Dante's Inferno Group

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qtgurl
qtgurl

Can you briefly define hell and tie it to Dante's ideas???

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Posted by qtgurl on Sunday December 9, 2007 at 5:18 PM and tagged with dante's inferno, themes.

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  1. allyson Teacher
    High School - 10th Grade

    eNotes Editor

    Dante was a Catholic, so he believed hell was a place where one went if one died in state of mortal sin. For him, hell is a place of divine justice; therefore, his concept of the contrapasso was that if one chooses a vice against the love of God, one gets that vice forever (the punishment fits the crime). For example, the lovers, Pablo and Francesca, are in a eternal mating flight. Dante is basically saying that a person goes to hell by choice because he or she has sinned and does not repent. Dante also rates sins, placing what he believes are more egregious sins lower in the circles of hell, such as heresy.

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    Posted by allyson on Monday December 10, 2007 at 7:02 AM