Sample Student Written Response

World Literature 271

Roth, James

23 February 2010

Dante’s Inferno: The Sin is the Punishment

Dante Alighieri emphasizes how important one’s decision on earth determines where one’s soul will travel after they die. Through his horrific yet fascinating imagination, one receives a taste of what he viewed of hell, purgatory, and heaven. Dante cleverly incorporated the idea that the sins committed on earth are the punishments in the Inferno. He shows that the actions one performs on earth are not as easily forgettable in the afterworld. Just because a person dies does not mean that their sins are forgotten by God. One must repent their sins before they die. He implies that not only is it important to live a righteous life that allows one the opportunity to reach heaven, but one must also live the way they want to be treated. In the Inferno, we observe that the sins on earth bound people to the place they will stay for eternity. Through Dante’s eyes, we are able to see that what goes around comes around again.

In Canto XII, Dante takes us to the Seventh Circle of Hell where those who committed violence upon others are submerged in a river of boiling blood. The weight of the sins people committed determined how far they were submerged in the boiling blood. Surrounding the river of boiling blood were centaurs that guard the sinners. If a sinner were to rise too far above their mark in order to relieve their pain and torture, then the centaurs shoot their arrows at them. They must always suffer the boiling pain for their sins. This is a fitting example of how the sin is the punishment. When the sinner committed violence against another, the sinner’s blood burned with rage and wrath. The victim suffered the burning presence of the sinner’s rage and actions. It seems only logical that the sinners should be swathed in the boiling blood that had burned deeply inside of them once before. Some of the sinners Dante mentioned in the Seventh Circle were Alexander the Great, Dionysius, and Azzolino.

Another great example of where the sin is the punishment is once again in the Seventh Circle. This time, however, the sinners are the ones who committed violence against themselves. The suicides are located in the Wood of Suicides. Canto XIII is where Dante introduces the suicides. These sinners gave up their body when they were living. In a sense, the sinners were trying to escape from their bodies. So, Dante does not give them bodies in hell. Instead, he makes them trees. The trees are not beautiful and fruitful. They are black and gloomy, fully covered in thorns with twisted braches. Guarding the wood are Harpies that continually munch on the leaves of the trees. When the trees are broken, they bleed. Blood oozes out of the broken branches and the souls of the sinners cry out in agony and pain. Continually, they are bombarded with punishment by the Harpies. This part of the Inferno again supports the idea that the punishment is the sin. The sinners chose to end their lives and give up their body, so they no longer have the right to control their bodies. They inflicted harm on themselves in order to end their lives so the Harpies must enforce pain on their new forms. The icing on top of the punishment is that the suicides will not be able to have their bodies even when Judgment Day comes. Forever, the suicides are given no face to call their own. We find Pier della Vigna in this forest.

The sinners in the Ninth Bolgia of the Eighth Circle portrayed in Canto XXVIII also show sins that are the punishment. Each Bolgia contained different sinners for different crimes, but the main idea is that they were frauds. Located in this circle are the sowers of scandal and schism. Basically, these are the sinners who divided the Church or people during their time. Their punishment involves moving around in a circle and being sliced by a devil every single time they pass by. The devil slashes them from the chin down and “between their (his) legs their (his) guts spilled out, with the heart and other vital parts, and the dirty sack that turns to shit whatever the mouth gulps down” (1553). As the sinners move around the circle, their wounds start healing back up. When they reach the devil again, down comes the blade. Forever, they will be cut up, re-healed, and then cut up again. This sin is the punishment because in life, the sinners caused a group to split. The splitting of a group causes confusion, hurt, and turmoil within that once peaceful group. Therefore, in hell, they are torn up in the middle and their body itself is divided. With every slice of the blade, the sinners suffer even more pain and anguish for their sin. Dante put Muhammad and Ali in the Ninth Bolgia.

Dante’s ability to illustrate the sin of people as the punishment in hell not only shows what a brilliant writer he was, it also allows readers to understand the time Dante lived in. The corruption of the Roman Catholic Church, the continual conflicts between city-states in Italy, and the continuous troubles and sins in human life weighed heavily upon Dante’s mind. The weight intensified especially after Dante was exiled from Florence. So it is not surprising that Dante would write a book with one of the soul purposes being that whatever sin one commits on earth will be justified in the afterlife. No one can escape their sins once they take their last breath and travel down to pay a visit to Minos. The sin is the punishment in Dante’s Inferno.