The author of Dante’s Inferno, Dante Alighieri, repeats sin throughout the divine comedy to show vast ways in which Dante the protagonist must mature and reconcile his relationship with God to attain salvation and escape from hell. Throughout his profound and tantalizing journey, Dante overcomes sin and temptation as he ventures through the many circles of hell to rid himself of his wickedness to avoid suffering and eternal punishment through God’s divine retribution. In the end, it is through the nine circles of hell that Dante realizes the wrongdoings of his foul and sacrilegious actions during his lifetime, that he can change his perspective, and the way he perceives sin to understand the true nature of the inferno and overcome his transgressions.
To begin with, there are many examples of sin expressed throughout the story that committed by the sinners and transgressors of hell. Throughout the inferno, sin is an important theme in the novel and indiscretion plays a vital role in the story. Author Dante Alighieri depicts hell as nine concentric levels of torment in order from least disgraceful to most condemnable, that correlate the circles of hell to a specific sin; these sins being limbo, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery. Each circle of hell is an example of sin repeated by miscreants and evildoers who continue to repeat their wrongdoings. One example of sin expressed in the story is in the first circle of hell where pagansare punished for eternity in limbo for their lack of faith. While talking to Virgil, Dante learns why the pagans and the disbelievers live in limbo ‘My sympathetic teacher looked at me and said, don’t you wonder why this group is trapped here? Before you go any further, I want you to know it’s not all because they’ve erred; Many were good, but that’s not enough. They weren’t baptized into your beliefs. If they lived in that pre-Christian era, they didn’t worship at the right altar. I was one of those’ (42). Fallen from grace and lost in the dark woods of limbo due to spiritual apathy, our protagonist is cut off from the light of God and it is here Dante takes his first steps in maturing religiously as he begins to understand the importance of maintaining one’s faith in Christ and the harsh reality of being apart from God.
Likewise, Dante’s journey into hell continues upon arriving in the second circle. Here Dante and Virgil discover the lost souls who have been overcome by their sexual desires. These adulterers find no tranquility as they are being punished for their overzealous lust by hectic winds. After talking to Francesca and Paolo Dante begins to weep as he considers lust the least disgraceful of the sins. However, after their talk Dante can tell the difference between love and lust in that love is a beautiful attraction to a person’s entirety, and lust is a possessive force that leads to sexual desire and one’s demise. After this Dante can identify the wickedness of lust and he begins to understand how lust is wrong. Moreover, as Dante and Virgil ascend deeper into the third circle, they find a Cerberus tormenting a glutton. The souls in this circle are trapped due to their selfishness and icy hearts. As a result, the sinners trapped here are forced to endure incessant icy rain and abhorrent slush accompanied by a putrid never-ending storm of ice. At this level of hell, Dante begins to express sympathy for the avarice as they consumed themselves to death. After seeing the gluttons pay for their sins, our protagonist notices the evil and sinful nature of greediness and overconsuming and as a result, Dante learns self-restraint and the importance of fellowship.
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Furthermore, after making their way to hell’s fourth circle, Dante and Virgil come across sinners who are disciplined for their rapacity for materialistic values and their greed. Those souls who idolized materialistic valuables and resided in their wealth sumptuously in a luxurious manner are forced to joust each other while pushing weights on their chests to exemplify each sinner’s selfishness and relentless drive for wealth during the time that they were alive. As Dante approaches two men eager to converse with him, our hero asks ‘But you! Who are you-with these tears of pure grief I see running down your cheek? And what’s this glittery form of punishment? One of them answered: These gold coats are made of lead so thick, if we were to get on a scale our weight would nearly break it’ (220). Dante can recognize the immense sorrow and melancholic nature of these lost spirits and he can understand they are being punished for bad behavior. After this, Dante realizes he is in hell because of the various sins, he committed during his lifetime and the only way to be saved is to follow God or receive judgment.
