieri 39). This indicates that the sinners in this circle were subjected to a tormenting creature on top of the bad smell and cold weather.
The fourth circle is an environment that is characterized by big rocks. Virgil and Dante had to climb down a big rock divided into half to reach this circle. The circle had more people than the previous circles, indicating that it was a common sin. “Here saw I people, more than elsewhere, many/ On one side and the other, with great howls/ Rolling weights forward by main force of chest” (Alighieri 45). Unlike in the past circles, Dante does not show mercy to people in this circle.
The people in this circle are greedy and have unending lust for material wealth. Just as the Bible states that greed is the root of all evil, Dante notices that this group has most people from the political class due to their level of corruption and misuse of public funds for personal gain. In addition, sin is very common among church elders, including cardinals and popes. “Clerks those were who no hairy covering/ Have on the head, and Popes and Cardinals/ In whom doth Avarice practice its excess” (Alighieri 47). According to Dante, the group contains two varieties of people, including those who spend without measure to demonstrate their excessive desire for neutrality (known as closed fists) and the other group is those who spend too freely.
The punishment of this group is divided into two groups: those who hoarded wealth and those who lavishly spent it. They use the heavyweights against each other as a weapon by pushing them through their chests to symbolize their selfish drive while on earth. “Here saw I people, more than elsewhere, many/ On one side and the other, with great howls/ Rolling weights forward by main force of chest” (Alighieri 45). These two groups are under the power of Pluto, one of the Greek rulers, and are too busy that the poets could not speak to them. These groups could spend the rest of their lives hoarding pieces at one another. “Then each, when he arrived there, wheeled about/Through his half-circle to another joust” (Alighieri 46). This indicates that although they did not have a tough environment like the previous group, their punishment involved wheeling stones resembling the wealth they misused on earth.
The fifth circle is an environment that consists of muddy and stinking rivers. Dante and Virgil descend along a path of black water and arrive at the grey marshes. Dante could see bubbles on top of the marsh, indicating angry souls fighting and tearing each other apart. “While we were running through the dead canal/ Uprose in front of me one full of mire/ And said, “Who ‘rt thou that comest ere the hour? ” (Alighieri 53). To arrive to this circle, Dante and Virgil used a boat and the souls of those in the marsh were trying to reach them out for help, but Virgil thrust them away. “Then stretched he both his hands unto the boat; Whereat my wary Master thrust him back, Saying, “Away there with the other dogs!” (Alighieri 53). This shows that the souls wanted to emancipate themselves from this bondage.
The people in the fifth circle are guilty of being wrathful and sullen. These souls are punished by fighting and howling on the water’s surface. The sullen and tormented souls are under the water, which Dante can only hear but cannot see. Their sin is harder to define because it resembles the opposite side of a coin: some repressed wrath. These people turned away from the beauty of God’s creation. “A little after that, I saw such havoc/ Made of him by the people of the mire/ That still I praise and thank my God for it” (Alighieri 53). The punishment of the people still resembled the sin they commited here on earth.
The sixth circle is called the city of Dis, described as a fortress with high parapets. The city’s walls have three hellish furies, female greek monsters with wreaths wrapped around their bodies, and multi-headed vipers. “Where in a moment saw I swift uprisen/ The three infernal Furies stained with blood/ Who had the limbs of women and their mien” (Alighieri 59). The hellish furies are angry at something, and Dante fears them at some point. The city of hell has fiery tombs where the souls of the dead stay.
The people in this circle are those who are guilty of heresy. They have other beliefs which contradict the major religion, which in this case is Christianity. These include pagans or people from other faiths and religions. Heresy started in the middle ages when religious disputes between Catholics and Protestants arose in interpreting some important scriptures. This contradiction led to a challenge in describing the Bible and thus a divide between Christians of catholic theology and protestants.
Thus, heretics is a subject of politics that led to wars that forced the divide. Some of the common people in this circle are Farinata Degli Uberti, a leader of the Ghibellines in Florence. “He was of the opinion of Epicurus, that the soul dies with the body, and consequently maintained that human happiness consisted in temporal pleasures (Alighieri 66).” Thus such a sin is considered heresy because he did not believe in Christianity. The punishment of these people is eternal flaming in their tombs which is symbolic of their lack of acknowledging the true religion of God. “For flames between the sepulchres were scattered/ By which they so intensely heated were/ That iron more so asks not any art (Alighieri 62).” There were other prominent people in this circle, such as the ancient greek philosopher Epicurus, Pope Anastasius II, and Emperor Fredrick II.
In this poem, the author uses Dante as a symbolic person who tours hell. It has different levels of punishment depending on the different sins that the person committed. Each punishment given to the souls is symbolic of their acts while living on earth. The study has highlighted sins from first to sixth circle, the environment of those levels, and the punishment the souls were given. In addition, the study states the symbolic meaning of those punishments and gives an example of some prominent people in those circles. This poem shows that there is judgement after death; thus, it encourages people to follow Christianity, considered the only right religion.
Work Cited
Alighieri, Dante. The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri: Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise. The Union Library Association, 2008.