sin and punishment in divine comedy

A detailed Summary of sin and punishment in divine comedy

From the beginning of human history there have always been sinners, and people tried to give just punishments to them. It has always been a major issue whether or not the penalties for the criminals are just because unfair punishment can ruin somebody's life. It can also bring disasters to the society if criminals do not learn any lessons from the penalties. Dante's Inferno in the Divine Comedy suggests clear thoughts on the appropriate punishments for a variety of sins. Dante's ideas influenced not only other writers, but society's concept of sin and punishment as well. Dante describes images of hell and scenes in which sinners are being punished fairly. He puts himself in the story as a traveler of hell, and Virgil guides him. In Dante's Hell, sinners are punished in a way that reflects what they did wrong while they were alive. All of the punishments that Dante sees are symbolic retributions; they either are similar to the sin committed or they are its opposite. These symbolic punishments not only help us visualize, but also amplify the meanings of all kinds of sins and punishments.

In the Divine Comedy, Dante uses symbolism in virtually every scene. These symbols aid readers in understanding his tale. For example, he makes he

In the second circle, Dante the pilgrim observes real sinners. In this circle of the lustful, Minos guards the place. He is the beast judge of Dante's Hell. In mythology, Minos was a wise, though stubborn judge, but Dante twists his form into the shape of a bull. He now has a tail, which he uses to judge the sinners. Sinners entering hell appear before Minos, tell him what they have done, and he assigns them their proper place in one of Hell's circles by the number of times he winds his long tail around his body. People in the second ring committed love related sins. Cleopatra is there and Helen of Troy as well. Sinners in this circle are punished by being whirled around forever in a gale: "The hellish hurricane, which never rests, drives on the spirits with its violence: wheeling and pounding, it harasses them" (V. 31). This punishment stands for the passion of love. When somebody is in love, that person loses control, just like when a hurricane comes. He or she does not care about anything preventing their love, just as a hurricane does not what it destroys.

In eighth circle, third pouch, Simonists receive their punishment. These are the people who buy church offices with their wealth, the people "that ought to be the brides of righteousness" (XIX. 3). Church officials should not buy their office or be "bought" by people, but rather chosen by God like Jesus Christ. However, these people merchandized the divine authority. So now they are buried upside down, the reverse image of Jesus crucified on the cross. Also, in Jesus' time, washing the feet was one way of respecting and expressing hospitality. Now the Simonists' feet are on fire: "Both soles of every sinner were on fire" (XIX. 25). They lost respect, hospitality, and glory.

ll into a cone and divides it into nine descending circles that get smaller as they approach the central point of the earth: "So I descended from the first enclosure down to the second circle, that which girdles less space but grief more great" (V. 1). Dante uses a circular image to represent hell to r

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Approximate Word count = 1379
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English