Introduction
According to Dante’s inferno there is a relationship between the sin and its consequences in the after life. Sinners are considered to be taken to hell being a punishment of their sins which they committed on earth. For instance when Dante found himself lost in the darkness of the forest, he met the shade of Virgil, which requested to deliver him by taking him through hell and purgatory (Kline, 120). For those who lived before the era of Christianity and the infants who die before they are baptized they are taken to a circle called limbo to live eternally without hope. The real punishment of the sinners in the life after starts in the second circle. The punishments of the sins are not equal. Some are more severe than others.
Main body
Dante is very brilliant as all of his punishments relate directly to the sins which were committed. For instance Lucifer is considered as the greatest sinner above all. His permanent position is the deepest part of the hell in a freezing lake where his large wings keep on blowing the cold air to maintain the coolness (Kline, 119). Lucifer is given three heads which symbolizes the trinity of the divine Christianity that is the three parts of one God, the father, son and the Holy Spirit. Each head is said to consume the three known traitors in the history of the bible, one is Judas who betrayed Jesus Christ, and the other two are the Cassius and Brutus who are known to have betrayed Caesar. This theory reveals to us that Lucifer was also a traitor which is considered as the greatest sin above all.
The different types of sins are explained by Virgil deeply in inf.xl.The circles in which the sinners are put in the life after are nine circles. These nine circles are divided into two major divisions (Kline, 123). The two major divisions are the upper and the lower hell respectively. The uppermost division is meant for punishment of those people who committed sins of incontinence while on earth. The lower division is meant for those people who committed the sins of malice. The incontinent sinners occupy four circles the second circle being their first circle. The people who worshiped other gods who are known as atheists they are punished in their circle known as the circle for heretics. Starting from the sixth circle, there is a sharp dive leading to the second part of the hell. This part extends to the deepest part of the depression and is divided into two parts. The first part is for punishing those who committed the sins of violence, and the other part is for those who committed sins through fraud (Kline, 128).
Those who were violent are punished in the seventh circle which is divided into three subdivisions. The first subdivision is for those who acted violently towards the people who were around them. The second subdivision is for punishing those who acted violently towards themselves. The final subdivision is for those who were violent against God. There is malebolge also called the evil pit or the eighth circle. This circle is reached by a bottomless cylinder like pipe from a base of some continuous ten ditches which are arranged on a downward slope. In each of these ditches some form of fraud are punished (Marvin, 10).These ditches have got very rough connections, and at the bottom of them there is another deep well.
Conclusion
At the deep bottom of that well one encounters the ninth circle. In this circle the worst form of conning is punished here for instance treachery. Some form of eternal ice is put in a region in this circle. The ninth circle is divided into four subdivisions. The lowest subdivision covers the peak part where Lucifer stays. In Dante’s literature, hell is said to be the final state where the sinners are punished through both spiritual and corporal punishment. Hell is described by Virgil in purg.111 as the mystery which only God can give a revelation about though God has chosen never to reveal (Marvin, 11). In hell people are described to suffer, where they are exposed to heat and freezing in cold. Their bodies are severely torn by strong and sharp thorns. Statius, in purg. 25 tries to give some explanations of hell but it’s unsatisfactory.
Works cited
Kline, S.K. Translation: The New Life of Dante Alighieri. A.S. Kline, 2001.
Marvin, R. Translation: The Devine Comedy of Dante: The Inferno. New York, printing and book binding, 2000.