Friday, November 18, 2011

Open Post

From my readings of Dante's Inferno I've come to believe that its version of Hell is the scariest I have ever seen. Each level of Hell gets worse the deeper it goes. I still find it interesting as well as pretty cool that Dante sees  famous figures throughout his journeys through Hell. The fact that the devil is frozen in Ice is a different vision that I had developed in my mind. It throws out the saying "It's better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven". This interpretation shows that the devil is indeed not reigning in hell but being punished like the rest of the damned. The devil receives the worst punishment of them all and is not a "king of Hell".

The hell of Dante's Inferno serves as a individualized Hell where each punishment is matched up to crime. Hell in this story departs from the traditional norm of Hell being one place of fire, brimstone, and ash. It is very interesting to see that in some instances the damned is being punished by the very thing he loved the most in life. They must have loved this action or behavior to such an extreme point that it was even more then that of their love for God. This being the reason they were damned. Some punishments seem worse then others such as forced to live in a world of violence and killing for eternity. 

Hell seems to be the ultimate and final judgement for almost every version of Hell that exists. Once individuals are sent to Hell there is no coming back you are doomed forever and ever and ever and ever. I would imagine that a crime to receive this ultimate damnation of never being forgiven by god or allowed into heaven would have to be equally great. I find it interesting that humans were damned for many of the behaviors that were in their nature. I also saw that a majority of the famous figures were not Christians such as Paris, Achilles, Plato, or Socrates. This may be the reason they were damned because they did not repent and were non believers.  
I looked ahead a bit and found that the Paradiso was as equally as interesting as "The Inferno". Heaven has 9 levels just has Hell had its 9 levels. Each of the nine levels are based on similar but different levels according to actions and behaviors. The final level leads to God himself just as Satan was found in its deepest level. These levels are known as "Spheres". These Levels include:

First Sphere (The Moon: The Inconstant)

Second Sphere (Mercury: The Ambitious)

Third Sphere (Venus: The Lovers)

Fourth Sphere (The Sun: The Wise)

Fifth Sphere (Mars: The Warriors of the Faith)

Sixth Sphere (Jupiter: The Just Rulers)

Seventh Sphere (Saturn: The Contemplatives)

Eighth Sphere (The Fixed Stars: Faith, Hope, and Love)

Ninth Sphere (The Primum Mobile: The Angels)

The Empyrean


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