The Vestibule of Hell, where the gate to hell is located, bears the following inscription Sacred justice moved my architect I was raised here by divine omnipotence, Primordial love and ultimate Intellect. (Alighieri, 2009, Canto VII, 4-6) This statement can be questioned as the eternal tortures to which God doomed the sinners in Inferno might make the ultimate intelligence resemble cruel genius. However, such claims are not actually correct.
As a wise, knowledgeable and loving being, God established rules according to which humans could peacefully coexist and evolve, but seduced by the ancient evil, human deviants failed to follow these principles (Chiarenza, 1989, p.280). Due to the fact that God, the supreme being, loved His children, He was not able to stand apart from all the sins committed and decided to safeguard the blessed and the pure in the afterlife from those who destroyed the sparkle of divinity in themselves and to deter living humans from further transgressions. As a result, Inferno was constructed in this place the souls of sinners were kept in isolation and subjected to certain punitive measures.
It would be unfair to state that the tortures the inmates of hell suffer are cruel. Cruelty refers to either indifference to suffering or pleasure from causing it to others. In the case of Dantes Inferno, the souls are paid back strictly according to the sins and crimes they committed in their earthly life, so justice is a more exact word to describe the organization of hell. One of the good examples is the fate of hoarders and wasters from the fourth circle who push huge stones into each other They clashed together, and then at that point Each one turned backward, rolling retrograde, Crying, Why keepest and Why squanderest thou (Alighieri, 2009, Canto VII, 28-30). In the human world, they maniacally accumulated or wasted money and hated one another, seeing the others faults and failing to notice their own. In the Inferno, they are explained that what they were doing was pointless when the stones they push towards each other crash, the hoarders and the wasters start all over again. Their sentence therefore can be regarded as symbolic (Gilbert, 1965, p.72).
Another illustration of Gods justice is river of blood in the seventh circle where the violent against neighbors are kept. The residents of this place were tyrants in their lifetime and shed blood of fellows and neighbors, so their afterlife is a logical continuation of their earthly existence. Now they are boiled in the river of blood Just as you see the boiling stream grow shallow along this side Stalked with highways, bloody and abhorred..( Alighieri, 2009, Canto XII, 127-139) The degree of their guilt and the scope of their cruelty determine the depth of their submergence in blood. The two infamous characters whose souls are condemned to staying in the river are Sectus and Pyrrhus, the ex-warlords who sacrificed thousands of human lives for the satisfaction of their political ambitions Holy Justice spends its wrath of Sectus and Pyrrhus, (Alighieri, 2009, Canto XII, 133-134)
Therefore, the structure and functions of each part of the Inferno demonstrate that God is not cruel or indifferent to the torments others endure, it is rather implied that each sin requires fair punishment. The Inferno is an example of perfect case-sensitive justice and intelligent design.
2)Dante presents a ranking of failures of moral virtue. Why, according to this ranking, are the sins of malice and fraud more severely punished than those of sensual appetite
In Dantes poem it is indicated that those overcome by lust and gluttony reside in the second and third circles respective and deserve relatively light punishment, whereas the sinners whose misconduct was associated with violence and fraud are kept in the sixth and the seventh circles and committed to severe tortures (e.g. flogged or boiled). The logic of distribution of justice is explained when the narrator asks Virgil, his guide, why the inmates of the first five circles are punished outside Dis, the deepest hell. Virgil refers to Aristotles Ethics and states that lust and gluttony belong to the category of sins of Incontinence, whereas violence and fraud originate from Malice Hast thou no recollection of those words With which thine Ethics thoroughly discusses The dispositions three, that Heaven abides not, -- Incontinence, and Malice, and insane Bestiality And how Incontinence Less God offendeth, and less blame attracts (Alighieri, 2009, Canto XI, 79-84).
Incontinence refers to the lack of self-control or ones inability to manage their own drives. The source of lust, gluttony and sensual appetite in general is the desire of human flesh, and their development is normally not associated with evil intentions towards others, but rather with the lack of willpower and, more importantly, poor spiritual life. In addition, the wrongness of these actions often consists in the lack of attention to their intellectual, moral and spiritual development with concentration on physical pleasures. However, gluttons cause no serious harm to themselves and others, but only thwart the development of their divine self.
On the contrary, violence and fraud as the sins of Malice are based fully upon evil intentions and cruel motives. The result of arson is destruction of others property and impoverishment, suicide is an attempt to destroy ones own life and is thus associated with the abuse of Gods gift, those, who curse God, also challenge the Creators authority and divine justice. Illustrative and interesting is also the explanation of the inherent Malice of usury such people do violence to human industry by betraying natural laws and making money on the labor of others instead of working by themselves And since the usurer takes another way, Nature herself and in her follower Disdains he, for elsewhere he puts his hope (Alighieri, 2009, Canto XI, 106-108). Fraud is even more heinous sin, as it implies deliberate act of bestowing peoples trust for oneself and each other. Accordingly, fraud makes impossible peoples faith in the others original goodness and due to the existence of a divine sparkle in each soul, fraud partly affects peoples belief in God. In general, the sins of violence are more likely to endanger peace amongst people, as compared to lust or gluttony. Besides, the sins of violence have greater ripple effect upon society, destroying God-blessed bonds of fraternity between people and making them more selfish, suspicious and less cooperative and supportive in their attitude towards each other.
As one can conclude, fraud and violence refer to deliberate harm to others and make adverse influence upon society, so they are punished more severely than excessive sensual appetite.
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