According to Dante, there are Nine Circles of Hell. Each of the circles represents a different sin; Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud and Treachery. Some of the circles are divided into groups, where sinners are split even further. For instance, the fourth circle that represents greed is divided into a group for hoarders and a group for lavish spenders.
The ninth circle represents treachery. This Circle of Hell is divided into four "rounds" where sinners are frozen into an icy lake. Their depth in the frozen lake is based on the severity of their sin.
The circle that I found the most interesting was the seventh circle which is divided into three rings; the outer ring where murderers "live" in a river of boiling blood and fire. The middle ring is for two types of sinners: those who have committed suicide (who appear as trees that feed human-faced birds called harpies) and those who are shamelessly immoral (who are chased and eaten by dogs). The inner ring is for those who are blasphemous or have committed sodomy. These sinners "live" in a desert of burning sand, where burning rain falls.
Dante's view of Hell leads me to believe that he was either very imaginative, very angry or a combination of both. He believed he was destined for Heaven, but if it was anger that led him to write Inferno, than he would surely have been bound for the fifth circle of Hell (Anger) where if he was intensely angry, he would have fought on the River Styx and if he was sulky and bad-tempered, he would have gurgled under the surface of the river.
I also agree with you that if Dante's anger led him to write the Inferno, then it would seem that he would end up in the circle where sinners of anger go to. It's interesting how sinners are to end up in a particular circle of Hell in the Inferno compared to the stereotypical interpretation of Hell in modern society.
ReplyDeleteI also think that's interesting. I never thought how angry Dante must've been in order to write Inferno. I think that sin does stem from bitterness. Now that I think about it, there is a verse in the Bible about that –" pride goes before a fault". It's interesting to think about the different punishments all the different sins merit.
ReplyDeleteSomething that is very interesting to me is how Dante's hell has the nine different circles sort of "rating" sins on how bad they are, but Christianity preaches that all sins are equal. I agree that he had to have been very imaginative to write this piece, and I imagine that an amount of anger was also involved. I think that a "trip to hell" like that would be something that would really wake you up and make you evaluate the way you're living your life.
ReplyDeleteI find the way Dante views Hell very frightening. If it were true then no matter what we do on earth we are destined to one of the nine circles.
ReplyDelete