The Inferno is an allegory to Dante’s journey through life towards salvation. It is a story full of symbolisms, from the start to the very end.
The story opens with Dante accompanied by Virgil as they journey through hell. There they meet Charon, the ferryman, at the gates. The symbolisms in the story help present Dante’s ideas in a more convincing and artful way. In “The Inferno” Dante maintains that malice is the root of all evil or sins.
We can see this explicitly explained In Canto 11, page 998. This is the point where Virgil begins to explain how one sin can be called by many different names according to what caused the sinner to sin. This is in consonance with Dante’s view of the main problem with sin. All sins corrupt the will and mind of the sinner and leads to other sins. Therefore sin is emotion overpowering will and reason. When Dante says, “Malice is the sin most hated by God” (about line 23), he is referring not just to the souls found in this place, but to any sin at or below this level. In short, malice is the root cause for violence and fraud. It is the venom from which the action stems.
This theory is not necessarily similar to how the modern man views sin. We are more inclined to believe that sin stems from various reasons with malice being just one of them. Malice is not the core of evil. For instance, a guy involve in a pyramid scheme is motivated by greed or selfish desires more than malice. His focus is himself and what he wants not others. Dante disagrees with this view by pointing out that malice in this instance still exists and is a primary motive because the sinner’s intention to rob other’s wealth is stronger than his desire to acquire wealth for his use. Therefore, by desiring to deprive others of wealth makes malice the core of his actions.
Malice is blamed for man’s failures. And the damned souls in Dante’s The Inferno are grouped according to the degree of malice with which they committed sin. The symbolisms help Dante’s “The Inferno” presents his ideas on the startling reality in a creative way:
Charon the Ferryman of the Dead from Canto 3 (lines 81-4, bottom of page 977). “‘Woe to you depraved souls! Bury/here and forever all hope of Paradise:/I come to lead you to the other shore,/into eternal dark, into fire and ice.’” This symbolism refers to the nature of sin itself and not to any specific sins. Sin separates us from other people. Fire and ice are the effects of sin which could cause anger or being ostracized.
A peculiar detail of Charon’s appearance: “The steersman…wore a wheel of flame around each eye” (about line 95, top of page 978). Flame symbolizes intense feelings or being in a state of hell.
About line 127: “most of the souls of the damned in twilight”. “Souls of the damned in twilight” means that though they exist their souls are really empty. Being punished and doing the same thing over and over again
The lines about the Gluttons – page 988, about lines 35-8: “We made our way across the sodden mess / of souls the rain beat down, and when our steps / fell on a body, they sank through emptiness. / All those illusions of being seemed to lie / drowned in the slush.” These lines pertain to the facts that people who are the “fattest” are the least substantial which means appearances can be deceiving. Substance is found within the person not on the appearance.
Canto 11, page 998: Virgil explains how one sin can be called by many different names according to what caused the sinner to sin. This is in consonance with his view of the main problem with sin. All sins corrupt the will and mind of the sinner and leads to other sins. When Dante says, “Malice is the sin most hated by God” (about line 23), he is referring not just to the souls found in this place, but to any sin at or below this level. In short, malice is the cause for violence and fraud.
This theory is not necessarily similar to the modern view. Some people’s actions do not stem from malice. For instance, a guy involve in a pyramid scheme is motivated by greed more than malice. His focus is himself and what he wants not others. Dante disagrees with this view by saying that malice in this instance still exists and is a primary motive because the sinner’s intention to rob other’s wealth is stronger than his desire to acquire wealth for his use. Therefore, by desiring to deprive others of wealth makes malice the core of his actions.
Tyrants and Murderers of Canto 12 as Dante depicts them are a washed in a river of boiling blood guarded by the mythical creatures Centaurs. The souls in this place commit murder due to malice, not because of a desire for personal gain. Or, in another way, it can be said that all desire for personal gain is malice toward others.
An interesting comment made by one of the Centaurs, Chiron to other centaurs (page 1003 about lines 80-3) as he sees Dante goes, “Have you noticed/how the one who walks behind moves what he touches? That is not how the dead go.” The symbol of this line pertains to the capacity of the living to influence everything about him. The dead sensing life is moved towards it.
The Harpies lines 13-15 of Canto 13 are the perfect creatures to guard and torture the suicides in the Wood of Suicides. This is because the Harpies represent the attitude that causes people to commit suicide. The physical traits of the Harpies symbolize his attitude. “Wide wings” symbolize an overpowering sense of sadness. “Clawed feet” suggest danger or a fearful grip. “Huge bellies” suggest laziness or the lack of will to do things.
The creatures of Cantos 13 & 14 -Suicides, Blasphemers, Sodomites, and Usurers-are not people condemned at all in modern society, but Dante finds them loathsome as attested by the place he assigns them. The most famous people in Cocytus are Count Ugolino and Archbishop Ruggieri, whose gruesome story makes up Canto 33.
Historical accounts inform us that Ugolino was captured and put to death by Ruggieri. The manner with which he perished was so cruel that Dante deemed it best to tell the world the tragic story.
Ugolino was imprisoned for several months with his four young sons. One day, the doors of the tower were nailed shut. And all four of his sons died due to extreme hunger. In hell, Ugolino is eating and gnawing at Ruggeri’s flesh. This punishment is in consonance with “little Anselmo’s” request to his father: “Thou didst clothe us with this wretched flesh, and it would be less painful if you eat of us.” Ugolino cannot abide by his son’s request and eat their flesh. As he sees each child die one by one he was quoted to have said, “starvation did what grieving could not do.” Ugolino died. In Hell, he was punished by savagely feasting on Ruggieri’s flesh for eternity.
Ugolino when he was alive betrayed his own party to Ruggieri. Hence, the punishment meted to him in hell. In hell, Ugolino was presented as the victim of Ruggieri. He is both the target of divine justice and the instrument of it, when he punishes Ruggieri.
In Canto 34, the souls of those who betrayed their masters at the bottom of hell – Judas, Brutus, Cassius. They are they frozen in twisted postures to represent the sins they committed which is the ultimate sin of malice.
The image of Satan is quite a surprise. He is depicted to have three faces, which symbolizes the distortion of the Holy Trinity. Dante says that Satan looks ugly despite the fact the he was once an angel, beautiful to look at. Satan seems less powerful than the usual ideas woven about him. He is depicted as dumb and roaring, trapped in the ice, punished just like the other sinners.
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