Dante's Inferno 14th Canto Essay

The fourteenth canto in Dante’s Inferno, is a description of Dante the pilgrim and Virgil the guide, journeying into the third pouch of the seventh circle of Hell. The seventh circle is made up of sinners who are violent in various fashions. Depending on the pouch in which one is placed, the sinner is either convicted of violence towards oneself, other people and nature, or towards God. The third pouch, the primary focus of this canto, is for the punishment of those who possess a bellicose persona and overall deglorifying attitude towards the Lord. The punishment in this pouch is fire raining down for eternity. The blasphemers’ fiery fate here could be alluded to that of the biblically immoral cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. This fire rain is not like flying ash like many on earth have experienced, but it is actually fire, engulfing and igniting bodies of the dead and the ground beneath. Those who are subjects to this particular punishment have several bodily positions that are described. Some are standing up and moving around, some who are in a squatting position, crouched nearer to the ground, and then those who are lying down, completely exposed to the hellacious elements that spring from this torture. The ones lying down are the main focus of this canto; they are in the most …show more content…
13ff) Though Dante is just visiting Hell, he can still feel the power of sin and the distance from God and his mercy, it is a very prevalent and burdensome weight on him. Shortly after arriving in the circle of the violent, Dante encounters a giant man named Capaneus who is lying on his back, staring up at the dark void where heaven should be. Instead of finding hope and peace when looking up to the heavens, this giant expresses rage and hatred towards the Lord, forever blaspheming Him and forever distancing himself from his Maker, further invoking his