Dante 's Inferno : The Different Levels Of Hell

Level one, Limbo: for those who have not acted upon sin to be punished for, but rather didn’t accept Christ as their savior. Those in Limbo aren’t harmed or living in suffering. They live in a deficient form of heaven. The place is green and peaceful, but the people there are full of

eternal punishment. These newer books perceive hell as more of a concept than an actual place of punishment.

The next three rings and sub-rings of Hell are composed of violent crimes against both ones self and others. The sixth ring is reserved for the heretics who are engulfed in flames. This symbolizes the problems that they tried to create by challenging the Christian church and its practices. The seventh ring has three sub-categories consisting of violence against people and property, suicide, and those against god, nature, and order. The sinners that were violent against people and property are punished by being immersed in boiling blood, which is equivalent to the level of violent crimes they committed. The punishment for suicide is being planted and growing as a tree, when a branch is torn off the person feels the equivalent pain of having an arm or leg taken off. This is a fitting punishment because in their life the only relief from suffering was through killing themselves and in hell they live with that agony similarly to the way people on earth are suffering over the deceased. The third and final sub-ring of the seventh circle holds those against god, nature, and order. They are punished by either walking, sitting or lying on flaming sand while hot ashes fall from above. Their position is based on their lack of respect for what they offended. The last ring in this group of violent

hell for entirety. In his famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Jonathan Edwards

Robert Herrick, an English poet, once said, “Hell is no other but a soundlesse pit, where no one beame of comfort peeps in it.” Picture any type of Hell with relief, happiness, or even the smallest crack of a smile. There is no place. In fact, one can only think of the complete opposite, whether it is a Hell filled with neglect, pain, disgust, or a never-ending life of horror. This is the place created by Dante Alighieri; The Inferno is exactly the type of Hell where no person would want to be. Even those who acted upon the lightest of sins suffered greatly. While each realm contained a different sinner, the punishment that each were forced to face was cruel, repulsive, and sometimes rather disgusting. Through grieving tears without an

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

The fourth circle of upper hell contains the hoarders and the spendthrifts, whose wills were too weak in life to manage their assets. Aware only of their own needs on earth, they each work towards their own goal in Hell, pushing a rock. They are forced, however to cope with like-minded souls and collide rather than cooperating, which results in eternal frustration.

As demonstrated would be the second circle of hell which consists of the lustful. As their punishment for their unholy desires, they are being blown violently back and forth by strong winds which prevents them from getting rest in comparison to a higher level such as the fifth circle which contain the wrathful who live in the mud river and is constantly fighting and hurting each other because they could not manage their anger in life. The punishment reflects the type of sin committed during their lifetime. All of this organized based on the severity of the sin. Dante teaches us that whatever you do will always come back regardless. Justice is considered one of the most important theme and concept that it comes with. The term “right of law” means that a person does what is “just” or “ morally right” and for things to be overall fair which ties in with the concept that involves people getting what they had coming for them.

The concept of hell can be viewed as three distinct underworld concepts in the Old and New

Dante’s view on the whole realm of hell is incorrect based on the bible. Since in the bible, sin is sin. No matter what you have committed they are all on the same level so thus the first level one would ultimately be the last level

“[A] war broke out in Heaven: Mi’chael and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them any longer in heaven. So down the great dragon was hurled, the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth; he was hurled down to earth, his angels were hurled down with him” (Revelation 12:7-9). When God banished Lucifer from the Heavens and casted him down to earth, the impact of his falling created a crater which leads to the center of the earth that eventually transforms into Hell, which consists into nine levels. These nine levels are separated into three categories: self-satisfaction, self-centeredness, and self-destruction.

Hell, which includes different levels of pain, misery, and punishment for different types of sinners. My goal is to add to that list of sinners, which Dante created in his poem, highlighting sinners who inhabit our world. As you might already know the punishment in Dante’s Inferno corresponds to sins committed during a person’s time on Earth, the organization of my Hell will be the same. Despite it being a frightening place, packed with torment and punishment, Hell is well known across cultures with people talking about it freely.

All people sin, the only difference is the degree of the sin. Can someone really rank the level of sins and the punishments in hell? This vision of hell was acceptable in the minds of many people hundreds of years ago, but

Xibalba was organized into nine descending levels, worsening in punishment and torture as the levels lowered. Maya Lords of Death ruled over the different levels. After death, those who led evil lives were condemned to Xibalba. The Maya described the Underworld as a place filled with water and rivers and could be entered through caves or bodies of water. Despite the various characteristics and features the Maya believed their ancestors, spirits, and gods resided in all three realms and worshiped them.

After emerging from the dark woods after Dante’s vision, Dante and Virgil find themselves at the gates of Hell, which were inscribed with “Abandon every hope, Ye that Enter.” ( This should be found in the second or third Canto of The Divine Comedy, at the place that Dante and Virgil are about to enter Hell). If it is not there, just leave the sentence and remove the brackets for the citation) Hell is a funnel shape pit that is divided into nine terraces. Virgil, Dante’s escort resides in the area known as Limbo. He is placed in this area because he died before Christianity. Nevertheless, Virgil is not subjected to Hell. Each terrace provides living space for individuals who were in Hell for the different categories of sin for which they were suffering. The lower the terrace, the more severe the punishment. Satan resides in the very bottom level of Hell. Dante gives a very vivid description of his first sight of Satan when he writes, “The emperor of the despondent kingdom so towered—from midchest—above the ice, that I match better with a giant’s height than giants match the measure of his arms; now you can gauge