Dante's Inferno

The Meaning of Life Through Death Dante’s Inferno represents a soul’s journey towards God and the struggle between doing what is morally right as opposed to fulfilling one’s desires. Dante confronts many characters who have done wrong in their life to end up in Hell. Some of these sinners are in Hell because of their sin of violence, either towards themselves or others; or their sin of fraud, either by being a hypocrite or committing theft. As a result of his journey through Hell, Dante realizes that to disobey God’s guidance and moral code is to be faced with severe consequences that last an eternity. Dante’s journey takes him through the seventh circle of Hell which possesses rings of violent sinners. The first ring contains the sinners
who are violent towards themselves.
Dante encounters a sinner who said, “We too shall come like the rest, each one to get/ His cast-off body – but not for us to dwell/ Within again, for justice must forbid/ Having what one has robbed oneself of” (105. Line 96-99). This demonstrates the individuals in this ring have committed the sin of violence against themselves. By taking their own life they revealed that they have no appreciation for the gift of their own life that God had provided them with. The punishment for these sinners is to be turned into trees and to be immobile, thus denying them the right to take the form of a human. Since these sinners self destructed, they are only allowed to speak when they are being attacked and destroyed by the Harpies. God’s message to these sinners is that one should respect God’s gift of life that he gave to them or in the afterlife they will not be given the form of a human since they took away their own lives. After discovering this message, Dante travels to the second ring of the seventh circle that contains sinners who are violent towards others. It is revealed to Dante what this ring contains, when Virgil (his guide) said, “But keep your eyes below us, for coming near/ Is the river of blood – in which boils
everyone/ Whose violence hurt others” (95. Line 40-43). These sinners go against God’s moral code because they take the lives of others by violence with no mercy. Their punishment is to be drowned endlessly in the river of blood. This punishment is fitting for these sinners because the blood represents not only the bloodshed by those whose lives they took but also not having any control over their own destiny. These individuals disobeyed God by controlling when and how people die by murdering them. God’s message to the violent sinners is that it does not matter how one is violent, there will always be a consequence. As Dante continues making his way through his difficult journey, he passes through the eighth circle.
This circle contains many Bolgia that the sinners who committed all types of fraud reside in. One of the Bolgia contains the sinners who specifically were thieves. As Dante watches these sinners, he sees what the sinners have to go through over and over again as a punishment. As he observes a sinner get bitten by a snake multiple times, the sinner then, “took fire and burned and withered away,/[...]/ When he rises stares about confused/By the great anguish that he knows he feels,/[...]/ Oh, power of God!/ How severe its vengeance is”(203. Line 99, 101,113-114,117). These sinners went against God’s moral code and guidance because they stole other people’s possessions and sacred items. The sinner’s punishment is appropriate with their crime because the flames that incinerate them appear and disappear constantly causing the sinners to be in endless turmoil like their victims were. They never know when the flames are to appear and burn them so they have to constantly be on guard just like their victims had to be on guard against these thieves. As a result of disobeying God’s moral code of not taking what is not yours, these thieves are in constant torture of snakes biting them over and over again and also of burning up into ashes only to be reincarnated to do it all over again. The eighth circle also holds the sinners who were hypocrites. As sinners who are hypocrites act as if
they have certain virtues, principles, moral or religious beliefs that they do not actually possess or live their lives by, Dante sees that their punishment reflects that. These sinners are wearing cloaks that, “were glided on the side that shows/ So that the eye was dazzled - but all of lead/ On the inside; so heavy, compared to these” (189. Line 58-60). As hypocrites say one thing but do the complete opposite, which is how their cloaks appeared too. The cloaks looked stunning on the outside but the inside was made out of lead so that it would be incredibly heavy for these sinners to carry it around for eternity. These sinners went against God’s and his ways by showing a different face to the world and people around them rather than showing the real them. By continuously lying about their ways, these sinners are in constant pain of carrying around these heavy cloaks. By refusing to live honestly and by God’s moral code, these sinner will be in relentless agony for infinity.
As a result of his journey through Hell, Dante realizes that to disobey God’s guidance and moral code is to be faced with severe consequences that last an eternity. There are many sinners that Dante encounters in Hell that includes sinners who committed violence towards themselves or to others around them and sinners who were fraudulent by stealing or lying about one’s true self. As Dante goes through his journey, the reader acknowledges that by living a life full of sin is not living the life you were truly meant to live.