A REFLECTION ON DANTE'S INFERNO--

I am enjoying what I have read of Dante's Inferno up to this point. The book intrigues me deeply with its heavy use of symbolism. Hell, the setting in which Dante travels on his journey, is divided into Circles. In the different Circles are various types of sinners: the pagans, who live in Limbo (where Virgil, Dante's friend and guide, lives), the Gluttons, who inhabit the Third Circle, and the Avaricious and the Prodigal, who occupy the Fourth Circle. As they sinned in their lives, so are they punished for their eternity in Hell. I have always been a firm believer in the idea that one reaps what one sows, so the concept of the sinners in Dante's Inferno being forever punished in the way that they so immorally lived their lives is extremely interesting to me. For instance, the Gluttons, who valued food and drink over the gifts of God, served only to produce waste and garbage during their meaningless existences. Thus, they are punished evermore in Hell by being buried in putrid sludge that closely resembles the waste they created all their lives, while a huge and monstrous three-headed dog known as Cerberus rips and tears them apart as they ripped and tore food apart in their voracious lives. Another idea illustrated in the book that appeals to me is that Virgil (Dante the author's symbol for human reason) cannot pass the gates to the walls of the City of Dis (and the entrance to the Sixth Circle) by himself; he must seek heavenly aid. To me, this part of the book exemplifies that human reason can only go so far in life. On a deeper level, however, I infer this part of the book to be saying to the reader that human reason is but one small part of a complete human being. Man must also possess spirituality, among other things, and perhaps Dante is pointing out that Virgil does not have that, as he is a sinner in Hell.

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