Analysis of the Circles of Hell in Dante's Inferno

Analysis of the Circles of Hell in Dante’s Inferno

 
In Dante’s Inferno, written in the 14th century, Dante Alighieri details his vision of hell as he takes a guided tour through its nine circles. His guide is the famous Greek poet, Virgil. Dante envisions hell to be in the shape of a funnel, created from descending rings. The souls of those who have sinned in life are gathered in specific rings to be punished. The larger, outer rings hold those whose sins were thought to be less severe. As Dante is led deeper into the center of hell, the sinner’s deeds are worse, as are the punishments.

Dante’s Inferno was written as an epic poem and was divided into cantos. From his introduction where he explains that he one day woke in a dark forest at the edge of hell, each canto brings him closer and closer to the center of hell. Along the way Dante’s guide and some of the sinners themselves explain what they have done to have been sentenced to hell.

Before entering into the first circle of hell, Dante sees a large group of suffering souls. These souls are rejected by heaven but also ignored by hell because they never accepted God. They spend eternity chasing a banner and continuously being stung by gadflies and hornets.

First Circle of Hell (Canto IV)

The first river of hell, Acheron must be crossed to enter the first circle of hell. To cross this body of water, Dante and Virgil must take a boat ride with the demon Charon. In this outer most ring, the first circle of hell holds those in Limbo. Souls that are limbo are those that were born before the coming of Jesus Christ or were never baptized. Their punishment is merely the constant ache of being without God’s love. “Lost are we and are only so far punished. That without hope we live on in desire.”

Second Circle of Hell (Canto V)

Before the second circle of hell sinners line up to be judged by the giant beast Minos. Minos wraps his long tail around the sinner as many times as the circle he sends them down to for punishment.  “There standeth Minos Horrible, and snarles; Examines the transgressions at the entrance; Judges, and sends according as he girds him.”

Beyond Minos the souls of the second circle of hell are those that are guilty of Lustfulness.  These sinners are tossed forever through the sky by hurricane like winds. They will forever be tormented by these winds. “The infernal hurricane that never rests. Hurls the spirits onward in its rapine.

Third Circle of Hell (Canto VI)

Those that were Gluttonous in life are punished in the third circle of hell. These sinners lay in mud. From the sky, a constant rain, hail and snow falls on them. They continually turn over in an attempt to keep at least a small portion of themselves out of the filth. “Howl the rain maketh them like unto dogs; One side they make a shelter for the other; Oft turns themselves the wretched reprobates.”

Fourth Circle of Hell (Canto VII)

In the fourth circle of hell, Dante finds two types of sinners, those that were Avaricious or hoarders and those that were Prodigal or squanderers. These groups are forced to move heavy weights in a circle against each other. “For all the gold that is beneath the moon, Or ever has been, of these weary souls, Could never make a single one repose.”

Fifth Circle of Hell (Canto VII)

Dante and his guide Virgil arrive at the second of Hell’s rivers, the River Styx. The river is the fifth circle of hell as it also contains the souls of two types of sinners. Those that are guilty of Wrathfulness and Sluggishness in live. Those punished for wrath lay in the shallows and on the river bank with angry faces and tear at each other’s flesh.  “They smote each other not alone with hands, But with the head and with the breast and feet, Tearing each other piecemeal with their teeth.”

The second group of sinners, those of sluggishness, are unseen as they are hidden below the surface of the swamp. They must repeatedly receipt a hymn as they gurgle the filth of the swamp in their throats. “This hymn do they keep gurgling in their throats, For with unbroken words they cannot say it.”

Sixth Circle of Hell (Cantos IX – XI)

A second boatman, this one named Phlegyas ferries Dante and his guide across the River Styx. On this side of the river they reach a walled city called Dis. With help from heaven they are allowed passage into the city. Beyond the city’s walls they find open tombs. This is the sixth circle of hell.

The souls that are in the sixth circle are heretics. They are eternally burning in open tombs. Dante passes through this circle after first resting to become accustomed to the stench of the burning tombs. “For flames between the sepulchres were scattered, By which they so intensely heated were, That iron more so asks not any art. All of their coverings uplifted were, And from them issued forth such dire laments, Sooth seemed they of the wretched and tormented.”

