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Dantes Inferno by Dante Alighieri is a classic tale that involves Christian morality, and mythological and classical literature. In this tale we watch Virgil guide Dante through the circles of hell in order to reach heaven where Dantes beloved Beatrice awaits. Dante created this tale in order to give the world a visual image of afterlife and to explain the Christian belief of sin and punishment. He explicitly takes us through each circle of purgatory describing what it looks like, who gets sent there, and what punishment they receive.
Through this story Dante is preaching the perfection of Gods justice. He shows that Hell exists to punish sin and the sinners suffer punishment to a degree befitting the gravity of their sin, as to correspond allegorically to that sins nature. Each circle of Hell is described with great detail using gory images and specific examples of people who committed specific sins and what their consequences were. This was done to paint a picture of Hell and to make it a more feasible and realistic place. Through this Dante successfully portrays his theme of sin and purgatory that is the way to heaven is through hell.
In Dantes Inferno, there are 34 Cantos. Each individual canto is filled with numerous connections to other literary pieces and tons of symbols on both an obvious and deeper level. The Inferno is a book that can be read over and over because of how dense and complicated each canto is. Therefore, I will analyze one very specific canto which is widely known and loved and which caught my own attention.
My analyses will be on Canto V, which takes place in the second circle of Hell. Starting off with the first three lines in Canto V, Dante creates the image of how hell is shaped. He says, It encloses a smaller space, but so much more suffering that it goads the souls to shriek (pg 87). From this we can conclude that the first enclosure of Hell is Limbo and that each successive enclosure or circle gets smaller and smaller creating a funnel-like shape.
Yet, while the circles get smaller in size they become greater in punishments, and the circumstances for these sinners become more and more uncomfortable. In the next line we are introduced to a new character called Minos. Dante draws the character Minos from the Aeneid, the Odyssey, and from classical mythology. Minos, son of Europa and Zus, was a mythological King of Crete. Dante chooses to transform this character Minos into a demonic creature, representing cruelty and guilt. This can be connected to the fact that Minos is a pagan figure and by subsuming pagan Gods into the Christian conception of Hell he attempts to show Christianity as a supreme moral order.
But, Minos is not necessarily evil in Dantes story. He is still valued for his severity of judgments and therefore his job is to assign condemned souls to their place and punishment within the circles of Hell. Dante writes, He examines the souls guilt at the entrance; he judges and passes entrance on how he wraps (pg. 87). Therefore, the place of each sinner in Hell is determined by the number of times Minos curls his tail around himself, indicating the number of the circle to which the soul must go.
Dante then illustrates that, When the ill-born soul comes before him, it confesses all; and that connoisseur of sin (pg. 87). Dante is making the point in this line that sinners elect their hell by an act of their own will because the souls appear eager to confess their sins even while they are dead. Progressing on, Dante stands in front of Minos to enter the gates and Minos recognizes Dante as a living soul. Minos says, Beware how you enter and to whom you entrust yourself: be not deceived by the spacious entrance (pg. 87). Minos is warning Dante not to enter because this place is only for the dead. Dante is also emphasizing the width of the gate, which echoes the bible.
He is saying that the gate may be big and spacious, but the circles inside are small and suffocating. But, it is Virgil's words that allow them to pass and enter the second circle of Hell. Throughout the whole story, Virgil stands as a guide and a representation of human reason. It may be connected to Dantes own life incidents, for he did follow Virgil's writings to create his own masterpiece and tried to create immortality through his writings like Virgil did.
Dante used Virgil's writings as a guide and also as a competitor to surpass. Starting at line 25, Dante describes what goes on in the second circle of Hell. Dante writes, Now the grief-stricken notes begin to make themselves heard; now I have come to where much weeping assails me (pg. 87). Dante is appealing to our sense of sound. He describes the music of Hell, which is not like typical music, but made from the accumulated dissonances of its grieving souls (Notes, pg. 94). It is within the second circle that the real tortures of Hell begin.
Dante says, that here all light is silent (pg. 87). He is using light as a metaphor for knowledge and also to set the scene for the second circle of Hell. Dante describes this circle as a dark place in which strong winds are blowing endlessly and torrential rain is falling uncontrollably. Like all of Dantes illusions for each circle of hell, the setting and events taking place are literally meant to represent the sin of that circle. It is here that the souls of the damned are blown about forever in darkness and helplessly swirl about in the terrible storm. It is this metaphor that represents the souls uncontrolled passion they allowed to dominate them in life.
We can conclude that the souls in this circle of Hell committed sins of the flesh. Dante writes, to this torment were damned the carnal sinners who subject their reason to their lust (pg. 89). They are punish...
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