A Journey All the Way Through Hell

What is the price of earthly pleasures? For ages, Christian literature has looked down upon sins and earthly delight. Dante’s Divine Comedy is no exception to the rule in the section named, “Inferno.” In this story, Dante goes on a journey through Inferno with the late poet Virgil. In Divine Comedy, hell is spilt up into nine different levels. On each level, the sin is worse than the previous one. One example is those who were swept up into their sins of lust, must spend eternally being blown around in a powerful wind without any rest at all. In this Hell, there are some famous literary and historical figures being punished for their sins. Francesca and Paolo are put in the level of lust for their scandalous affair.

Because of the time period that Dante grew up in, the Catholic church was dominate and most of the people were religious. The church authorities were very strict with tradition and the Bible. Earthly delights are frowned upon in the church and seem to lead to a bleak and grim conclusion.