In the Inferno, Dante uses many examples to demonstrate the theme of justice. Dante starts at the Gate of Hell and will eventually find his way down to circle nine. The circles are organized according to the gravity of the sin involved. The worse the sinner, the farther down into Hell they will fall. God created Hell as a place to put sinners because they do not deserve his love.
Out of all the terrible sins to commit, one sin will always be the worst of all, and that’s the sinners who commit violence towards others. These people are purposely placed in the first ring of the seventh circle of hell to symbolize that their sins are the harshest of all and they are to be punished first. The first ring has the sinners immersed in Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood and fire. How deep one is immersed is dependent on how violent they were to humans or how many people they damaged or killed. For example Dante first pass those submerged up to their eyebrows (“Some stood up to their lashes in that torrent”) for their sins, “These were the kings of bloodshed and despoilment.
AP Literature Research Paper of Dante’s Inferno By Brian McCaughey In the book Inferno by Dante Alighieri, the main character is led by the spirit Virgil through the nine layers of Hell. During this journey, Dante encounters many sinners that have been condemned to Hell for sins ranging from being unbaptized (layer 1) to treachery against man and country (layer 9), with each layer being more torturous than the previous. Many characters from a range of novels can be categorized into at least one of the layers of Hell based on whatever sin they committed. One character that could be condemned to Hell is George Wilson from The Great Gatsby. He was responsible for not only the murder of Jay Gatsby but also his own suicide.
When looking at the Devil during the Middle Ages I think it is important to differentiate between two roles that, I personally, have been able to identify over the course of my investigation. Firstly the Devil’s symbolic role as an individual creature responsible for torturing and supervising the condemned in Hell. And secondly the more realistic appearance of multiple devils that all aim to spoil or possess one’s soul through temptation etc. One can ask: Was he punisher or tempter? – I believe he was both.
Dante’s Inferno is one of the three parts of his Divine Comedy. The Inferno is divided into thirty-four cantos, each containing a description of a specific region of hell. Sinners in each area are punished for different sins. Sinners of lust suffer in upper hell, sinners of violence in middle hell, and the sinners of fraud in the lowest part of hell. The sufferings of these people are portrayed through Dante’s eyes as he descends lower and lower into hell with Virgil, his helper.
All of the previously stated features can be found in “Ethan Brand” and “Young Goodman Brown”. These two stories both deal with the uncomfortable idea that mankind itself is evil at the core, that no matter who you may be, or how good of a person you are you still harbor evil and sin within your heart. Whether you chose to accept the fact is up to you. The characters of “Young Goodman Brown” attempt to hide the evil within them. They lead lives based on lies and are soon exposed for the sinners that they really are.
Sixth circle (X): The Heretics. Are placed into opened tombs. 1) The Structure of hell (still in the sixth circle) is the physical and moral division of hell. Three categories: Incontinence, violence, fraud. C. Seventh circle (XII) – (first ring) Violent against others.
Deliberately using human reason to corrupt others leads to betrayal, condemnation, and silence. Dante Alighieri uses his Divine Comedie, The Inferno, to portray the sins man commits in life and the punishments man deserves. In the early circles of Hell, the persons damned are able to speak and express emotions. Cantos four through eight contain sinners who threatened social order and could not control their desires. Dante expresses his opinion of sins when he places the lustful, the avarice-filled, and the panderers in upper Hell.
The anti-trinity In the epic of Beowulf, Grendel is presented as a coward, a monster, and an insensitive character. According to the story, Grendel was referred to as "spawned in that slime,” a biblical allusion to the story of Cain and Abel. Grendel was born as a monster into exile; his life was cursed because he was a distant offspring of Cain. According to the Bible, all of Cain’s decedents were punished by God because of Cain’s sin. Despite Grendel’s evil motives, he is determined to be the best and overcome any obstacle that interferes in his way.
Golding uses characterisation to show that evil is inherent in all of human kind. Golding depicts the two main characters of Jack and Ralph as the main examples of this theme. As the story unfolds, Golding reveals Jack to be selfish, violent and corrupt, this quote shows these qualities; "…bolting look came into his blue eyes. He took a step, and able at last to hit someone, stuck his fist into Piggy's stomach" (Golding pp.75). Also, the description of Jack towards the end of the book reveals how dishonest, aggressive and monstrous Jack has become.