Reflections of Yo Life

In my opinion, Dante’s Inferno is filled with multiple accounts of irony. If it even makes sense, I think it’s actually filled with multiple accounts of reasonable irony. We can all agree that if your life is completely full of sin, you are more than likely to end up in hell. Everyone can also agree that there are different levels of sin. Therefore, different levels of sin come with different levels of punishment. This is shown throughout the different rings of hell. For instance, someone who committed incontinence sins is going to have a different punishment than someone with a life of fraudulent sins. This does not mean that certain sins have “better” or “easier” punishments and it’s not what Dante was implying. Sin is sin. Dante provides enough imagery to show that all types of sin will lead you to hell.

In Canto Ten, the main focus is on the heretics and image of the characters Farinata and Cavalcante. To no surprise, there is a random man(Cavalcante) who has something random to say to Dante. Reading Inferno, you understand that nothing is actually random. Dante finds a way to make everything he says have a purpose. So in this not so random event, Cavalcante calls out to Dante asking him if he knows if his son is still alive or not. However, this question is absolutely absurd to Dante, because, hello, Cavalcante is immortal. Shouldn’t he be able to see whether or not his son is alive. His sins he committed in his lifetime are the explanation for this confusion. Farinata also clears Dante’s confusion on page 105, “‘As a man with bad vision,’ he replied, ‘we dimly see things far away. So much splendor the sovereign Lord still shines on us. When things draw near, or happen, emptiness is all we see. If no one brings us news, we can know nothing of your human state…’” All Cavalcante can see is the end, which was the opposite of what his life was focused on. Ironic, right? This shows that their life in hell is a reflections of their sins they committed on earth.

Other than not wanting to go to hell, I think that reflections of sin was the big picture Dante was getting at. You might think you know what’s going on in Inferno, but then something random happens that throws you totally off guard. Like I said before, however, Dante always had a purpose or reason for everything. His purpose throughout all these images of punishment had to do with what specific sins they committed. Yes everyone, who goes against God and God’s way, goes to hell, but your specific sin determines your actual life in hell. That is one of the main questions people ask themselves when reading this book. Why are there different rings of hell if sin is sin? On page 113, Virgil explains to Dante, “So if you study his conclusion well, and bring back to your mind who those souls are who bear their penalties in upper Hell, You will perceive why they are parted from these villains here, and why less angrily Heaven’s vengeance brings on them its hammering blows.” Virgil is telling Dante the reasoning behind the different rings of hell. People of no self control will be punished in a different way than the violent. In all honesty, I find that to be common sense. A more modern example could be the difference in punishing a child molester and a thief. One will obviously receive a different punishment than the other. This is the same reasoning that Dante is explaining throughout Inferno.

Hell is already the worst punishment you can get. Hell is the absolute farthest you can get away from God. God does not want us to be far away from him but he gave us free will to make our own decisions. Don’t get me wrong, I can go on and on about free will but that is a whole other interpretive essay to write. I do have a point though, hang in there. Because God lets us make our own decisions, we can blame no one but ourselves if we end up in hell. What we choose to do in our life and the sins we choose to commit put us where we are determined to be. I think Inferno really portrays that message of what you do during this lifetime will carry over into your afterlife. Your life was meant to serve God so how are you going to fulfill that duty?