-The following project does not necessarily reflect the views, beliefs, or opinions of the writer-

Virgil, taken from Publius Vergilius Maro, was
Dante’s guide who led him safely through the circles of Hell
Publius Vergilius Maro
Dante’s
“
Be off, you beast [Minotaur]; this man [Dante] who comes has not been tutored by your sister; all he wants in coming here is to observe your torments .
– Virgil 12.19-21
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Inferno
• Virgil represents the voice of reason
• Dante meets Virgil in the dark wood as he
[Dante] is tormented by angry beasts
– “…lion seemed to make his way against
me [Dante]” 1.48
– “While I retreated down…before my eyes suddenly appeared one [Virgil]…”
1.61,62,63
• Virgil offers to guide him through hell, but no further for he is not permitted to enter heaven or purgatory
– “it best for you [Dante] to follow me
[Virgil], and I shall guide you.” 1.112+113
– “…Because that Emperor…above…will not
allow me to enter His city.” 1.124+126
Modern-day Inferno
As I traveled the tar-paved path of those who went before me. I came upon a dog, whose malicious stance did cause me fear.
Thus hastened, I ran back to the path I was before, and lost it was unto my sight. I raised my hands to lament my plight.
With my tear-filled eyes did I see a man appear beneath the light of a street lamp.
Unto the man I screamed, “Help me sir, please!”
“Not sir be I, but monster still. As He who is has banished me here. So with me come and see the horrors of hell with your eyes.”
1
4
7
10
“Ralph!” Says I, “Be it you? Your poems did make me see anew.” “Yes,” Says he.
“But with me come.
There is much to do fore’ the night is done.”
13

• Using Virgil in Dante’s
Inferno was the result of careful consideration on Dante’s part. At a glance, it appeared as though there were other poets of greater names, Homer, of the Odyssey , or Vyasa of the Mahabharata, that could have been used in Dante’s epic. However, he chose
Virgil; a man based off of the Latin, Publius Vergilius Maro born cerca de October 15, 70 BCE, who was still a poet of considerable greatness and the writer of his own epic, Aeneid . Publius was the logical choice as a guide for Dante for several reasons. Remembering that Dante was an Italian, he thus would not of had experience in Greek or Hindu poems because of language barriers. Virgil was considered to be a pagan, not believing in Christian religion, yet he was still the image of a perfect life. As Charley Crissman writes in his essay, The Tragedy of Virgil ,
“Dante uses Virgil both as an example of man’s ability to attain moral perfection without supernatural aid and as a demonstration that such perfection alone is insufficient for ascent into
Paradise.” In the culture of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century, it was publically accepted that the Church was the one and only way to heaven, the pope being the very spokesman for God. Dante uses Virgil as a statement that good works do mot merit entry to paradise, thus confirming the Church’s view on life after death.
•
I chose the Early American writer, Ralph Waldo Emerson to be my guide in my modern-day
Inferno as he was a pioneer into Transcendentalism thought, believing that organized religion corrupts the purity of an individuals. Just as Dante used Virgil as a use of exemplifying the thoughts of the modern day culture, I used Emerson to highlight the thoughts of today’s culture as American society turns further and further from religion and relies more on reason and scientific intellect. American society turns away from organized religion as individuals reject religion and explore new revenues for their own salvation through their own good works.
However, just as Virgil could not enter heaven by his good works alone, neither did Emerson in my Inferno .

Dante’s Vision of Limbo
-From the Latin origin “Limbus Patrum”, the first circle was the land of the forgotten. An intermediate place were the souls of prophets and patriarchs await the coming of the messiah
-Specifically, Circle One was a place for those who died before being baptized as an infant, as well as people who lived and died before the birth of Christ. They are to be held in the first circle of hell : Limbo.
“they did not sin; and yet, though they have merits that’s not enough” 4.34+35
-In the culture of the day, it was taught that good deeds do not get one into heaven, for only the divine blessing of the Church could grant access onto paradise. If infants died before that blessing, they went to Limbo.
Also, anyone before the official catholic
Church, before Jesus, was also believed to be here because they has not received the blessing.
Modern-day Inferno of Oblivion
Modern-day Inferno
We descended into the foul pit, and came to the tower of circle one.
An open plane it was, void of any life.
16
Unto Ralph, my guide, I looked and asked him,
“Where be the inhabitance?” He responds,
“They are here and there and forever dammed.
19
Doomed to wander the emptiness alone.
For they went to His Church yet never loved.
And kept his commands yet never spoke out.
22
“But Ralph, no man be here.” “Foolish man,” says he, “May your eyes be opened so you may see.” And see did I all the souls a-wandr’.
25
“They do not see us nor each other, for truly alone they stay for eternity.
Thus, the punishment for rejecting Him.”
“Rejecting Him?” Says I, “To church they went.”
“Faith, not accompanied by deeds, is dead.”
“And now for their sluggish faith, they wander.”
28
31

