Dante, in the Inferno, gives us a visual imagination of hell while teaching us the meaning of justice. He illustrates how the sin you commit during your lifetime, will prefigure your punishment in hell. We don’t only see this in the story, we also see this now; however, we perceive it as karma. If you do something bad, it will eventually come back at you. Dante goes through this journey to give us an illustration of the different sinners in hell and what their punishment is. Dante is halfway through his lifetime when he goes in this journey, he goes at this point of his life so that he learns something from it. When Dante enters hell, he sees some inscriptions above the gate that say, “Justice it was that moved my great creator; divine omnipotence
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Dante walks us through this journey for us to compare the sins that the sinners have committed and the justice that god has given them. In Canto V, we meet the sinners whose sin is luster. These are people who have uncontrolled sexual desire. “I saw approaching, crying their laments, spirits carried along by the battling winds” (Alighieri 407). These people were dammed in a swirl of winds as their punishment for committing the sin of luster. They sin these people have committed, somewhat resembles the punishment they are receiving in hell. Dante uses contrapasso throughout the whole story; contrapasso is the idea that sinners would be punished in hell somewhat similar or in a way that resembles the sin they have committed on earth. In Canto XXIII, Dante and the Virgil meet the hypocrites. Dante says, “and now, down there, we found painted people, slow motioned; step by step, they walked their round in tears, and screaming wasted by fatigue” (Alighieri 469). Being a hypocrite means to pretend to be someone who you are not. These sinners were walking too fast by trying to be someone they are not. One of their torture is to wear lead capes which form them to walk slowly. The sin that these people committed is very similar to the punishment that they receiving in
Dante walks us through this journey for us to compare the sins that the sinners have committed and the justice that god has given them. In Canto V, we meet the sinners whose sin is luster. These are people who have uncontrolled sexual desire. “I saw approaching, crying their laments, spirits carried along by the battling winds” (Alighieri 407). These people were dammed in a swirl of winds as their punishment for committing the sin of luster. They sin these people have committed, somewhat resembles the punishment they are receiving in hell. Dante uses contrapasso throughout the whole story; contrapasso is the idea that sinners would be punished in hell somewhat similar or in a way that resembles the sin they have committed on earth. In Canto XXIII, Dante and the Virgil meet the hypocrites. Dante says, “and now, down there, we found painted people, slow motioned; step by step, they walked their round in tears, and screaming wasted by fatigue” (Alighieri 469). Being a hypocrite means to pretend to be someone who you are not. These sinners were walking too fast by trying to be someone they are not. One of their torture is to wear lead capes which form them to walk slowly. The sin that these people committed is very similar to the punishment that they receiving in