They are divided into two groups: those who hoarded wealth and those who squandered it. In the fourth circle, the souls of the greedy and the wasteful are punished. Those who overindulged in food and drink during their earthly lives are punished by being forced to lie in a vile slush, enduring a never-ending rain of filth and garbage. The third circle is the realm of gluttony. Here, the souls of the lustful are trapped in a tempestuous storm, constantly tossed about by strong winds. The second circle is where the sin of lust is punished. They are neither punished nor tormented but are deprived of the joy of being in the presence of God. The first circle of Hell is reserved for virtuous pagans and unbaptized infants. Here are the nine circles of Hell according to Dante’s Inferno, along with a brief description of the sins and punishments associated with each circle: Limbo ![]() Psychological Analysis of Dante’s Inferno.In Dante Alighieri’s “Inferno,” the first part of his epic poem “The Divine Comedy,” the nine circles of Hell are described as progressive levels of punishment for various sins. Retrieved March 30, 2017, from Deviant Art: Uncovering Dante’s Mind: Finding Psychological Structure in Dante’s Inferno. Retrieved March 31, 2017, from Simply Psychology: Retrieved March 30, 2017, from Purdue Online Writing Lab: Inferno did not only detail Dante’s undertakings in Hell, but the pending evolution of his unconscious to consciousness.īrizee, A., Tompkins, J., Chernouski, L., & Boyle, E. Dante’s humanity and Virgil’s inhumanity clashed to fabricate a psychological and spiritual quest of life that one must triumph over. It is the basic dilemma of all human existence that each element of the psychic apparatus, the id, ego, and superego, makes demands upon us that are incompatible with the other two leading to an inevitable inner conflict. Therefore, Virgil who stands as human reasoning of Dante in the text, as the guide constantly making judgment calls for Dante, is the superego providing Dante moral lessons throughout the journey.ĭante’s journey into the underworld is a symbolism of a spiritual enlightenment and a psychological awakening of his character. Dante ended up in hell due to his previous mistakes in life. Furthermore, the superego develops during early childhood and operates on the morality principle to behave in a socially responsible and acceptable manner. Virgil represents the ego, helping Dante see the realistic path to satisfy his desire to get away from pain and fear. In contrast to the id, the ego follows the reality principle as it operates in both the conscious and the unconscious. The ego, on the other hand, develops from the id during infancy which aims to satisfy the demands of the id in a socially acceptable way. The id for Dante in his journey is his impulsiveness to run away from trouble or bad times. The id, the location of the drives, operates at an unconscious level according to the pleasure principle which strives to satisfy basic drives to survive. As reflected in Dante’s Inferno, it was Dante’s unconscious desires which ruled over his entire journey to hell.įreud later developed a structural model of the mind comprising the id, ego, and superego, which were all present in Inferno. Freud introduced the notion of the unconscious as the drive which governs behavior to the greatest degree. Sigmund Freud, the founding father of psychoanalysis, developed a topographical model of the mind wherein he used the analogy of an iceberg to describe the three levels of the mind: the conscious, the area of the thoughts on the focus of attention preconscious, consisting thoughts retrieved from memory and the unconscious, the more basic, primal area whose functions are unknown to the conscious. Furthermore, Dante’s wander to hell signifies the evolution of his unconscious mind to nirvana, a psychological enlightenment of his soul not only as a Catholic but as a character grounded on Freudian theories of psychology. ![]() ![]() It is the Inferno which details Dante’s journey through the nine circles of Hell, describing the recognition and rejection of sin. Widely hailed as one of the greatest classics of Western literature, Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, as an allegory, represents the journey of the soul towards God which is divided into three parts: Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso. On his voyage through the nine circles of hell, it was seventh heaven that he found in return.
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