Punishment In Dante's Inferno Essay

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In the text Inferno by Dante Alighieri, the inferno or hell is made up of 9 circles, and each one has a different kind of sinners and a punishment that is related to the type of sin. Every punishment is created in order to fit the sin, so the sinner can suffer the consequences of the sin that it committed during its life. Moreover, some punishments are more fitting to its sin than others, as in the case of circle 2 that punishes the lustful, circle 3 for the gluttonous, and circle 9 that is in charge of punishing treachery and there is textual evidence to prove it. To begin, lustful means having or showing or feeling strong sexual desire. When Dante reach circle 2 where the lustful are punished, he finds himself in a place where “the infernal hurricane that never rests Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine; Whirling them round, and smiting, it molesters them”(Canto 5, 31-33). In other words, the sinners are punished with …show more content…
Besides, this circle is where Lucifer resides, but the most interesting is how sinners and Lucifer are punished. To illustrate “ The Emperor of the kingdom dolours From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice”(Canto 34, 28-29), so Lucifer is alive, with his half body trapped in a frozen lake, where all the sinners guilt of treachery are frozen as well, and every time when Lucifer move his wings to escape from his punishment, he created a cold wind that makes the lake more frozen and Lucifer and sinners’ punishment eternal. Also, the image of Lucifer has a meaning, three faces representing a perversion of the Holy Trinity, and each face has a color, red for anger, yellow for impotence, and black for ignorances. Moreover, each face chews one of the worst sinners in history, as Judas Iscariot who betrayed the son of God, Brutus, and Cassius that were responsible for Julius Caesar’s assassination (Alighieri