Seventh Circle of Hell (Cantos XII – XVII)

The seventh circle of hell is for sinners of violence. Before entering this circle Dante and Virgil have a run in with the Minotaur. Minotaur is a man-bull beast who is the guardian of the violent. The circle itself is divided into three rings. The first ring of the seventh circle is for those that have committed violence against others, such as murder. The second ring is for those having committed violence against themselves, such as a suicide. The final ring of the seventh circle of hell is for those who committed violence against God, such as blasphemy.

Ring 1: (Canto XII) After passing the Minotaur they come to a third river. Named Phlegethon, this is a boiling river of blood. The depth of the river varies at different points. The boiling river is the first ring of the seventh circle and those souls who have committed violence against their neighbor are in the water. Some are only submerged up to their ankles because of the nature of their sin, while others are completely unseen below the surface. “But fix thine eyes below; for draweth near, The river of Blood, within which boiling is Whoe’er by violence doth injure others.”

Ring 2: (Canto XIII – XIV) Dante receives assistance crossing the River of Phlegethon by a Centaur, halfman-halfhorse creature, who guides him to its lowest point. At this point, Dante and Virgil enter a forest of strange trees. The trees are oddly shaped and have black leaves and poisonous briers. Virgil tells Dante to break a branch off of a tree. When he does, it bleeds and the tree yells in pain.

The souls trapped in this second ring of the seventh circle of hell grow out of seeds into large trees. There punishment is for the sin of being violent upon themselves, for committing suicide. For this crime against their own bodies, they are denied their human forms and must take on that of a fragile tree, forever tormented by winged creatures called Harpies.

“When the exasperated soul abandons, The body whence it rent itself away, Minos consigns it to the seventh abyss. I falls into the forest, and not part, Is chosen for it; but where Fortune hurls it, There like a grain of spelt it germinates. I springs a sapling, and a forest tree; The Harpies, feeding then upon its leaves, Do pain create, and for the pain an outlet.”

Ring 3: (Cantos XIV – XVI) At the inner edge of the forest Dante comes to desert land where no plants live. For the sinner that have done violence toward God or committed blasphemy, they are punished in this third ring of the seventh circle of hell. The sand is burning and from the sky, flames constantly fall, setting the ground alight. The souls here are forced into specific position based on their sin. They keep patting at the burning ground to put out fires wherever they take hold. “O’er all the sand-waste, with a gradual fall, Were raining down dilated flakes of fire, As of the snow on Alp without a wind.”

Dante and Virgil follow a red stream of the River Phlegethon to the edge of the seventh circle of hell. This circle ends in a huge waterfall. Before departing the seventh circle of hell, Virgil explains the origins of the four rivers of hell, Acheron, Styx, Phlegethon and Cocytus. He tells him that there exists a huge statue made of various metals and clay. This statue contains cracks all around it where its tears seep to the earth. These tears are what form all of the rivers in hell.

To travel to the bottom of the waterfall, Virgil convinces a winged monster who emerged from the water. The two ride on the creature’s back as it glides down to the eighth circle of hell. The creature, Geryon, is the personification of fraud. He has the head of man, a snake’s body and a scorpion’s tail, used to infect the world. Dante rides in front so Virgil can protect him from the creatures poison tipped tail.

Eighth Circle of Hell (Cantos XVIII – XXXI)

As Dante glides down from the seventh circle of hell on the back of Geryon, he describes the eight circle of hell from his bird’s eye view. The eighth circle is called Malebolge. It is made up of ten individual valleys, all surrounded by a wall of stone and each connected by bridges. Within each of these valleys, which Dante calls Bolgias, sinners are punished depending on their sins.

Bolgia 1: (Canto XVIII) In the first bolgia of the eighth circle of hell, souls are punished for being panderers. They are naked, marching in a line while being whipped by horned demons. On the other side of a dividing stone, souls are like wise beaten as they walk in the opposite direction. These sinners are seducers. The panderers and seducers share this first bolgia of the eighth circle of hell. “This side and that, along the livid stone, Behold I horned demons with great scourges, Who cruelly were beating them behind.”

