The Biblical Description Of Hell In Dante's Inferno

“They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Many people have heard these words uttered from Jesus himself in Matthew 13:42, however many different depictions of hell have been asserted. In Dante’s Inferno he travels through the depths of Hell and describes what exactly it will look like and feel like and ultimately be like. However is this depiction actually accurate? In multiple areas Dante’s inferno seems to build off the biblical description of hell, but it lacks pure facts, and remains to be a fictional story, because of Dante’s lack of understanding of the Bible and his heavy roman catholic influence (Trotter). Furthermore, there are multiple similarities between the two predictions, …show more content…
Hell is not seen as a place of happy and comfortable people, instead as eternal torment. Dante shows this pain through multiple stages of hell. People are in constant torment, but on different levels, whether it’s being blown back and forth by a dangerous storm in the second circle or becoming a tree that is constantly being torn apart in the middle ring of the second circle (Ciardi). Everyone in Dante’s Hell has some sort of torment. In the Bible it is very brief on the type of torment, but it does say it will be terrible in verses like Mark 9:48, Revelation 14:10, and Matthew 13:50 that all show it 's horrifying torment (BibleGateway). Also in Revelation 20:14 it is described as the second death, which isn’t very comforting. When it comes to Hell, pain is a given, there is no way around it. Another similarity, which may not be such a given is who resides in Hell. At the end of Dante’s book and the bottom of Hell, Satan lives there, and is seen chewing on Judas, almost peacefully. Furthermore, demons and mythical creatures like the minotaurs are also seen dwelling in Hell torturing people to no end (Ciardi). In the Bible it speaks of the Devil and his Demons finding their punishment and torment in the fiery pits of Hell. Although this is a different kind of dwelling in Hell it is the same in the idea that they are in Hell forever as well at the end of times. Revelation 20:10 is also an example of where God says satan will be in the end of time. As for right now though 1st Peter 5:8 describe Satan to be roaming among the Earth. So the devil and his demons are not in hell at this moment, but will be (BibleGateway). When comparing the Bible and Dante’s inferno there is a lot of overlap and similarities as shown, but more differences than