What Are The Three Major Sins In Dante's Inferno

Then, Othello’s jealousy leads him to smother Desdemona because she was “false with Cassio” (Shakespeare 767). After Emilia outed Iago, he pierced her with a knife, killing her. Lastly, Othello knifed himself. All of these deaths occurred because two men were desirous of things other people had. These acts exhibit the abominable effects jealousy can have on people’s

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.

Penelope however is put under scrutiny by her own son Telemachus when he tells Odysseus about the suitors who have been seeking her hand in marriage (Cliffnotes, 2016). Telemachus plants the seed of doubt in Odysseus mind whether or not Penelope is a faithful women. Odysseus kills all the maids who he believed betrayed him by sleeping with the suitors, this is another example of how prevalent sexual infidelity is in the Odyssey (Homer, 1967:22.213). Odysseus once again shows signs of sexual infidelity when he sleeps with the goddess Circe in order for her to return his men back to their human form as she had turned them into pigs (Homer,

I, 82-84). Dante uses powerful, graphic imagery to depict punishment and sin reveales behaviorally, the true nature of the sin of violence. The punishment is relentless, the reasonaing and moral rules are due to entity defined by human. In that Aligeri is responsible for not only punishment, but the qualities that deem them wrong. No punishment too specific, the tormented scrape and stab any prisoner they see.

The question then becomes is there a way to rate sin? is one sin worse than another? Or is all sin the same? In Dante’s inferno there is a resonating yes to some sin one sin being worse or more deserving of punishment. 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.

These condemned lustful souls suffer there judgment by spending eternity in a whirlwind (110-111). One of the souls catches Dante’s attention so he speaks with her, readers learn a few things about the nature of lust, sin, the need to repent, and eternal judgment. First, lust and deception are close companions, when Francesca explains her story she refuses to take responsibility for her actions, “ One day we read…of Lancelot, of how he fell in love…”(113). Secondly, Francesca’s spiritual blindness prevents her from repenting, therefore, she must spend eternity in hell for her sins forever attached to her lover as a constant reminder of the moment they were exposed and killed for their lustful passion(119). After hearing her story and seeing her torment, Dante becomes overwhelmed to the point of fainting.

Thus, the female characters within the poem represent two distinct roles of women: either as pure and holy beings, or as sinful beings. Dante allows Francesca to commit a sin in real-life; she does not take the responsibility for her desire; and Dante’s attitudes reveal why Francesca is in Hell, while Beatrice is in Paradiso. Francesca di Rimini and Paolo Malatesta are in the second circle of Hell, where the lustful sinners are punished. Francesca had an affair with her husband’s brother; two of them were innocently reading a romantic story – Lancelot, and swept up with romantic passion. Consequently, they are being punished together in Hell.

In Chaucer’s, “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” we as readers get to experience the story of a Knight’s journey to find the answer to the question: What is it that every woman desires? The Knight is given the task by the queen with permission from her husband. This story is told by the Wife of Bath who is introduced to us in “The General Prologue” by Chaucer. In the prologue we get insight as to who the Wife of Bath is by her experiences as a woman who has been married five times and how she wants authority over her husbands. Throughout the story of “The Wife of Bath’s Tale” we see the recurring theme of power; whether it is women’s power over their husbands, the old woman’s power over the knight, or the handing over of power to man.

The ‘contrapasso’ in accordance with Dante’s Inferno is a process, “either resembling or contrasting with the sin itself” (Musa 37-38). The disenabling of the soul to enjoy the good that it had once rejected is evident as a result of the contrapasso for the soul has no room to grow therefore remains stagnant from the consequences of the choices made on earth (Sayers, Dante The Divine Comedy 1: Hell 120). This mere description of a damned soul’s fate already paints a distasteful picture of the nature of Hell

And yet again, we could see that each punishment reflects the type of sin that has made in their lives. In there, Dante passes by politicians from Florence who confiscated Dante’s possessions after he was exiled from Florence. The sixth circle of Hell is “Hersey”, which is a place reserved for those who have ideas that contradicts Christianity. Their punishment is to spend an eternity in a flaming tombs. And just like the other circles Dante sees some familiar faces or notable historical figures like Emperor Frederick the second and an ancient Greek philosopher called