Bolgia 2: (Canto XVIII) In the second bolgia Dante hears snorting and moaning. He looks down into this bolgia and sees flatterers, smothered in human waste. They are scratching with filth covered nails and hitting themselves. “Thence we heard people, who are making moan, In the next Bolgia, snorting with their muzzles, And with their palms beating upon themselves.”

Bolgia 3: (Canto XIX) In the third Bolgia of the eighth circle, Dante finds souls buried upside down, with only their legs and feet protruding out of the ground. They are in holes that were similar in size and shape to that of baptismal bowls. Their legs are on fire. This punishment is for the simonists or those who stole from or took bribes from their parishioners and crooked religious leaders. These sinners are stacked upside down vertically on top of each other, as spikes in the ground. The newer souls push the older deeper beneath the surface. “For silver and for gold do prostitute, Now it behoves for you the trumpet sound, Because in this third Bolgia ye abide.”

Bolgia 4: (Canto XX) Astrologers, fortune-tellers, magicians and illusionist are punished in the fourth Bolgia. They all have their heads twisted around, forever taking away their ability to see in front of them. They cry as they march slowly backwards. “

Bolgia 5: (Canto XXI - XXII) The fifth Bolgia is extremely dark. The sinners held here are barrators, or crooked politicians. They are tormented by black, winged demons. These demons catch and throw them into a boiling pitch. As sinners break the surface the demons poke at them with hooks and rakes, driving them back into the boiling substance as if cooking them. “Not otherwise the cooks their scullions make, Immerse into the middle of the caldron, The meat with hooks, so that it may not float.”

Bolgia 6: (Canto  XXIII) Dante and Virgil depart from the demons of the fifth Bolgia by sliding down a bank into the sixth Bolgia. The demons are not allowed to leave their realm in the fifth, which allows the pair to get away.

They are confronted with the next group of sinners. These sinners are walking in a line very slowly as exhaustion has overcome them. They are all wearing a hooded cloak that is shiny and gilded on the outside. These orange cloaks were made of heavy lead which exhausted the wearer. These sinners are the hypocrites. Those that Dante speaks with are Friars.

The sixth Bolgia of the eighth circle of hell is also home to another sinner. Dante is shocked to see a man crucified to the ground with three spikes. This man convinced the Pharisees to crucify Jesus Christ to appease the Jewish mob. This man lay across the path so that all who pass must travel over him. Others who shared this council are also punished in the same way. “These orange cloaks, Are made of leas so heavy, that the weights, Cause in this way their balances to creak.”

Bolgia 7: (Canto  XXIV)The sinners sent to the seventh Bolgia of the eighth circle of hell are thieves. They are all naked and running around. Everywhere there are snakes that attack them. The snakes bound the hands of the sinners and bite at them. When a snake is able to strike a sinner, they burn into a pile of ash. But like the Phoenix, the ash forms back into the sinner’s original form for the snakes to once again attack. When they are reborn from the ashes, they are unaware of what had just happened and are again terrified of their surroundings. “Among this cruel and most dismal throng, People were running naked and affrighted. Without the hope of hold or heliotrope.”

Bolgia 8: (Canto XXVI – XXVII) From a bridge, Dante peers down into the eighth Bolgia of the eighth circle of hell and sees flames moving about. The sinners in this Bolgia are guilty of providing false counsel or fraudulent advice. For their punishment these spirits are burned deep within the flame. “Within the fires the spirits are; Each swathes himself with that wherewith he burns.”

Bolgia 9: (Canto XXVIII) Dante explains that no one has the ability to describe in words, the horror and torment which he found in the ninth Bolgia of the eighth circle of hell. If assembled, all of the dead from many wars combined, would not equal the blood and gore of the punishment met by the sinners in this
Bolgia. Each was cut in varying degrees from head to waist, head to neck or even the punishment of having to carry one’s own decapitated head like a lantern. All of these torments are found here. The sinners that are punished in such a way are disseminators of scandal and discord or caused a split between two groups. These spirits are cut by a Devil and must walk around pouring out their internals and dripping blood. Their wounds eventually heal, at which point the devil cuts them once again. “By the hair it held the head dissevered, Hung from the hand in fashion of a lantern, And that upon us gazed and said: O me!”

