Violence and Fraud

In The Inferno Dante believes that fraud is a bigger sin that violence and therefore should be put on a lower circle than violence. I agree with Dante that fraud is a more sinful crime than violence. I agree because violence causes physical pain, which in most cases will go away after a short time. However, fraud, including blackmailing and such, can cause mental pain that can last forever. The kind of mental pain that can be inflicted through fraud, if severe enough, can cause agony and misery to a person that can be unbearable. Some of the sinners in circle six, round two, the suicides, committed their sin because someone most likely from circle eight committed fraud against them and put them through mental torture until they could not stand it anymore. Also, when someone is under physical attack that person can call for help and unify with other people to stand and fight against the aggressor(s). When someone commits fraud against someone else, that person can make them feel like they are alienated and disconnected from everyone else. Sinners that commit fraud can trick others and play mind games with them to feel as though they have no help and are completely alone. Grafters can inflict a lot more pain on people than the ones in circle six, round one, the violent against neighbors. Today, physical violence and murder is a high crime that has serious consequences because we see violence as a major problem. Fraud and false identity are also very serious crimes, but we do not see them as harsh as violence. Back in Dante's time fraud and not being honest were major crimes that had great consequences. Dante himself obviously believed that fraud was a bigger crime than violence, but he was probably influenced by the laws of his time that he grew up around. I agree with Dante that fraud is a higher crime because fraud can inflict mental pain that lasts forever and make a person feel like they are disconnected from everyone around them.

Fate and Fortune

No mortal power may stay her spinning wheel.
The nations rise and fall by her decree.
None may foresee where she will set her heel:


she passes, and things pass. Man's mortal reason
cannot encompass her. She rules her sphere
as the other gods rule theirs. Season by season...


In this passage in Canto VII (Circle 4) Dante asks Virgil to explain what Dame Fortune is. They speak about fortune as if it is a woman or some womanly being. Virgil explains that Dame Fortune is a being that cannot be understood by man. No earthly power can stop her or alter what she does and she is elusive, so no man can determine what exactly she will do. She is constantly changing and cannot be kept up with by mortals, only God has the power to see and control her. Dante says that Dame Fortune cannot be controlled by mortal powers, only God. He also seems to say the Dame Fortune is one of God's minions that transfers worldly items between people, such as winning the lottery is transferring money to that person. Fortune rules her element just as the other Gods rule theirs, so Dante is saying that Dame Fortune is like a god. This relates to Dante's conception of God because Dante believes that God is a being that provides justice and retribution to mortals, and Dame Fortune can be a way to administer justice. By using Dame Fortune, God can administer justice and retribution without mortals understanding about fortune because Dame Fortune cannot be understood by mortals. Dante also believes that God only wants to bring ultimate love and intellect to human beings which Dame Fortune can also bring to humans. In Sophocles' work, fate is not so much a being as something that just happens in the universe. In Dante's work, however, fate is seen as some high power that is controlled by God. Sophocles also seems to say that fate can also bring judgement and retribution to mortals as seen through Oedipus. In Sophocles' work Oedipus, Oedipus is taken off the high throne because of his fate that was prophecised to him as a child.

The Inscription on the Gates of Hell

I am the way into the city of woe.
I am the way to a forsaken people.
I am the way into eternal sorrow.


Sacred justice moved my architect.
I was raised here by divine omnipotence,
Primordial love and ultimate intellect.


Only those elements time cannot wear
Were made before me, and beyond time I stand.
Abandon all hope ye who enter here.


This is what is inscribed on the gateposts of Hell. This inscription implies that God created Hell to punish the sinful with divine justice. The sinners are usually punished with a punishment that is the same nature as their sin(s) in life. For example, the gluttonous are forced to lay in stinking snow and freezing rain while Cerberus, the three-headed beast, slavers over them like they slavered over their food. It is interesting that it says that Hell was formed with "Primordial love" because most people these days do not think of Hell as love. However, it implies that God made Hell with love to show the sinners that their doings were wrong and that they should be punished. God's plan is to show the sinners kind of "tough love" because since God gave man free will, man can use that free will to do bad so God mush show them the error of their ways. God, however, is not angry at the transgressors, he only wants them to find divinity by taking their punishment in Hell. The damned are also eager to cross Acheron and receive their punishment because they know that they need to make up for their transgressions and they will find ultimate intellect about their wrongdoings in doing so. The main point of the inscription is to show that Hell is a place of misery and woe, but it was only made in the love of God to punish the sinners and show them the error of their ways.