After reading Canto I and then Canto XVIII, I started to see how well thought out the punishments for the sins are. In Circle 8, the panderers and seducers are forced in an endless fast walk by horned demons with huge whips. This punishment represents how these people forced others on to do their dirty work. The flatterers are sunk in a river of feces, which represents the falsity of their flattery and lies on Earth (quite literally their B.S.). A passage describing this Bolgia caught my attention:
Once there, I peered down; and I saw long lines
of people in a river of excrement
that seemed the overflow of the world's latrines.
This did not stick out at me at first but after rereading the Canto I noticed the symbolism Dante uses with the river of excrement. The people in the chasm are the flatterers. They are sunk in feces because in their life on Earth they sunk other people in their lies and flattery for their own benefit. The "overflow of the world's latrines" could refer to the sinners in the river who are the world's excrement for their sin of flattery.
A modern sinner that I would put into Circle Eight would be McCarthy, as he drove others on to serve in his witch hunt. Pimps belong in the First Bolgia as panderers. I would also put the scientology recruiters in the First Bolgia as seducers.
Upon reading this Canto, I began to see less of the satire and more of Dante's personal beliefs. Clearly, he believes that those who lie and betray their fellow humans truly belong in Hell. If he thought the panderers, seducers, and flatterers should have the opportunity of redemtion he would have put them in purgatory. Instead, he puts them in the circle right before Lucifer himself. Many would probably disagree with this and say that the murderers, rapists, etc. belong deeper in Hell. However, I feel that Circle Eight is appropriate for the malicious and fraudulent. Their sin has much more of a ripple effect and is much more deliberate than a sin committed in a moment of extreme passion. The sinners in Circle Eight poison and corrupt other people who probably did them no wrong and lead their entire lives lying and deceiving. From an existential point of view, these people definitely belong in this cirlce because they are not true to themselves.
2 comments:
The picture really describes your Canto. Do you think the "fast walk" is actually a run or a type of jog? Is there a signifigance to the "fast walk". I like your connection to the B.S. I agree with it completely. Why did you put scientologists rectuiters in cicle 8? I don't actually know what they do.
Well the panderers and seducers drove others on to do their dirty and "serve their own foul purpose." So in Hell they are literally driven on in the fast walk by the horned demons with whips. And I put the scientology recruiters in Circle 8 because they practically force people into their "religion." I am a very open person but come on, these people based their so-called religion off of a science fiction writer. They prey on weaker individuals. My step-dad almost to had to punch one of them because they wouldn't let him leave one of their personality testing places.
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