Bolgia 10: (Canto XXIX – XXX) Dante can hear the moans and smell the stench of the tenth Bolgia before he can see the tortured spirits that reside there. The smell of infection and pestilence fills the air. Most of the sinners here are weak from sickness. Some lie on their backs or stomachs while others crawl on the road. They tear at their skin trying to scratch the itchy patches of scabs that cover their bodies from disease. These sinners are alchemists and forgers of false metals. Also included among them are counterfeiters of currencies, perjurers and impersonators. Some of these spirits physically attack others because sickness has driven them mad. Others argue with each other as their skin smokes from the heat of their own fevers. All are extremely ill. “Everyone was plying fast the bit, Of nails upon himself, for the great rage, Of itching which no other succour had.”

Ninth Circle of Hell (Cantos XXXI –XXXIV)

In order to leave the eighth circle of hell and reach the depths of the ninth and final circle, Dante and Virgil enlist the help of a giant. From a distance, through darkness and haze, Dante mistakes hundreds of erect standing giants as towers of a city. These giants are trapped waist deep in the next pit of hell. The first that they come across is named Nimrod, who is blamed for the destruction of a single human language. Through his actions, man has been divided by languages and races.

The second giant that they encounter is named Ephialtes. He is chained with arms behind his back as punishment for challenging the gods. They pass these first two giants in their search for Antaeus, a giant who is unbound and can speak. This giant lowers them down into the ninth circle of hell.

At depths well below the feet of the giant, Dante and Virgil come to the fourth and final lake, Cocytus which is frozen to solid ice. This first ring of the ninth circle of hell is called Caina, where the sinners are locked within the ice, up to their necks. These sinners were traitors against their own family. “Livid, as far down as where shame appears, Were the disconsolate shades within the ice, Setting their teeth unto the note of storks.”

“Then I beheld a thousand faces, made Purple with cold; whence o’er me comes a shudder, And evermore will come, at frozen ponds.” They next enter the second ring of the ninth circle called Antenora. The sinners here are similarly punished however they are trapped in the ice in bent over positions. These sinners are guilty of being traitors against their country.

Dante and Virgil move further still, deeper into the center of hell. This third ring of the ninth circle is called Ptolomaea. The further into the ninth circle that they travel, the colder it has gotten. The sinners in this ring are guilty of being traitors against their guests. They are so cold that their tears have formed a visor over their eyes. Some of them have not yet even died. For this sin, their souls are dragged to hell to be punished by a demon who assumes control over their physical body on earth. “Because the earliest tears a cluster form, And, in the manner of a crystal visor, Fill all the cup beneath the eyebrow full.”

At the verge of entering into the fourth ring of the ninth circle of hell, Dante is shielded from a powerful wind by his guide Virgil. From this distance he thinks that he sees a giant windmill in the darkness of this pit of hell. This is Judecca, where the sinners are guilty of being traitors against their benefactors. Below his feet, the sinners in this ring were trapped in many positions, all completely buried beneath the surface of the ice.

As Dante nears the center of hell he can now see that the windmill is actually Lucifer himself. He is so big that he dwarfs even the giants that Dante recently passed. “The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous, From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice; And better with a giant I compare.” Lucifer has three heads, each a different color. Below each mouth there was a pair of giant wings that were cause of the powerful wind. His six eyes were dropping tears which fell to his three mouths, mixing with a bloody drivel. Within each mouth, Lucifer chewed upon a sinner. The sinner being chewed in the center mouth was Judas who betrayed Jesus. The other two sinners where Brutus and Cassius, both guilty of betraying Caesar.

With the tour of hell complete, Dante takes hold of Virgil who climes down the Devil’s body. Virgil descents down below his waist using the long hair that covers Lucifer’s body. At this point he begins to ascend in the opposite direction. He explains to Dante that since the Devil is at the center of the earth, they have moved into the southern hemisphere so they must now change directions in order to leave hell. At the end of this road and back out of hell, Dante beholds a heavenly night sky full of stars.