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Charles W. Johnson
AP English 12
20 August 1998
Canto VII in the Inferno
Dante’s Inferno remains one of the most haunting and most influential works in the
Western canon, despite the more than six and a half centuries since its creation. The vision of Hell
crafted by Dante has inspired countless thinkers and writers, from theologians and moralists to
horror writers. It is admired for its elegant lyricism, its vivid and horrible imagery, and the lasting
themes of its reflection on moral debasement and the spiritual journey. Canto VII, which describes
the torment of the miserly, the prodigal, the wrathful, and the slothful, exemplifies many of the
overarching elements of the work as a whole.
Throughout the Inferno, triads are reflected in the structure of the work. The introductory
canto is followed by thirty-three cantos of the story. The complex rhyme scheme of the poem,
terza rima, is based on triple rhymes and stanzas of three lines. This obsession with triples is also
reflected in the narrative structure of canto VII. The Pilgrim sees three primary sights: clucking
Plutus, the abusers of wealth, and the Styx. Three punishments are described: eternal rolling of the
burden, wrathful grappling, and being buried beneath the slime of the Styx. The repetition of
triples in canto VII and throughout the work helps establish the formal elegance so often admired
in Dante’s verse.
The presentation of Hell often interweaves the ghastly sights with abstract philosophical
reflections, as Dante’s guide (representing human Reason) explains the meaning of the lurid
details. In the previous canto, Virgil explains the fate of the damned; in canto VII, he muses on
the ever-changing cycle of Fortune, who gives and takes the wealth and power of the world. The
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break from narrative into abstract discourse is done swiftly and elegantly, as the philosophical
tangent reinforces the more direct lesson of the tormented souls before us.
A common creature seen throughout the Inferno is the demonic agent, a role filled by
Plutus in canto VII. Hellish beasts appear throughout the Inferno as the temptation of each sin
threatens to end the Pilgrim’s journey to enlightenment. The beasts appearing in each circle stand
as representatives of their respective sins. The bestial Cerberus is the symbol of the Gluttons. The
brutish Centaurs represent the Violent. And Plutus, the god of wealth, stands as the mascot of the
circle devoted to the lovers of money. Although he waylays Dante for a moment, as with all the
other demonic creatures, he must ultimately fall before the will of Heaven and allow the Pilgrim’s
journey to continue. The Guide (Reason) forcefully commands Plutus (the apparition of sin; a
barrier on the Pilgrim’s spiritual journey) to step aside, and the clucking god simply collapses into
nothingness.
The rigid structure of the verse, the steady progression of the narrative, and the ordered
arrangement of each circle combine to create the theme not of a wild Hell dominated by Satan,
but rather a controlled and orderly Hell brought about by exacting Divine Justice. Canto VII helps
build this impression; even its teeming mass of abusers of wealth still move in an orderly circle and
follow the same repeating pattern into eternity. This ordered Hell of Dante’s is divided into three
large sections, each for one of the broadest categories of sin, and the fourth and fifth circles are in
the first, where those who failed in self-control are punished. The misers and prodigals “had such
myopic minds they could not judge with moderation when it came to spending” (38). The
wrathful and slothful allowed their base instincts of rage and procrastination to overcome their
virtue. Punishment is carefully doled out to each of the three classes of sinners, each with its own
form of torment meticulously matched to its spiritual failure.
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This leads into one of the ubiquitous themes in Dante’s work: contrapasso, or torment of
a sin by reflecting it in the punishment. In canto VII the theme is shown several times, most
elaborately with the abusers of wealth. The hoarders and wasters of the fourth circle are doomed
to eternally push great weights in circles, for trying to defy the great Wheel of Fortune. They must
shove against each other, eventually reversing their position and completing the cycle of wealth
and poverty against which they had rebelled in life. “Her changing changes never take a rest;
necessity keeps her in constant motion” (39), and this is mirrored in the sinners’ unrelenting task
of pushing their burdens, summed up in the ironic, haunting lines: “for all the gold that is or ever
was/beneath the moon won’t buy a moment’s rest/for even one among these weary souls” (39).
More examples of reversal make themselves clear. The wrathful of the fifth circle tear eternally at
one another in rage. The slothful, condemned to the same swamp, are immersed in filth. Their idle
dallying has led them to be buried in the sluggish muck of the Styx.
Like many other places in the piece, canto VII makes use of Dante’s fertile sensory
imagination. The marching circle of hoarders and wasters is compared to the seething currents of
a whirlpool. As in many other parts of Dante’s Hell, the sense of hopelessness is conveyed in the
imagery of the scenery: the Styx is dingy, grey, murky. Its swampiness is repeated again and
again: muddy, slimy, bogged, sluggish, muck. The wailing despair of the sinners is conveyed with
the clashing and screaming of the miserly and prodigal, as they cry out “Why hoard?” and “Why
waste?”
The structure, themes, and imagery of the Inferno mesh to create a unique tapestry which
captivates us both in its timeless abstract reflections and in the horrifying concretes that are
brought to life as the manifest form of philosophical principles. Each damned shade has behind it a
profound question of morality and spirituality. In canto VII many of these key elements are
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exemplified, from the fleshy imagery, to the eloquent and orderly structure, to the moral and
spiritual themes. This interaction brings together a captivating whole, a work which may always
remain one of the most influential works of European literature.
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Works Cited
Alighieri, Dante. Inferno from The Portable Dante. Translated by Mark Musa. Penguin: New
York. 1995.