The Inferno Research Paper

Dante says does as they walked inside hell, he noticed famous people, who were great but still went to hell. The first circle is limbo whereby those who never got baptized get punished. The second ring is where

Circles six through nine are those who have committed a more serious, heinous crime than those in one through five. “For Dante, the most serious crimes are those of betrayal.” (Pg 788, Chevigny) Circle six is the introductory of lower levels. The theme of this level is heresy. Those who have questioned or attempted to stray from church reside here. The people of level six are in tombs that are on fire. This is a slight preview of the hell we think of today. To question the Christian faith and to knowingly and openly think that there is no afterlife, but instead believe that the soul dies with the body is the best to describe their punishment. People become aware of a heaven or hell the moment they die. And once that hit that moment, it’s too late to decide whether or not there is such existence. For that reason, they are forever stuck in their tombs (or modern day caskets) and live in constant sensation of being burned.

Being constantly stung by wasps and forced to chase a white flag would be mentally and physically exhausting and seems to be a torture straight out of hell... yet they aren 't even technically in hell. On the other hand, in Limbo one merely walks around and talks to other luckless souls, which does not seem to be a punishment constant with what other sinners face in hell. Dante correctly assigned the right punishments to each group of sinners, but he misplaced both groups. Limbo should be outside of Hell because they did not have the knowledge of either Heaven or Hell. The Ante Inferno should be the first level of Hell, reserved for those who knew about Heaven and Hell, choose neither side, and now must face the fact that by their indecision, are bound to suffer in Hell.

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

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

limbo, 2. lust, 3. gluttony, 4. greed, 5. anger, 6. heresy, 7. violence, 8. fraud, and 9. treachery. Dante journeys through hells layers and as he gets closer to the center of hell, the sins, and their penalties get crueler. In the first level, limbo, all the individuals who died before becoming Christians reside, including famous philosophers Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates. After limb, arrives the part of hell which is comprised of sins of the flesh: greed, anger, gluttony, and lust. In the last remaining circles, Dante witnesses’ souls that have committed severer sins such as; violence against God, fraud, false prophets, violent against nature, thieves, and hypocrites. The punishments for these sins are extremely painful, including souls being submerged in boiling blood and fire. The last circle of hell is treachery. This round is separated into four compartments corresponding to the gravity of their sins and all of the sould are stuck in the frozen

Hell has been described in many different texts, all explaining how Hell may be organized. There have been many examples in the Bible, myths, folktales, and music through out time. One example in particular is in Dante's, The Inferno, where hell is described as having many layers, which are categorized by individual sins, such as thievery, and are punished for an eternity. In Dante's model, more sin centered, a soul would be sent to a certain layer of hell for one sin that he had committed. However, perhaps a more personalized Hell, sinner-centered, that deals with each sinner individually for each sin committed and its severity, would allow for people to be punished more effectively.

Sinners in hell, according to Dante's Inferno are disciplined according to there wrongdoing. Dante utilizes the idea of contrapasso, so that the discipline fits the wrongdoing of the sinners. A few heathens actually turn into the epitome of their wrongdoings, while others get to be victimized people in the afterlife of the violations they submitted while living. Sinners in the Inferno, aren't just accursed to Hell for endlessness, however but damned independently for the criminal acts that got them there.

Circle one of Hell is reserved for those whose only crime is living before Christianity and therefore not worshipping God as is deemed proper by God. These shades are the unbaptised infants and virtuous pagans who came before Christ. Virgil explains the sin in lines 34-39:

In the writing of Dante’s Inferno, hell is described to have a symmetrical and significant numerical makeup. He writes that “hell is divided into nine circles, each containing a different category of sinners and their own personal and proper punishment for what they have done.” Then it moves into the level of purgatory, claiming it only has nine levels as well. The last part described is heaven and the entrance to it, claiming that you had to go through hell to get to heaven. I have grown up with a

Inferno, written by Dante Alighieri illustrates the idea of justice through the belief that with each action arise a consequence. What you sin above ground, you deal with under. Through this he gives examples of the sins done and the punishment that is inflicted from doing such thing as a disgrace to God. All through Dantes imagination and his views as to how it should be done, there is a punishment for each area of sin committed which is why a person who bribes will be in the further in the level of hell, as compared to someone who has killed an innocent.

Paige Olekszyk Hist 1500 12.10.12 (Insert title here) In Dante’s Inferno, he described the nine levels of Hell. The nine layers went in order, Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery. He describes the types of punishment that was executed in each layer, plus some of the people he saw when he went through them.

Upon entering an antechamber to hell, Dante and Virgil come upon large gates. Dante hears screams from souls that were damned and rejected by God, but also not accepted by hell. The “nowhere” souls are punished because of their refusal to make a choice in life. Tormented by flies and hornets on a furious pace forever, the souls are held captive by these large gates. Crossing through the gates, Dante and Virgil are met by the boatman Charon at the windy River Archeron. Rescinding from the boat, they enter the First Circle of Hell, known as Limbo. Dwelling in this circle are the honorable and righteous souls known as the “virtuous non-Christians”. The souls here are free of torment and live in desire, but will never see

“The Christian church … conceived of hell as a place where the good were separate from the evil, and the deeds on earth were weighed and judges.”(Bondanella XXXIII) Hell is a place that was created as a punishment for those people who died with mortal sins and did not ask for forgiveness. In this case Dante’s hell in the Inferno is divided into three sections and nine circles. These circles within hell were based off of the seven deadly sins: lust, gluttony, greed, sloth, wrath, envy, and pride. Along with the seven deadly sins Dante’s Catholic religion also influenced him in his choices about who to put and where to put people in Hell. According to his beliefs, if you were not a Christian, you automatically went to Hell. (Trotter) As well even though Dante's hell affected all people no matter their religion, the representation of how Hell

Inferno Book Summary Famous author and professor of Harvard University, Robert Langdon, wakes up in a hospital in the middle of the night. Having no recollection of how he got there or of the last three days, Robert soon finds himself fleeing the hospital after a strange woman murders one of the doctors in the room. He and the other doctor, Sienna Brooks, flee to the her apartment. He not only finds that he is in Florence, Italy, but he is also in possession of a series of codes created by a brilliant scientist inside of an interpretation of The Seven Circles of Hell. This scientist, who is obsessed with the the end of the world, expresses his passion in the form of Dante Aligheri’s divine comedy, The Inferno.