Symbolic retribution in Dante’s inferno
Dante’s “Inferno” describes the various parts of hell. The comedy is a personal narrative of the author’s journey to heaven through hell, where he describes the various events he observed in his journey and the different placed he passed through. The masterpiece symbolizes hell, where according to religious teachings, is a place where souls go to be punished based on the sins they committed when on earth. According to Dante, everyone is bound to account for their actions on earth were those individuals who did good and pleased God will be taken to heaven where they will merry for eternity. At the same time, those individuals who sinned will be judged based on their sins and taken to hell to be tormented for eternity. The narrative by Dante provides symbolic retribution where his journey symbolizes hell’s different sections and where the gravity of the punishment that souls are subjected to is based on the nature of the crimes they committed during their lives.
Various discussions have been made based on the way Dante represents the multiple aspects of his masterpiece. Different scholars have taken varied views on the structure of the epic and how the various elements are presented to the readers. According to Kameen, the inferno utilizes a rule called “contrapasso, ” which is applied to hell and states that for every sinner’s crime, there is a fitting and equal punishment. The punishments are considered to be simple and obvious. The punishments used are said to be metaphoric and not literary related to the sins committed by the respective sinners. According to the information provided by the narrative, the crimes are as many as the sinners. Therefore, the various punishments are developed using the divine retribution, which is based on the biblical law of retaliation. This aspect shows how Dante believes in the Christian religious teachings which guide the different sins associated with different characters in the masterpiece.
According to Dante, the “inferno” defines a universe where evil and sin are always bound to self-destruction. In this case, Dante uses his theological perspective of justice through the utilization of literary inversion, where he reverses the unjust rewards of sin and attaches it to a symbolic punishment to the different crimes committed. Dante believes that the creation of hell is meant to provide justice in the face of injustice. Also, he believes that hell is created through the use of divine power, wisdom, and love, where the system of justice. The torments in the inferno are range from the place of “primal love” and the highest level of wisdom, as depicted through the various forms of punishments associated with the different sections of the inferno.
The different characters used in Dante’s “inferno” show the applicability of the justice system portrayed in the masterpiece, where the various forms of torments are based on the nature of the sins they committed when they lived. This aspect is represented in the different sections of hell, where Dante meets the different individuals he interacts with through his journey to heaven through the inferno. For example, Francesca da Rimini is associated with being lustful in her life, where she was involved in a sensual affair with her husband’s brother. According to Dante’s justice system, lustful sins are punished in the second circle of hell, where the sinners are doomed to be whipped out by cyclones of winds for eternity. Another character used in the inferno is Guido da Montefeltro, who is confined in the eight trenches of the eighth circle of hell. This section is where individuals who committed the sins of fraud to humanity. Such sinners are submerged in boiling pitch where they are tormented. Another character used is Pier Delle Vigne. This character is associated with committing suicide after his reputation was ruined. Vigne was the secretary of Emperor Fredrick II. Individuals related to brutality towards others or themselves are punished in this circle. Those who commit suicide are transformed into warped trees that are covered in thorns. The trees are then tormented by harpies, which are mythical creatures that have a body of a bird with the head of a woman.
If Dante’s poem were developed in 2019, Amber Guyger would be the next victim to be tormented in the inferno. Guyger was charged with the murder of Botham Jean, who she mistakenly murdered in an apartment in Dallas. Based on Dante’s justice system, Guyger would be taken in the seventh circle of hell, where individuals of violence are charged. In this circle, Guyger would be placed in the first section of the seventh circle, where individuals who have undertaken violence against their neighbors are tormented. In this section, the soul of Guyger would be submerged in boiling blood to be tortured. If his soul happened to rise above the boiling blood, she would be shot by the centaurs, which are guarding the river to ensure that the individuals in this section do not avoid the punishment.