Jacob Cowan

Professor Alfie

ITAL 250

20 November 2015

An Analysis of Dantes Inferno

In the Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri, the sins of incontinence are

all presented in similar ways. In the Inferno, Dante describes the

punishments of the lesser sins through the law of contrapasso, stating that

for each sinners crime there must be an equal and fitting punishment. This

can be seen as a form of taking an eye for an eye. In the same way, the

guardians of these circles of hell all embody the sins that they guard.

Another major element that Dante incorporates into the Inferno is the use of

mythological and classical literary references. Throughout every circle of hell,

Dante encounters real people from history, as well as many mythological

creatures from Greek and Roman culture.

Firstly, when Dante enters through the gates of hell he meets Minos,

the judge of the dead. He is the first guardian Dante encounters, and wraps

his tail around the condemned to send them to their rightful place in hell.

Minos, as the king of Crete, was revered for his wisdom and judicial gifts.

Because of these esteemed qualities he became the chief magistrate of the

underworld. In addition to this duty, he guards the lustful in the second

circle. Here the sinners are being forever whirled about in a dark, stormy

wind called the infernal storm where they have no control of themselves.
The infernal storm, eternal in its rage, sweeps and drives the spirits with its

blast: it whirls them, lashing them with punishment (Dante 27). This

punishment symbolizes the sin of lust, as lust is defined as the loss of control

of sexual desire. This punishment encompasses contrapasso in the way that

these sinners have no control being blown about, just as they had no control

over their lust.

Dante then moves to the next circle of the Inferno where the gluttons

are condemned. This continues the element of contrapasso because the

sinners here are punished by having eternal slate rain poured on them,

where they are constantly trying to shield and clean themselves. Gluttons

are described by Dante as spirits who reduced their lives to a satisfaction of

appetite. This punishment embodies the sin of gluttony because these

sinners have put too much into their bodies to the detriment of their souls.

The guardian, Cerberus, is shown as a glutton himself when Virgil throws

mud into his mouth to distract him. My master stooped and, spreading wide

his fingers, he grabbed up heaping fistfuls of the mud and flung it down into

those greedy gullets (33). With this action the element of contrapasso is

continued with Cerberus as he embodies the punishment of these sinners.

Dante even talks to a sinner named Ciacco, whose name is a derogatory

Italian word for hog or pig.

Transitioning to the fourth circle of the Inferno, Dante is confronted by

Plutus, the god of wealth. Here is where the sin of avarice is punished.

Avarice is the extreme greed for material gain or wealth, and is split between
the hoarders and the squanderers. Although these sinners are

indistinguishable, The Miserly and the Prodigal, linked together as those

who misused their wealth, suffer a joint punishment to complete the turn

of the Wheel (circle) of Fortune against which they had rebelled during their

short space of life on earth (37). These sinners misused their wealth in life

and now suffer the punishment of pushing boulders around and around

forever. This punishment again is fitting to their infraction, and continues the

central law of contrapasso.

Dante then comes to the river Styx, where the fifth circle of hell, and

the wrathful, are located. He must first get into the boat, manned by

Phlegyas. Phlegyas is the son of Mars, and furiously set fire to Apollos

temple at Delphi. Dante uses him as the boatman of Styx because he himself

is wrathful and irritated, symbolizing the sinners located here. In the river the

sinners are punished by fighting each other eternally. This is the continuation

of contrapasso as these sinners were wrathful in life and now must fight

forever. They fought each other, not with hands alone, but struck with head

and chest and feet as well, with teeth they tore each other limb from limb

(40). At one point, Dantes political rival Filippo Argenti, tries to pull Dante

out of the boat. But he is pushed back by Virgil and plunged deep into the

water where he is mauled by the other souls. Dante describes Filippo in these

words, In the world this man was filled with arrogance, and nothing good

about him decks his memory; for this, his shade is filled with fury here (43).

Argenti is an example of the sinners punished in the Styx because of his

malice in life. Dante mentions seeing his mangled body surrounded by a

gang of muddy souls, another example of the punishment of wrath.

Throughout the Inferno, Dante carries the element of contrapasso

through each circle of hell. Each punishment is unique to its sin, but the sins

themselves are similar because they all follow the theme of incontinence.

And all of the sins of incontinence follow this central theme of contrapasso.

In the same way, the guardians of each circle personify the sins and the

punishments of the condemned. Dante gives this vision of punishment as a

contradiction to the biblical reference that all sins are punished equally. His

vision of hell is split into separate descending circles in which each is more

wicked than the last. Even throughout the lower circles of hell, past the levels

of incontinence, Dantes theme of contrapasso continues as the sinners are

punished according to their crime.

Another element displayed in the circles of the Inferno is the use of

mythological and classical literary references. Dante often incorporates

characters of myth and legend into his description of hell. However, what is

constantly different about these characters is that they are all transformed

into figures of demons, and no longer fully resemble their human

appearances. Among the first mentioned, Dante encounters Minos, the king

of Crete. He is the guardian of the first circle as well as the chief magistrate

of the underworld. Dante gives him this position because he was revered in

life for his wisdom and judicial gifts. As chief magistrate, Minos decides

where each soul is to spend eternity and subsequently what punishment

they will face. Dante uses this figure from history to give more dramatic

potential to the text.

Dante then references Cerberus, the three headed dog who in

mythological references was the guard to the underworld, and prevented the

dead from leaving. Since Cerberus is a character who already resided in the

underworld, it is no surprise that Dante incorporates him as one of the

guardians in the Inferno. Dante is clever enough to even put him where he

belongs. As Cerberus has three heads, three mouths, and three throats, he

can also be seen as a glutton; as seen in the movie Hercules, Hades throws

him a steak to restrain him.

Dante continues these references with Plutus, the Greek God of wealth.

In the fourth circle, Plutus is the guardian of the sinners of avarice. These

sinners were very greedy in terms of wealth and material gain, so it makes

sense to have the god of wealth guarding this circle. In mythological terms

Plutus was also referred to as the god that ruled the underworld. Dante

includes this famous figure from classical mythology because he is already

associated with the underworld, as well as wealth, and fits perfectly in

Dantes perception of hell.

Dante then comes to the river Styx, which is also derived from classical

mythology. It is referenced in the Odyssey and is the passageway to the

underworld. It is said to converge at the center of the underworld and is also

what the dead souls must cross in order to enter. Another reference Dante

uses in the Inferno is that there is a boatman on this river. However, the
boatman is not Charon, as referenced in Greek mythology. This person is

Phlegyas. He is another character from classical mythology and is killed by

Apollo for burning his temple at Delphi. Although Phlegyas is not the

boatman of the Styx in classical literature, Dante uses him here because of

his references to the underworld.

Although the Inferno is distinctly of Christian thought, Dante uses the

elements of mythological and classical literary references because it adds

thematic aspects. The poem owes its themes as much to Roman and Greek

culture as it does to Christian history. Dantes vision of the Inferno

incorporates many references to classical mythology as well as many other

ancient literary sources. He includes many ancient characters, from Minos to

the Minotaur, and even includes places from mythological literature, such as

the river Styx. Dante effectively assimilates Christianity with these ancient

references and thus heightens the symbolic power of his poem.

Works Cited

Alighieri, Dante. The Portable Dante. Trans. Mark Musa. Harmondsworth:

Penguin, 2003. Print.