Into the Depths of Hell
(A description of the ways Hell can be an incentive to be better and to do good and how some people will never learn from their actions as seen in Dante’s Inferno.)
Almost every person believes in something that comes after they die. They believe it is out there and for most they think of Heaven waiting for them. They want to believe that all they have to worry about is Heaven, but tend to believe they are not destined to spend time in Hell. Humans want to believe they are better than they are and don’t deserve punishment, but Hell is a way to teach people to be the best that they can. Hell is a way to control the people around them. Blow described how people have lost sight of what sin means. We live in an age which …show more content…
Sins are meant to punishable. There are people in the world, who believe that if they aren’t caught, then there will be no punishments. However, the idea of Hell creates a situation where people who sin and don’t get caught, will still be punished in the afterlife. Harper Lee says it best, “People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.” (Lee) During life, these people don’t want to see that what they are doing is wrong. They want to believe they can do what they want. They see what they want to see, but Dante gives a journey that you can’t quite. They have to live a good life. In one of the scenes with in the Inferno it described a situation where people, during their lifetime, made others do what they didn’t want to. “And everywhere along the hideous track I saw horned demons with enormous lashes move through those souls, scourging them on the back.” (pg. 159) These souls were forced to do what they didn’t want to throughout the rest of hell. These actions were things that others didn’t always realize, but it was the truth. They could have gotten away with it, until the day they died. In the end they gave up the option to change their life. “It is true that there are souls who have so fallen under the dominion of their bosom sins, whatever their nature, that they have lost their power of resisting them and lie beneath them like brute beasts with no free will left to them.” …show more content…
For most people the idea of Hell includes pain, but they believed they will still have their body. In the Inferno Dante describes a level, which makes people different. He changes the body to enact the punishment. “When I looked down at their faces, I saw that each of them were hideously distorted between the top of the chest and the lines of the jaw.” (pg. 175) They had been seers while they were alive. These were people who saw the future and in hell were forced to look behind them. They might have been good men, but tried to predict something that wasn’t theirs to predict. JRR Tolkein says, “Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.” (Tolkein) There will be people who deserve their punishment, but there will be others that did their sin for good, but are still punished. Sin, no matter how small or for what means, is still a sin. Individuals cannot justify what they do and, that is why the punishment should fit the
(A description of the ways Hell can be an incentive to be better and to do good and how some people will never learn from their actions as seen in Dante’s Inferno.)
Almost every person believes in something that comes after they die. They believe it is out there and for most they think of Heaven waiting for them. They want to believe that all they have to worry about is Heaven, but tend to believe they are not destined to spend time in Hell. Humans want to believe they are better than they are and don’t deserve punishment, but Hell is a way to teach people to be the best that they can. Hell is a way to control the people around them. Blow described how people have lost sight of what sin means. We live in an age which …show more content…
Sins are meant to punishable. There are people in the world, who believe that if they aren’t caught, then there will be no punishments. However, the idea of Hell creates a situation where people who sin and don’t get caught, will still be punished in the afterlife. Harper Lee says it best, “People generally see what they look for, and hear what they listen for.” (Lee) During life, these people don’t want to see that what they are doing is wrong. They want to believe they can do what they want. They see what they want to see, but Dante gives a journey that you can’t quite. They have to live a good life. In one of the scenes with in the Inferno it described a situation where people, during their lifetime, made others do what they didn’t want to. “And everywhere along the hideous track I saw horned demons with enormous lashes move through those souls, scourging them on the back.” (pg. 159) These souls were forced to do what they didn’t want to throughout the rest of hell. These actions were things that others didn’t always realize, but it was the truth. They could have gotten away with it, until the day they died. In the end they gave up the option to change their life. “It is true that there are souls who have so fallen under the dominion of their bosom sins, whatever their nature, that they have lost their power of resisting them and lie beneath them like brute beasts with no free will left to them.” …show more content…
For most people the idea of Hell includes pain, but they believed they will still have their body. In the Inferno Dante describes a level, which makes people different. He changes the body to enact the punishment. “When I looked down at their faces, I saw that each of them were hideously distorted between the top of the chest and the lines of the jaw.” (pg. 175) They had been seers while they were alive. These were people who saw the future and in hell were forced to look behind them. They might have been good men, but tried to predict something that wasn’t theirs to predict. JRR Tolkein says, “Deserves it! I daresay he does. Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.” (Tolkein) There will be people who deserve their punishment, but there will be others that did their sin for good, but are still punished. Sin, no matter how small or for what means, is still a sin. Individuals cannot justify what they do and, that is why the punishment should fit the