Wages of Sin Revealed in The Divine Comedy :: Divine Comedy Inferno Essays

Wages of Sin Revealed in The Divine Comedy In his poem The Divine Comedy. The Inferno, Dante Alighieri gives his audience a clear vivid presentation of what he as a follower of the Christian religion perceives to be hell. Dante shows that human sin is punishable in miscellaneous degrees of severity and that this is dependent on the nature of ones sinful actions. He sets forth what could very well be the most fully developed Christian cause of justice on earth, and that is that what we do as human beings go forth determine what happens to us in the event of death based on Gods judgment. In paper his poem Dante uses symbolism, allegorism and imagery among other literary effects to place his poem analogically to life as it was during his day and age. Dante structures The Inferno around thirty four cantos. individually of these cantos marks a steady progression from the mildest to the worst of sins. The cantos depict sinners under various forms of punishment which are commensur ate to the nature of their sins. Dante categorizes sin into three unlike categories of fraud, incontinence and violence. In canto I he mentions three animals namely , a leopard, a lion and a she-wolf. These animals act as symbolisms for the various types of sins. The sins depicted in canto XVIII are symbolized by the she-wolf which acts as a symbol for the sins of fraud. The sins of fraud are placed the furthest from God in the deepest pits of hell, scrawny Satan. In canto XVIII Dante and his guide Virgil find themselves in the eighth circle, called the Malebolge. It is in the Malebolge, that each of the kinds of simple fraud are punished in the concentric ditches. In the first ditch, Dante sees two files of naked sinners each running in opposite direction, whipped by demons. These sinners are the panderers and the seducers. Dante recognizes Venedico Caccianemico, a man he once knew. Venedico in this aspect is depicted as having sold his sister, Ghisola to serve the will and l ust of another man, Marquis. Dante at this point uses a fellow contemporary to show what happens when one goes against the will of God and sins. Venedico betrays his family ties and his indifference in this act results in his eternal punishment of being whipped by demons.