Dante's Inferno Rhetorical Analysis

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Body Paragraph 1- Each circle is punished by determining how wrong their sin was, therefore there are crimes that are less severe as others. This means some crimes result in lesser punishments than others. Dante is asking Virgil why some souls are not punished in Lower Hell. "… and those who meet and clash with such mad howls-/ why are they not punished in the rest-red city/ if God's wrath be upon them?" (XI 72-74). For every circle, Dante Alighieri creates punishments that correspond to their crime because the arrangement of each circle is determined by how bad your severity of your sin was. Dante is questioning why some soul's punishments are not as harsh as others. Virgil is explaining who the souls of Upper Hell are and why more anger beats down on them. "'… you will understand at once why they are confined/ apart from …show more content…
In the Second Circle of Hell, Dante and his guide Virgil, find souls who are overcome by Lust. "Whirling and battering it drives them on,/ and when they pass the ruined gap of Hell/ through which we had come, their shrieks begin anew/" (V 33-35). The sinners are getting blown around by a hurricane which never ends, while bumping into one another and also the walls. According to Dante, the souls of Lust have a less severe punishment than Gluttony because their circle is higher than the other. Dante and Virgil find the souls of Gluttony who are overlooked by Cerberus in the Third Circle of Hell. "Huge hailstones, dirty water, and black snow/ pour from the dismal air to putrefy/ the putrid slush that waits for them below/" (VI 10-13). For the punishment in Circle Three, the sinners have huge hailstones that are falling from the air. Dante's crime was also Lust, so he felt pity on them, making their circle higher than
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