Dante Post #1

Dante's Flawed Judgment

After completing Inferno, I am somewhat disappointed in Dante’s ranking of sins and their corresponding punishments. Although being a Christian leads me to believe all sins are equal, I find myself disagreeing with certain punishments that Dante assigns to the people that he sees in hell. The first flaw I find with Dante’s justice system is Limbo. Although the first circle is the lowest degree of punishment, respected individuals such as Homer, Horace, and Ovid still reside there because they lack something as simple as baptism. “For these defects, and for no other evil, we now are lost and punished just with this: we have no hope and yet we live in longing” (Canto IV 40-42). Even though the inhabitants of Limbo possess great merit, they cannot enter heaven and are still punished in hell without hope. It seems more fair to me that the souls stuck in the first ring should be in purgatory instead.

Another major flaw that I don’t agree with is Dante’s placement of murderers compared to thieves and fraudulent counselors. Murder is obviously a wrongful act that warrants punishment in most societies, yet stealing or making the simple decision to provide someone with advice can land you a greater punishment according to Dante. In the seventh circle, murderers and other violent souls are boiled in a river of blood. “But fix your eyes below, upon the valley, for now we near the stream of blood, where those who injure others violently boil” (Canto XII 46-48).  Meanwhile in the eighth circle, thieves are forced to steal bodies from each other in the form of snake attacks, which is even more bizarre. “As I kept my eyes fixed upon those sinners, a serpent with six feet springs out…It gripped his belly…and then it sank its teeth in both his cheeks” (Canto XXV 49-54). Although I cannot say which punishment is worse, the sheer placement of thieves in a lower circle than murderers seems wrong to me. Dante’s justice system only get worse when he reaches the eighth pouch of the eighth circle and meets Guido de Montefeltro, a soul who was almost taken to heaven. “Then Francis came, as soon as I was dead, for me; but one of the black cherubim told him: ‘Don’t bear him off; do not cheat me. He must come down among my menials…” (Canto XXVII 112-114). Even though Guido was promised abdication before he gave counsel, he was still taken to hell because he ended up being wrong. To me, this seems to be completely flawed logic, especially in comparison to murder.

Overall, I was still impressed by the detail and creativity expressed throughout Inferno. By no means is it a bad novel. However, I still find myself in disagreement with some of Dante's judgment calls.