Circles of Hell in Dante's The Inferno Essay Example

Dante’s The Inferno is an epic that takes readers on a journey in his version of the nine circles of hell. Each circle has its own unique punishment that specifically correlates to the sin that was committed and increasingly gets worse the closer one gets to Satan in circle nine. Throughout this journey, Dante is accompanied by a poet named Virgil and with his guidance, through hell, he is able to describe each circle with detailed and gruesome imagery of their encounters. In these circles of hell, several characters are used that Dante either knew or knew of in the real world to explain the justification for these punishments by sharing their story. Dante’s The Inferno enables the reader to understand how the punishment of lust, gluttony, and greed are all parts of God's plan of justice. 

In the second circle of hell, those who committed the sin of lust were caught in the whirlwind of passion. Although this circle is the furthest from Satan, it is considered the least serious sin, but nonetheless, those who committed it to suffer the consequences. Dante describes this circle as “a place stripped of bare of every light/ and roaring on the naked dark like seas/ wracked by a war of winds. Their hellish flight/ of storm and counter …and this I learned was the never-ending flight/ of those who sinned in the flesh, the carnal and lusty/ who betrayed reason to their appetite,” (Canto 5, Lines 30-39). Having not lived a narrow and straight life, these souls are now forever punished by whirling winds that push them around. A lot of these souls acted like what they did was not wrong considering their circumstances and turned a blind eye to their actions. In doing so they are now stuck in a place without light, not being able to see much of anything. Dante encounters a couple named Francesca and Paolo who share their tragic story of lust and serve as a prime example of their punishment. Francesca was married politically to Giovanni but had an affair for 10 years with his brother Paolo who was also married. They were both killed by Francesca’s husband upon him finding out and now Francesca and Paolo spend their eternal afterlife together, serving out the horrid punishment. Although this story was a sad one indeed they knew lust was wrong and decided to willingly act anyway. They cannot convince anyone into thinking what they did was justified as marriage is considered a sacred bond in the Christian church and any sexual actions outside that bond is a grave sin. 

People who commit the sin of gluttony are held in the third circle of hell because they are selfish and cold. Dante is greeted with a disgusting sight as he enters this circle. Dante describes the circle to have “Huge hailstorms, dirty water, and black snow/ pour from the dismal air to putrefy/ the putrid slush that waits for them below./ Here monstrous Cerberus, the ravening beast,/ howls through his triple throats like a mad dog/ over the spirits sunk in that foul paste.”(Canto 6, Lines 10-15) Fatalism is a fitting punishment for overindulgence since overindulgence is gross and wasteful. Gluttons were accustomed to the comfort they felt when overindulging, so now they have been deprived of those pleasures and are being forced to spend all of eternity cold and covered in filth. Whenever anyone tries to leave the third circle, Cerberus slays them, reinforcing the fact that there is no escape. While exploring this circle of hell further, Dante encounters a punished soul named Ciacco, which is Italian for pig. Ciacco admits his gluttony and accepts the punishment of rotting like a swollen log as his punishment. Ciacco and the other souls make Dante feel agony at hearing this. Although the punishment might seem a bit harsh, the sin of gluttony is one that abuses God's gifts of food and therefore they must suffer the consequences. In the fourth circle of hell, Dante sees two different groups of sinners, those who keep their money and possessions and those who rush to spend it. Many of the souls that make up this circle are clerics who have abused their power. Dante describes them as “a notion of lost souls, / far to more than were above: they strained their chests/ against enormous weights, and with mad howls/ rolled them at one another. Then in haste/rolling them back, one party shouted out/ why do you hoard? And the other: why do you waste?” (Canto 7, Lines 25-30) This penalty is arranged at what both sides are sinners but on almost extreme opposite faces of the spectrum. They continued to scream on a comment again and all the claims that each side was wrong in the way they handled money. To fill this imbalance, they now have to fight against each other in a continuous battle. 

Each hell circle represents sins that receive punishment in collaboration with the nature of their sins. Luxury people are torched by a whirlwind of their own production, thrown without purpose and direction. Gluts were forced to wake up in their dirt without any hope of escaping. The clergy has surpassed their money and those who accumulated it are now forever stuck in a continuous battle with a huge weight. All actions that bring every soul to hell are voluntary and purposeful, making punishes justify in the eternal plan of God. Thanks to the use of Greek characters and myths, Dante's Inferno has a saying "what happened at the next level and understands that in the penalty of sin: desire, gluttonous and greedy.