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