•
During the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, the Church was obsessed with power.
Pope Boniface VIII was in power and with him came much conflict and unrest specifically with the French King Phillip IV. The Church, could not risk a decreasing in public attendance, so to ensure papal supremacy, it was engrained in the people's minds that the Church was the only way to heaven. Pope Boniface VIII writes in the Unam Santam
, “…there is only one catholic and apostolic church, outside of which there is neither salvation nor remission of sins…”, as well as, “Indeed, we declare, announce and define, that it is altogether necessary to salvation for every human creature to be subject to the Roman pontiff.” Dante makes the first level of hell
Limbo, or those who were not affiliated with the Roman Church. This is not considered a sin, but it was believed that affiliation with the Church was necessary.
• I chose to re-invent the first circle of hell and give to it a more modern interpretation. The
Roman Catholic Church is not at all as powerful as it was in history, so people are no longer considered dammed if they do not attend mass. Going to church has become considerably more relaxed in posture through the modern years, as many families go once a week, once a month, or even once a year while still considering themselves catholic. The belief of deeds as well as faith has become increasingly more widespread. In the modern-day Inferno, I incorporated a verse from the Bible found in James 2:17 which reads, “In the same way, faith by itself, if not accompanied by deeds id dead.” (NIV).
• The culture of Dante Alighieri’s era trusted the Church for all of their spiritual needs. Spirituality of today is considered to be a private matter between the individual and God. Socially, it is growing ever more increasingly “offensive” to discuss religion as many people do not believe.
The modern first circle of hell is for all who refuse to believe as well as those who did not actively pursue a more fulfilling relationship with God. Politically, the church used to be a source of great influential power, however now, religion has been purged from most governments and banned from many schools.

Dante’s Vision of Gluttons
Dante’s Inferno
From the Latin origin “gluton-(em)”, the third circle is for unrestrained want for more
– One realizes that in Dante’s
Inferno, gluttons is the third circle of hell, however in the modern-day, glutton is seen as a much more docile crime in comparison to lust.
- Gluttons was a place were the souls of the gluttons sit in putrid filth for eternity, it is cold and wet and eternally raining.
-
“I am in the third circle, filled with grieve, unending, heavy, and accursed rain…”
6.7+8
-The Circle of the Gluttonous is guarded by Cerberus, a three headed dog-like beast that tears at the tortured with its teeth and claws
-
“…is an outlandish, vicious beast, his three throats barking, doglike: Cerberus”
6.14+15
Modern-day Inferno of Selfishness
Modern-day Inferno
And so my guide and I descended to a place even lower than before. It was the second circle, which was all the more foul.
33
Fire and burning rocks fell from the sky,
A forest in eternal burn rolled out before my eyes, and the sight appalled me.
36
From the blaze came a great noise of torture,
The souls of the selfish buried, yet still conscious in the ash, flesh burning and ablaze
39
“Behold, the souls of the selfish . They burn,
Because of their selfcentered nature in life.”
Ralph swept his arm out unto the accursed.
42
“Guarded by Maugrim, a wolf-like creature , of terrible vengeance and cruelty.
For good to themselves,and cruel to the poor weretheir motives.
45
48
“Make note traveler” Ralph says unto me,
“Thus is the fate of the selfish for they knew not when it was enough , so was their greed.”

• In Dante’s
Inferno , the second circle of hell was for the lustful and the third circle was for the gluttons. However, for the modern-day Inferno , I reversed circle two and circle three to match the new style of thought for modern society. In the society of toady, excessive want and overindulgence is considered a lesser offense than lust and sexual immorality. America alone wastes 96.4 billion pounds in edible goods in one year. Recovering just 25 percent would feed
20 million people, and yet Americans still waste and over-indulge as obesity and diabetes is more common.
• It is because gluttony is considered to be the norm, that I changed glutton to selfishness.
Selfishness is considered to be wrong by the general population as there is a public concurrence that people who only think themselves are narcissistic. Thus, the second circle is selfishness instead of gluttonous. Gluttonous was considered a worse sin the in the time in which Dante’s Inferno was written because of the general lack of resources. With the wide spread starvation during the time, hording food and over-indulgence was looked upon with great scorn. Where as lustfulness was looked upon as a lesser sin. “Medieval society had tolerated prostitution as a lesser evil: it was better for males to frequent prostitutes than to seduce virgins or married women.” (Chapter 11: The Later Middle Ages notes)
• In the modern-day Inferno , I changed the setting from one of rain and cold, to heat and fire. This is because society of today is kept safe during the winter cold with modern technology such as water and air heaters inside houses. Back in the day, however, there was no protection from the harsh cold because of the thin walls of houses and general lack of an abundance of food. Once the people back in the day ran out of food that was it. No grocery runs, no refrigerators, simply that year’s harvest. If the harvest yielded tool little crop, than the family would go hungry.

