Children are taught that there is a punishment for every bad thing they do; “time-outs” prevent them from doing things they are not supposed to do. Similarly, the fear of punishment deters more mature people from committing crimes. The crime a person commits buys time to reflect in the adult “time-out” zone, namely a prison. Dante Alighieri’s The Inferno allows the reader to take a glimpse of an afterlife “time-out,” where sinners reflect upon their wrong doings for an eternity. Dante writes The Inferno …showed first 85 words of 968 total…
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…showed last 85 words of 968 total…sin committed. While the poem describes the after-life, it also describes daily life. The sins punished in The Inferno are performed all the time. It is meant to warn the us of what may be in store if we do such acts. The poem is comparable to the Hebrew Scriptures in that it is warning us about the consequences ofour actions. If we do not clean up our acts and begin to live better lives, we will have to face the horrible punishment in Hell.
