Dante's "Inferno" (last half)

As I was finishing reading about people getting mutilated and tortured, I was drifting in and out of this semi-conscious trance. I only realized how tired I was after reading the same five lines over and over.

Speaking of which, I'm not sure if Dante would have been tired after traversing the numerous levels, pockets, and sections of Hell. Book 17 onwards seemed a bit repetitive, but I suppose that's because the ghastly novelty of Hell had lost its initial appeal.

Nevertheless, I wish to touch some ideas from the last half of Inferno.

The main theme surrounding Dante's deeper levels of hell revolves around this idea of sinning against other people, the community, or the state. Terms like 'fraud,' 'falsify,' and 'traitor' bear a significance in that they affect not only the sinner, but also the community at large. Perhaps this lends itself to Dante's Judeo-Christian ideology that places an emphasis on God's creations. That is, to betray your country or to disseminate vast amounts of counterfeit money is ultimately a betrayal of God's trust as well as an ill-treatment of God's subjects, all of whom owe their existence to him.

Furthermore, as was discussed in class previously, fraud and acts of cunning are deliberately planned by the perpetrator. They require premeditation and willful intent. Lust and rage, on the other hand, deserve less severe punishments because they are impulse-driven and the extent of damage reaches to the familial level at most. Traitors and frauds undermine the social and economic stability of an empire. And so in a time when empires conquered and were conquered, Dante accordingly suggests that subverting the security of a society is an egregious act deserving of supreme punishment.

Another thing I noticed was that Virgil's role as a guide expanded to take on many other tasks. Several times, Virgil is actually leading Dante by the hand, or even carrying Dante. At one point, Dante compares Virgil to a mother protecting her child. This perhaps speaks to Dante's reverence of Virgil as a great poet.