Much of Inferno juxtaposes the "lives" of the living and the dead. The levels of Hell signify both a warning and an enlightenment for Dante the pilgrim. During the pilgrim’s travels through the nine circles of Hell, the author Dante creates a realm where sinners are punished in a way that mirrors their worst, unrepented sin. While discussing this topic in class, I wondered if there was a religious text that suggested that this form of Hell had been proposed before. The closest I could encounter was from Galatians 6:7, “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.” However, this quote does not specify when the individual will reap what they sow; therefore, it seems as though this very unique conceptualization of Hell came from Dante himself. Throughout Inferno, Dante repeatedly drives home the point of eternal misery. He does this almost to the point of being comedic; in one case, the one who rejected Christ’s resurrection is condemned to resurrect for the rest of eternity. Though this may seem sadistic, Dante is trying to communicate the existence of a truly just God through this version of Hell.
Those residing in the inferno have been punished on two levels: the evilness of the sin and what the reality of the sin was. By this, I mean those who are guilty of “greater” sins suffer more than those whose sins were in a sense “lighter”; in other words, those who have taken a more active stance against God suffer greater consequences. The unbaptized of Circle One are simply, yet harshly removed from God without hope of being brought closer. Through a modern lens, this probably seems much harsher than it did in the fourteenth century; during discussion, Mary even mentioned this idea while pointing out that the punishments seem to make more sense as the reader goes deeper into the circles. Still, I do not believe many people would be willing to explicitly say that those who have not been baptized are going to hell regardless of whether or not they were a good person. This form of punishment most likely made much more sense in Dante’s time. Nevertheless, this condemnation is obviously less harsh than those in the lower circles of Hell. For example, in one of the lowest circles, those who were “false prophets” and tried to foresee the future were punished through tears that rendered them incapable of seeing at all. Here, the reader can also see how the punishments reflect the reality of the sin itself. Dante the poet, through Virgil, discusses the fairness of the punishment of those condemned in Canto II when discussing those who did not out-rightly offend God but chose not to praise him either, “Heaven casts them out, and depth of Hell does not receive them” (Dante, Inferno Canto II, Line 41-42). In accordance with Dante’s conceptualization of Hell, those in the inferno also signify the existence of a just, but harsh God.
For most, this idea of a harsh God is tough to swallow. How could a forgiving and compassionate God deny anyone eternal happiness. But then again, how could evil exist in a world that God supposedly created?
As you mentioned, Dante attempts to portray a just God who hands out punishments according to the severity of the sin. However, there are still many variables that Dante does not consider or specifically address. For example, how are sins balanced out by good deeds? Would Robin Hood reside in hell for stealing from the rich even though he later gives all that money to the poor, and if so would he reside in Dis or the upper level of hell. Also, how does the frequency of the sin justly punished by God? Do people who have stolen one time in their life receive the same repeated punishments as those that stole daily? Additionally how does intention factor into God's view of sins.
ReplyDeleteI also like how you mentioned how sins and hell are now viewed far differently today than they were during the Middle Ages when Dante was living. In the present I think that people would be much more compassionate regarding the punishment of sinners and their placement of hell in the first place. This is especially true regarding all of those who reside in hell simply because they were born before anyone knew God existed. The people that reside in the deepest part of hell, Brutus, Judas, and Cassius would probably be vastly changed today. During the Middle Ages people viewed Rome as a "golden age" and judged Brutus and Cassius far more harshly than we would today. Presently people would consider individuals such as Hitler and Stalin as far more evil.