In the beginning, Dante's motives and aspirations to find himself are self-centered and individualistic.  He is a single representation of mass confusion and his attempt to understand the purpose of hell and punishment is the beginning of his realization about religion and the western cultural idea about punishment and brutality.

Dante's individualistic view about the representation of hell gives a solid definition of consequences for one's actions.  The more he descends, he meets various people and learns why they are in that certain level of hell.  Each deepening step of hell represents a different deadly sin that was broken by a person.  What Dante concludes is that we are all sinners and therefore belong in hell.  At the end of his journey, Dante realizes that humans face a choice between good and evil.  People control whether they will break rules and "burn" in hell, or live in harmony with oneself.