Treachery in Dante's Inferno

Punishment is meted out on those who defy God's will. When you reach Hell, God's vengeance is unmistakable and serious for all forms of sins. “...through me, you enter the city of woes, through me you enter everlasting suffering, through me you enter the population of loss...abandon all hope, you who enter here..” (Canto III,1-7). In these lines, or rather, the voice of Hell, introduces sinners to their new world, a city they choose despite denying Christian doctrines.
Dante Alighieri lived on Earth prior to the beginning of the Inferno in the year 1300. Initially, he had a wife by the name Beatrice who is presumed to have died and went to heaven. Noticing how Dante gets lost in the dark world eventually losing his path and wanders through life with enormous challenges, his wife together with two other holy women sends Virgil as his guide (Williamson). The ghost of Virgil promises him that he lead him through hell and eventually to his beloved Beatrice in heaven.

Dante’s Divine Comedy begins when he enters Hell under the guidance of Virgil where they are welcomed with a hard-hitting notice inscribed at the gates of Hell. This serves as the beginning of the circles of Hell with each depicting different forms of sins. The outlying region of Hell to which he refers to as Ante-Inferno houses the souls of those who could be committed to either good or evil (Kenneth). After crossing border of the real Hell, river Acheron, they come into the First Circle of Hell, Limbo, which houses pagans and great poets of ancient times who never knew Christ before their end times.

The Second Circle of Hell, according to Dante is reserved for the lustful under the watchful eye of a great monster overseeing their punishment. The Third Circle of Hell is for the Gluttonous condemned to lie in mud and endure a rain of filth and excrement. The Avaricious and the Prodigal are placed in the fourth circle of hell charging each other with giant boulders. The Fifth Circle of Hell has river Styx considered to be swampy. The ensuing circles up to the ninth one also have distinctive characteristics to their preceding ones as Dante organizes them all the way.

The most notable circle according to Dante is The Ninth Circle of Hell which depicts Satan as terrifying beast in its centermost area. As the final circle of the Inferno according to the author serves as the center core of the story with the most serious sin ever committed being punished accordingly. This raises the question of significance of the sin and why it has to be punished at the stage. As the time of their lives betrayed their loved ones, friends, best friends, countries, cities, guests and even their masters due to the pride and spiritual flaws (Williamson). As the bible say that all sins are equal before the eyes of the Lord how did Dante deduce the fact that treachery was the most vocal sin in the story.

The whole sense of all happened to Dante wanted to show was the way he entered all that experience. As having offended God in his quest to fulfill his earthly endeavors God through his wife, he endured all the all challenges to understand the real meaning of Hell. It is a kind of breaking point in all areas and according to the human being nature (Kenneth). Dante broke the treason act into three distinctive acts whereby each and every category was well presented in the classes. Besides, putting or rather taking the classes into these categories showed that he was stressed about coming out the phenomena.

Treachery as one of the worst sins committed and according to Dante exemplifies acts of betrayal (Infernopedia). This is clearly depicted in the essence that all those betrayed their close friends or even their countries are the ones who are located at the center of Hell where Lucifer is placed. As a matter of fact, Lucifer is shown as the most dangerous monster in Hell and even at one time he was considered to have close to God but betraying him he was thrown in Hell. Other typical examples as used in the story include Judas who betrayed Jesus. On the other hand, fraud equally worse to treachery involves acts of deceiving or committing evil and lying purposely for personal gains.

Dante’s view of punishment as exemplified in the story is a clear indicator that each sin has its level or degree of punishment. His organization of the different parts of Hell shows increasing wickedness as the deeper one goes shows the seriousness of the crimes or sins committed. In the essence, this is a show of the author’s moral sense in regard to the orderliness and tidiness of the punishment levels (Williamson). The circles run from the least bad to worst sins including Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and finally Treachery. Based on this order, the author is for the opinion that it would have been worse to be a corrupt politician or flatter than being a murderer.

Nonetheless, through the journey in hell, the author encounters and talks with different characters who happen to been known to him earlier. In the second circle for instance, Dante meets and talks with Francesca who tells him of her affair with her husband’s brother. This is representation of punishment of lust to which she regrettably says that it only took only short moment of pleasure (Williamson). In the fifth circle, he meets his once political enemy, Filippo Argenti, and in a way is delighted to see how he suffering. In the next circle, he comes face-to-face with a rival political leader by the name Farinata. In the seven circle preserved for those harmed themselves by committing suicide, Dante meets and speaks with Pier della Vigna. Amongst others he later met and talked with, this is a clear indicator hell has special areas for those who committed different types of sins and deserved to be punished based on the levels of their sins.

Though it is believed that all sins are equal before the eyes of the Lord, Dante’s representation of hell indicates that worst crimes like treachery deserved to be punished severely as compared to others. Treachery in Dante’s opinion is the worst and those who committed acts of betrayal to their fellow comrades needed to receive the most severe form of punishment. The story has widely been depicted in various shows and movies amongst others, for instance, the story of Troy and severs to teach the world of significance of punishment based on the crimes committed.



Works cited

Williamson, Alan. "Dante Our Contemporary?." American Poetry Review 23.5 (1994): 43. Literary Reference Center. Web. 6 December 2017.

Infernopedia. Treachery. 2017. Web. December 6, 2017.

Kenneth Gross. Crimes and Punishments." Bloom's Major Poets: Dante. (2001): 57-58.