In addition, Dante and Virgil find themselves in hell’s fifth circle as they are traveling across the vile waters of the river Styx on a boat as they witness enraged spirits fighting furiously against one another on the surface. Just beneath the surface, our hero sees angry, ill-tempered souls drowning in the depths of the river Styx. In this level of perdition, the raving, irate souls are chastened for their uncontrollable rage. Much like the wrathful yet vengeful spirits in this level, Dante also expressed anger and pent up emotions in his lifetime. It is in the fifth circle that Dante realizes he is like the lost souls of level five in the fact that he cannot control his temper, and he acknowledges the wrong of his actions. After reaching the sixth and seventh circle they discover atheists and heathens who are forever damned to burn in a tomb of blazing fire and murderers who lived a violent life sinking in a ravine of fire and boiling blood. As they continue, they see souls who committed suicide and threw away their bodies turned into vegetation and devoured by harpies, and apostates walking endlessly throughout a shower of scorching rain in a desert of smoldering sand. In these levels of hell, through the suffering of others, Dante realizes the importance of maintaining faith in God and living a life of peacefulness as the dissenters and wrathful are punished.
Also, Dante descends into the eighth circle to see seducers and flatterers, as well as corrupt politicians, and thieves guilty of embezzlement being punished for their deceit. At the beginning of the story, Dante expresses concern and remorse for the tormented souls lost in hell, however, he seems to express pleasure when a corrupt politician has been viciously ripped apart and shredded by dogs. He is no longer characterized by compassion for the lost souls in hell, instead, he begins to feel content as those who turned their back on Christ are disciplined and soon, he now finds compassion in God. While walking along with the burning tombs Dante discovers Ulysses and learns the reason for his torment ‘Ulysses and Diomedes are punished in that one. They’re tormented together since that’s the way they incurred the wrath of God. Inside their flame, they go about ruining the strategy of the wooden horse that opened the door through which Rome’s great founder exited. Within it, they say they’re sorry for their subterfuge, because of which dead Deidamia still mourns Achilles, and they serve time for stealing the sacred Palladium’ (248). After meeting Odysseus and learning of his shortcomings Dante learns the consequences of wanderlust and fraudulent counsel and he disapproves of his sinful actions that led to his demise.
Finally, Dante arrives in the last circle and he sees an icy lake barren of life and furthest removed from the light and warmth of God. He sees sinners convicted of treachery frozen solid and dissenters consumed by the devil himself who is miserable and weeping while blood and spit gush out his mouth from the blasphemers he feasts upon. When describing the devil, Dante states ‘If he used to be as handsome as he is now hideous, and raised his eyebrows in contempt of his creator, one can see how every bit of ire, envy, and despair derives from him. I was astonished to see his head had three faces: He cried from all six eyes while tears and bloody drool dripped from all three chins. In each mouth, he chomped on a sinner, using his teeth like a flax-mallet to keep the three in perpetual pain’ (325). It is through this moment; Dante comes to realize that even the devil himself is at the mercy of God and that not even the devil can escape punishment as he punishes the sinners before him. After this revelation, Dante truly understands the nature of sin and he rejects sin completely instead of feeling pity and sympathizing with the sinners. At this moment Dante achieves salvation by escaping from hell and as a result, he becomes closer to God.
In response to Alighieri’s view of maturation, I believe it is befitting for a character such as Dante to earn his salvation once again after being cast from God’s light. The author’s point is clear that we are responsible for our salvation and to be saved we must understand the true nature of sin and the consequences of living a life of desecration. Much like the main character Dante, our author was once adolescence in Christianity. However, through the revelation of sin and its effects, Dante and our author have found peace and salvation in God. I agree with our author that only through ourselves can we truly achieve peace and happiness and it is through God that we may live a life of bliss and tranquility.
In the end, Dante Alighieri repeats sin throughout each circle of hell to show how Dante matures throughout his vast exciting journey. It is through God and Virgil’s help that Dante can overcome his wrongs and achieves salvation to escape the inferno. As a result of his coming of age, Dante can cleanse the wickedness in his heart and avoid eternal damnation without incurring the wrath of God. Through the nine circles of hell in the inferno, Dante can overcome his wrongdoings during his lifetime and change his perspective on sin to mature as a man and become a devoted follower of Christ.
