Dante’s vision of Hell is incredibly structured, with levels and sublevels dictating certain punishments for certain sins. The least of the sins is being unbaptized; pagan; or being virtuous, but before Christianity arose. This circle is called Limbo, and it is like Heaven, only slightly less glamorous. The worst of the sins is betrayal and treachery, and these sinners are trapped in the Ninth Circle of Hell, called Treachery. The worst sinner according to Dante is Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus.
Dante attempts to make each punishment match the severity of the sin. Limbo, therefore, is not really a punishment, while Treachery, where people are trapped in a frozen lake, is a punishment. There is usually a metaphorical connection to the punishment. For example, the lustful are constantly being blown around by winds that represent their amorous restlessness, and the cold
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Homosexuals have been condemned by various religious institutions for all of recorded history, and has been continuously listed as a sin in many Christian denominations since the founding of Christianity, but it is almost always listed as a sin against nature. These people condemn homosexuality as an act of violence against nature, and it would thus make sense to place homosexuals not in the Second Circle, but in the Seventh Circle, Violence. This shows his leniency towards homosexuals, even if he does place them in Hell. This would have been highly progressive in the Middle Ages--and, for some Christian denominations today, it still would be progressive. Though it lists a hierarchy of those condemned to Hell, Dante’s Inferno shows how he was more lenient than many of his contemporaries, both in his ranking of sins, and his placement of sins in different Circles of Hell. While he still would not be progressive today, this would have been radical in the Middle Ages, when he