The Aeneid Virgil

Dante’s Hell is based on a law of symbolic retribution – the talion or “divine justice.” Dante

believed that the world, including art, is created by the “divine word,” and that all meaning

ultimately comes from God. The Inferno, then is a poem about the consequences of denying

God. In essence, the punishments fit the crimes. The lower eight circles are a structured

according to the Aristotelian concept of virtue and vice and are grouped into sins of incontinence

(corresponding to the she-wolf), sins of violence (corresponding to the lion), and sins of malice

and fraud (corresponding to the leopard). Dante In his epic poem, the Divine Comedy, he

discusses the nine circles of hell in term of symbolic retribution.

In circle I, where the virtuous pagans reside, symbolic retribution is described as serene and
Pastoral.
Circle II, is where the lustful cure imprisoned, symbolic retribution as what hurricane gales.
The next circle, circle III greets Dante with a vile sludge reminiscent of sewer waste mixed with snow and rain, symbolic retribution is literally a garbage dump.
In circle IV, there are two angry mobs, the members of each pushing at a huge boulder-like weight, symbolic retribution described as love of money.
In Circle V, the wrathful people that attacked others in life are now attacking each other endlessly, this is very symbolic as in life they hurt others, and now others hurt them.
Circle VII is inhabited by the violent, and is divided into three “rings: outer ring, middle ring, and inner ring, symbolic retribution describe of flaming sand where fire rains from the sky.
Circle VIII is a very special circle, where the fraudulent and deceitful people live, and in life they forced people to do things, and now they are forced to do things, this is simple symbolic retribution.
Finally, circle IX, the deepest recces in Hell, shows symbolic retribution by portraying Lucifer in a frozen lake rather than a fiery pit.

The sullen are those who in life denied the light of the sun, and the light of God. Their punishment is that they are buried within the slime and mud of the River Styx, they also gargle the words of an endless chant. The symbolism is obvious, they denied light in life, and now they will forever in death.

symbolic retribution is obvious, they denied light in life, and now they will forever in death.

Dante describes symbolic retribution as a punishment, symbolic or representative of the sin. Dante's Inferno is filled with symbolic retribution. In Circle 2, the carnal were placed there because they gave into passion. They were very lustful in life, and they did not stop themselves,so they are punished by the tempest of hell by being constantly buffered and whirl-winded. In Circle 3, the gluttons are slavered over by Cerebus, the 3 headed dog, as the gluttons slavered over their food in life. In Circle 5, the wrathful people that attacked others in life are now attacking each other endlessly.

From eating brains to buffering winds, DANTE'S INFERNO if filled with a little literary device called symbolic retribution. Dante describes symbolic retribution as "a punishment symbolic or representative of the sin(perversion of the intellect). Dante's Inferno, a descent through Hell, portrays many layers of Hell, and each has sinners within them, and each sinner is punished, and that punishment is representative of the worst unrepented sin committed by that sinner, which is what placed that sinner in that layer. There are many things in each level that create the symbolic retribution. At this time I warn you that some of the things that I will be discussing, are not for the weak of stomach, and those with a soft heart, this may have some graphic imagery, please do not regurgitate on my paper. In this essay I will discuss some of my choice layers, that have very clear symbolic retribution, and I will share the crime, and how it is punished.

The inferno(HELL), is divided into circles and also bolgias within those circles.

My first showing of symbolic retribution is circle 2, where the carnal are placed. The carnal are those who betrayed reason to their "appetites". Their sin was that they abandoned themselves to the tempest of their passion. They are there because they were very lustful in life, and they did not stop themselves. There punishment is that they are constantly buffered, or whirlwinded by the tempest of Hell. That is how it is symbolic, they gave into the tempest of passion, and not they are punished by the tempest of Hell.

My next showing of symbolic retribution is in circle 3, this is where the gluttons are placed. Gluttons are those that think only of eating, nothing else, not family, not friends, not even God. They turn away the light of God to do only one thing, eat. They eat and they eat, and with eating, they make garbage. In the 3rd circle symbolic retribution is very evident because their punishment is that they are half buried in garbage, the garbage that they in life produced, and also they are slavered over by Cerebus, the 3 headed dog, as the gluttons slavered over their food in life. This is their symbolic retribution, their punishment for being gluttonous is symbolic to being gluttonous.

Circle 5, The wrathful and sullen, I will discuss them separately because they have different punishments. The wrathful were people that attacked others, and hurt others in life. They are now in Hell and are attacking each other, endlessly. This is very symbolic, in life they hurt others, and now others hurt them. The sullen are those who in life denied the light of the sun, and the light of God. Their punishment is that they are buried within the slime and mud of the River Styx, they also gargle the words of an endless chant. The symbolism is obvious, they denied light in life, and now they will forever in death.

In circle seven, round one there are those who committed the sin of violence against their neighbors(fellow man). There sin is that that shed and wallowed in the blood of those who they had killed, this means that they were in a war or were a tyrant and they liked to kill, they found a deranged pleasure in the killing and shedding of blood. Their punishment is that they are emerged in boiling blood, forever, for all eternity. This one is really simple, as the rest, to figure out what is symbolic of the punishment. The sinners shed blood, and now they will forever dwell in that blood they shed. They are also shot by arrows by the centaurs, which is symbolic of what the sinners had done, and that is injured and killed others.

Sodomites, usurers, and blasphemers. What do they have in common? They are all found in the seventh layer of Hell, round 3. The setting for this round, is that of a unbarring, burning desert. Where everything is sterile and burning. What is symbolic about this setting and how the sinners are punished is that all the sinners, sodomites, usurers, and blasphemers all committed sterile and wrathful sins. The burning desert is the perfect place to punish them, the burning is symbolic of the wrath, and the desert is sterile, as their sins were. Also the inner violence that all the sinners suffer from, is symbolic of blasphemy.

Circle 8 is a very special circle, it consist of many part, all of which I find interesting and full of symbolic retribution. Each part is called a bolgia. The first bolgia I will speak of is bolgia 1. The panderers and seducers are located here. In life they forced others to do foul and fiendish things for them. Now in Hell horned demons force them to endlessly "fast walk" though the bolgia. In life they forced people to do things, and now they are forced to do things, this is simple symbolic retribution.

Bolgia 2 is next, but before I tell you about this bolgia, might I say that you have the most intriguing eye color. Well that was flattery, and that is what bolgia 2 is all about. The flatterers flattered others in li