Topic 3- Wed. Nov. 17

   In the book The Inferno by Dante Alighieri, the character, Dante, is guided through the many circles of hell by Virgil, who is part of the first level of hell, The Virtuous Pagans, at the time. The different circles of hell all symbolize different types of sins which slowly get worse the deeper into hell you get. In Dante, the author's, mind the worse the sin the worse the punishment. Sin and punishment and how they relate is a very important motif in this book, called Contrapasso. Contrapasso plainly means how the punishment for the sin committed is of the same nature as the sin. 
   The first punishment Dante, the character, sees occurs not really in a circle of hell but in the vestibule or entrance in which the air is dirty and there is sighing, crying and wailing. These souls are known as the Opportunists or the people who never took a side, good or bad, but only did what was best for themselves and their personal desires. The location in which this group of sinners dwell in torture is a large part of the punishment. They are spoken of by Virgil when he says," These are the nearly soulless whose lives concluded neither blame nor praise". (42) As a result of these people failing to choose a side in life, they are eternally punished by not having any place after life, for example they are not considered part of the circles of hell because they reside in front of the entrance, never to enter or have a place. In addition to the first punishment I spoke of, there are three more, one of them being a blank banner that symbolizes opportunity that one can never receive so they continue chasing it eager to maybe one day catch it. The main problem with the opportunists is that they do not listen to their conscience, they listen to their instinct and ignore their conscience, because of this, the sinners are constantly stung by wasps. In the book, it speaks of how the wasps push them to do something as would a conscience in many aspects, "..ran naked in a swarm of wasps and hornets that goaded them the more and more they fled". (45) The text could also be taken literally, the more they tried to get away the more they were stung which could quite possibly relate to the conscience they ignored, the more they tried to get away the more they were stung.  Worms and maggots feeing off the blood and puss caused by the wasps, conscience, also may symbolize the opportunists themselves feasting on the misfortunes of other creatures to please only them. One can conclude that Dante, the author, does not have a liking for these type of sinners because of the seemingly harsh punishment.