"When Hell freezes over..."

One of the most fascinating, yet terrifying aspects of The Inferno, in my opinion, is Dante’s description of the ninth circle of Hell, and his wicked description of Satan, also known as Lucifer. I never truly thought of this until I read The Inferno, but it is interesting to compare how we think of “The Devil” and our conceptions of Hell, and how Dante describes them. No one truly knows what Hell is like (or even if there is one), but for some reason we tend to think of Hell as a fiery, burning place, and we see images of the Devil as being clever, deceitful, cunning and sly in the most evil of ways. It is interesting to see how Dante takes those conceptions (is that what they thought of Hell and the Devil back then too?) and completely twists them. Perhaps this was done to emphasize his theme of reversal and backwardness. There’s a saying my dad uses when he really means something I want to happen never will, and that is: “When Hell freezes over.” Well, Dad, if you read the Inferno, Hell really is frozen over, and Satan isn’t a quick, deceitful,powerful “Prince of Darkness” character at all, he is a drooling, mumbling, soul-less beast. It correlates with Dante’s aim to connect his descriptions to the Catholic teachings. Scholars claim that Satan or Lucifer was once an Angel of Light in Heaven, but was banished to Hell for eternity when he tried to overrule God. God forbade him from Heaven and sent him to the depths of Hell as the ultimate sinner. Satan tried to overrule God; similarly, Judas, Cassius, and Brutus are also guilty of betraying their leaders, and therefore are sent to the last circle of hell as the ultimate sinners. This also correlates with Dante’s work because Satan isn’t some king ruling over all the sinners, he is suffering there with them as well. The images of a frozen Hell are parallel with the idea that Hell is lifeless, dark, and cold, a place where there is no light and the sinners are stuck there forever; “frozen”. The sinners also have no names, which contrasts with the other Cantos in which Dante names some characters. This emphasizes the idea that these sinners have absolutely no identity. 

In Dante’s Hell, sinners receive punishment that is the opposite of what they were trying to gain, and in his last Canto, Satan receives just that, along with all the other sinners in his fantastical yet gruesome poem. 

Hellish Works of Art

When reading The Inferno in high school, I remember being fascinated by the imagery and creativity of Dante’s writing, and how, even though the text is so ancient, it still has the ability to paint a picture in the reader’s mind. Mr. Youngs, my Honors English teacher senior year, showed us these famous engravings by Gustav Dore, which complement Dante’s work beautifully. These works of art are very detailed, and depict scenes, images, and characters directly from passages of Dante’s Inferno. 

Dark Wood

Dark Wood

These are two different images of Dore’s Dark Wood, which we are introduced to in the opening pages of Dante’s poem. 

Dore also depicts his version of the Lion and the She-Wolf. His illustrations of the hellish characters are crazy, and really help bring the text to life. I would post all of them, but I don’t want to give it away for those of you who are first time Inferno readers!

Lion

She Wolf

Here are some of my favorites:

Dante and Vergil Enter the Gates of Hell
(my absolute favorite)