Dante"s placement of Violence as a lesser Crime compared to Fraud based off of his placement of the two in his 9 circles of Hell

     Dante places the sins of violence in circle seven of hell, and he places the 10 sins of Fraudulence within the eighth circle of hell. It's interesting to see that he considers a simple crime such as stealing an object far more devious than that of a sin like killing oneself. It's actually a common question with a variety of answers and one of the most commonly accepted answers being his belief and interpretation of Catholic religious doctrine. Dante believes that the sins are based off the degree and severity in which they challenge god's will. The sins like homicide and theft are great examples, where as homicide is considered more of a lesser sin compared to theft because of the way they defy God's will and because of the. Dante proves this by the inferno's wide array of living conditions for the souls and their punishments based off of the circle of hell they reside in. A fraudulent person is one who's constantly perpetrating evil, according to Dante, wheres as Suicide is more of a sin to to god rather than a sin towards god's will, love and care. A good example of this is in Dante's fourteenth Canto, page 110, where he discusses the sinners called the Blasphemers, who defy god's will, and comparing them to the sinners in Canto twenty four page 194, the thieves who defy god's will, but also his love and grace towards humans and his gift of love to each and every one of them. The Blasphemers defy God's will and receive a punishment within the seventh Circle of Hell by lying on the grand while being burned by scorching hot sand and a fiery rain representing god's anger towards them defying his will. Although the thieves reside in Circle eight Bolgia seven of hell, an area of hell much  deeper than that of the Blasphemers. Their biggest difference according to Dante is how these two groups of sinners defy the never wrong always just, will of god. Since the thieves had the intention of causing evil and stealing from one another, there punishment not only defies god's will like the blasphemers, but also goes against god's plan for humans to love each other, and for humans to care for one another. I completely disagree with Dante's views on the severity of punishment, and I am coming from the same religious views as well. Us both being catholic involves the theory that god created all and that all he did was just, also that he created care, and love for humans to enjoy and not go against with evil intention. Although, I believe that killing someone is far more sever of a crime because it means that the killer has the mental acceptance to end the life of something created by god with evil intent. Stealing objects is for evil intent and also requires a certain level of mental acceptance, but doesn't end the life of one of god's creations, therefore making it a lesser crime in my opinion.

Circle seven Those who were Violent towards themselves - Archetypal symbols

     In this circle we see sinners whom have committed some type of violence within their earthly lives. The second part of circle seven contains those whom have done violence upon themselves. They lie inside of dilapidated trees which make up a thick dark forest ( the woods of suicide) which contains souls that were never happy with themselves. They start out as tree saplings and grow and are pecked and eaten by the harpies ( half woman half bird) who torture them by doing so. The trees in this section of circle seven are archetypal symbols whom represent life and knowledge, or a complete lack of it, hence the irony and contrapasso that Dante represents under biblical claims made by God. These trees are rotten and bleeding with red blood down their bark, the souls body hangs on the branches for he/she to see, and the harpies constantly eating and pecking away at these trees to cause consistent physical pain. Due to this fact, Dante is problem using these ruined trees as an archetypal symbol for those whom lack the true knowledge ( faith in god and all of his creations holy "not killing themselves because they were made by god") and life because they live forever in a tree, which lives for ages and are hurt and beaten in this tree, they must be forever in pain since they weren't able to bare the pain they had on earth in which led them to their suicide. Dante writes" its foliage was not verdant, but nearly black. the unhealthy branches, gnarled and warped and tangled, bore poison thorns instead of fruit," giving the reader a very vivid description of the conditions of these trees. The trees being an archetypal symbol represent in this passage a horrible life and perhaps tragic knowledge. Dante describes the trees as ones whom bear poisonous thorns and blood dripping branches rather than peaceful trees such as one seen on earth that bears edible fruit and lives for many years in near perfect harmony

Contrapaso within The Third Circle of Dante's Hell

  In this circle Dante encounters the gluttons. Dante writes," the frozen rain of Hell descends in torrents... Huge hailstones, dirty water, and black snow pour from the dismal air to putrefy the putrid slush that waits for them below.... here monstrous Cerberus, the ravening beast, howls through his triple throats like a mad dog over the spirits sunk in the that foul paste." describing the punishment and conditions of the Gluttons and the atmosphere that lay within the third circle. The gluttons over ate to an obsessive degree, and to Dante they also over drank in terms of being Alcoholics, there for they should be punished by being surrounded in waste to symbolize the food and waste they ate and produced during their stay on earth. The cold conditions within this circle symbolize the opposite feeling in which gluttons experienced on earth. They would always be warm from all the food they inhaled, therefore in Dante's hell, they should receive the opposite following the Contrapaso theory. The large dog like monster Cerberus, symbolizes the gluttons way of eating on earth, although, they get bitten and beaten up by the dog if they are to attempt to escape from the slush, to try to obtain freedom from the trapped feeling they receive when being surrounded in this putrid waste.

     Dante uses very descriptive words such as the line, " so the three ugly heads of Cerberus, whose yowling at those wretches deafened them, choked on their putrid sops and stopped their fuss." This line proves he has a strong dislike for this circle of Hell, especially when he uses words like wretches to describe the gluttons. Dante uses words like putrid sops witch is referring to the souls within the waste. Putrid, According to dictionary .com, means ," in a state of foul decay or decomposition, as animal or vegetable matter; rotten," This is a very strong word to describe how things smell and whether they appeal to someone or not. Through Dante's use of figurative language here, we can see that he very much disliked these gluttons and thought they should receive a foul punishment to fit their foul crime. The  Perhaps Dante was disgusted by gluttons on earth as well, although, whether he was or not, his description and dislike he imposes on them, through his use of figurative language and epic poetry, show how the gluttons deserved to be in hell and how their crime suited them, otherwise called Contrapaso.