Contrapasso In Dante's Inferno

To claim that hell carries out retributive justice is claiming that this is a place where people are being punished for their sins. This sort of justice is not forgiving of the imperfections of humanity and it is implied that the punishment will last eternally. However, restorative justice would mean that hell is a place of purification for the “tainted soul” and allows that soul a second chance at being worthy of God. This

In Dante’s Inferno, Dante thoroughly describes what he believes Hell to be. He lists many sins, along with their punishments and placements in Hell. Strangely enough, Dante does not have a specific circle for idolatry, the worship of idols, or something other than God. This is thought to be strange because idolatry is generally considered a grave sin. One possible explanation of this is that each sin in itself can be viewed as a form of idolatry.

The message in Inferno is that everyone is destined to sin once in their lives, but everyone has a choice of how bad they want their punishment to be. Alighieri outlines this with the use of different sinners in different circles of Hell. For example, the virtuous pagans in circle one never did anything bad against God, they only didn't believe in him, and for that, they only had to be without light. However, in circle 9, there reside the people who betrayed others and made a conscious choice to sin and go against God's words, therefore landing them with the worst punishment. One sinner in this circle is Judas Iscariot, the man who went against Jesus Christ.

Therefore we can conclude, in Dante’s mind at least, that some sins are worse than others as seem by how they are punished in Dante's Inferno. There are, according to Dante, nine levels to Hell and each has a different punishment for different sins. The first layer is Limbo, this is where all virtuous non- christian and all unbaptised

The devil understands the truth, as he knows that every person who rejects the word of God is under his control. You may project yourself differently to the people by giving them the impression that you are a child of God, but your number one enemy knows the truth, Satan knows all your true colours. He knows that every person who rejects Jesus and His word is under his influence, he is part of his kingdom of darkness. You are not part of the kingdom of light because of what you are saying with your own mouth, your heart reveals the true state of your spiritual leaning. If your heart still fights against the word of God, you are still ruled by the devil.

In Dante's inferno, Dante explains how each sin is punished in a certain way. There’s the seven deadly sins which includes: pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed and sloth. There are also other sins such as thieves, liars, and hypocrites. Manipulative people are considered extremely worst of all. Therefore, I think that manipulative acts or crimes are the worst sins that can be committed.

Dante’s Inferno is filled with imagery of suffering, which is oftentimes caused by famous creatures alluded to from mythology or history. In addition, many of the higher circles of Dante’s hell hold enough punishment without the presence of these creatures. Through an analysis of the Cantos populated by beasts and the Cantos that are not, we can speculate on the reasoning for the contrast in punishment. In the earlier Cantos, various beasts and demons populated the lower circles of hell. For instance, characters such as Minos, Cerberus, and Plutus stand at each gate to torment the shades trapped there.

This meant that eventually, all sinners would be punished by God, which could be at any time. Edwards speaks of a wrathfull God, a God who by Puritan standards is considered forgiving for not letting all of humanity fall into the deepest pits of hell. Edwards reminds people that mankind is nothing compared to God and that that all of humankind is guilty and deserves to be punished. This appears similar to Bradstreet’s poem, but there are some

The statement that Dante’s Inferno is the most “immoral and impious book that was ever written” (Pearl) is incorrect because of Dante’s reasoning behind the creation of the Commedia. Dante’s goal is to save the souls of all who have gone “astray/ from the straight road” (I.1-2) and may find themselves in the Dark Wood of Error. Throughout the Inferno, Dante makes several references begging the reader to “understand/ [his] poem and profit from it” (XX.19-20). Dante realizes that his text brings together “striking odors, filth, excrement, blood, mutilated bodies, agonizing shrieks, [and] mythical monsters of punishment” (Pearl), but Dante must include these references in order for the reader to experience all, just as Dante does to save his.

The corollary of this doctrine of Augustine is that anyone who is not baptized or exonerated before he dies will directly go to hell. Augustine insists that mankind cannot be good in itself because all good deeds are caused by the grace of God. At the same time, he wants to insist that human beings must be self-blame for their evil because all the evil behavior is caused by human own will. Will is internal, so human have to be responsible for their