Week 15 Reading: Dante's Inferno Part B


Again, Dante’s depictions of hell truly sends shivers down my spine. For today’s readings, he is sent further down into hell, out of necessity to escape. Guided by Virgil who was sent from a goddess, Dante sees with his own eyes the bottom circles of hell. The seventh circle is punishment for those who commit violence, with 3 rings for different kinds of violence. The first ring is “against neighbors” where a brutal scene of souls trapped in boiling blood and fire – if the sinner emerges too high above the river of blood, three centaurs would shoot them full of arrows for them to sink back lower into their punishment. Ring 2 in the seventh circle somewhat scarred me, with it being violence against self that is punished. People are turned into trees, where they are then fed upon eternally by the harpies – only when they are damaged are they allowed to speak.

Overall, these punishments are truly horrific to think about, maybe showing that Dante wanted people to save their souls before such a punishment befell them. I also think it is interesting how Dante chose the different circles of hell to be different forms of sin. Me, personally, would have probably put some forms of violence at the bottom of hell. With Dante’s perspective, however, he chose to put Treachery in the 9th circle, where people are trapped in ice, with more/less of their body encased depending on their level of treachery. Is there a reason as to why Dante chose this particular sin to put at the bottom? Was he betrayed when he was younger? Overall, this story has definitely stuck with me all of these years, and there’s an obvious reason why – the brutal reality that this could be what happens to so many after they die gives us an idea not to take mortal life for granted and to not commit the sins that landed those there.

"Dante speak to the traitors in the ice"
Gustave Dore


"Dante's Divine Comedy" translated by Tony Kline (2002).

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