•
I felt a wolf-like creature would be politically correct for the modern time than a dog. Dogs had been domesticated by the thirteenth and fourteenth century, yet they were still considered to be scavengers. Now, in developing countries like America, there are no wild dogs. Dante described the creature, Cerberus, as a caninelike creature. Many in today’s society would simply connect that to a dog. To clear such misconceptions, I said the guardian was wolf-like. Maugrim, the guardian of the second circle, torments the occupants the same as in Dante’s Inferno, though now, the gaunt appearance of a wolf represents all the poor people that the selfish passed by. It is because the selfish did not help the least of man, that ravaging wolf punishes them.
• Similarly to gluttony, I connected selfishness to the same moral principal of, “they knew not when it was enough,” (Lines 49+50). Even though over-indulgence is looked upon as a normal occurrence in America today, there are still many people, especially outside America that still believe that living in excess is a sin. So as not to rule out those how believe that gluttony is still a sin, myself included, I added that everyone should know when there is enough. It is said that there is only so much a man needs until he needs no more. At that point we should be sharing with our fellow man. There should not be billionaires and millionaires who live in their own towers, while there are those in Guatemala living in shacks, still having to walk miles to get water.

Dante’s Vision of Lustful
Dante’s Inferno
From the Latin origin Lasciuus , the second circle of hell is for those who had an unrestrained want for physical desire
-It was home to a vicious hurricane that swept the souls around forever, in eternal darkness.
“I reached a place where every light is muted.” 5.28
“The hellish hurricane, which never rests, drives on the spirits with its violence…”
5.31+32
-A demon Minos also abides on the second level of lust, for it was considered to be the first “real” level of hell where the torture began.
“There dreadful Minos stands…examining the sins of those who enters, he judges and assigns as his tail twines” 5.4,5,6
Modern-day Inferno of Harassment
Modern-day Inferno
Traveling on, we went even lower.
Unto to third circle of harassment.
Here, a perpetual roar assaulted my senses
51
Unto my guide I turned, inquired,
“What be this new devilry? A Storm?” “Yes
An eternal tornado that eats all.
These souls abandoned reason for pleasure,
And now spin forever without relief.
Over the dry and barren wasteland.
Darkness is all they see and pain is all they feel. This is a place hurt and mourning.
They break each other in the violent winds
For in life they longed for the touch of flesh
And in death it becomes their suffering
Such is the fate in store for the impure
54
57
60
63

•
The third circle of hell in my modern-day Inferno corresponds to the second circle of hell in
Dante’s original Inferno : Lust. However, instead of “lust”, the third circle is called “Harassment”.
This is because there is so much careful consideration put in specific titles today so as not to offend certain people of varying backgrounds or beliefs. Everything today must be politically correct in many ways. “Lustful” is a word too filled with bad connotation and thus shunned by most of society. “Harassment” is a word which relates to lustful in many ways while still remaining “respectful”. I used harassment as a satire to modern culture; the child-proofing mentality that we are so obsessed with today. The usual victim of this child-proofing mentality is the visual media. I used to watch the children oriented television show, “Tom and Jerry” about a tom cat fully intent on capturing and eating a mouse, whereas the mouse constantly outwitted the tom cat through superior intellect, resulting in the immediate pain of the cat causing mirth for the viewers. This childhood show had been canceled from conventional channels on the grounds that it was too violent and caused children to act in villainous natures. However, “Tom and Jerry” had been on for many years and only now does it reap violent behavior. This is simply an example of the needless child-proofing of modern society, where petty things are made into violent or dangerous things.
• In the original Dante’s Inferno , the perpetual storm was a hurricane. In my modern-day Inferno ,
I changed this hurricane into a tornado to mirror the current culture of modern-day. With the current architecture of the houses and cities, there is not much to fear beyond flooding when it comes to a hurricane. A tornado however, spells doom for many more as the destructive force of a tornado cannot be bested in our current age. The tornado adds the element of doom and potential death that a hurricane would have insured earlier in history in the culture of Dante.

•
There is also an addition moral I added at the end of my modern day Inferno; the bodies of the dammed colliding and causing damage. In Dante's Inferno , the focus was on the mental state as he wrote of abandoning reason saying, “[They were] damned because they sinned within the flesh, subjecting reason to the rule of lust.” 5.37-38. Also the hopelessness they experienced was physiologically damaging, deteriorating their mental states. Dante focused on their mental states because society in the middle ages was so hard and laborious that physical pain was a way of life. Hard work in the field, to work indoors like cleaning or cooking was all considerably harder than modern times. Saying there was physical pain in hell was no more than saying death was a little worse than life. However, if there was something the people had in life, it was their hope and moral, to hear that there was no hope and no physiological strength was a horrifying concept. Today, however, life has been made considerably easier do to technology there is considerably less hard manual labor. To hear of physical pain is by far more daunting for the society of today, making the incorporation of physical pain a worthy addition to the modern-day Inferno .

Dante’s Vision of circle four
Modern-day Inferno of Empty-Hearted
Dante’s Inferno
From the Latin origin, “prodigus”, the fourth circle of hell is for the Avaricious who horded possessions such as the clergy, and the prodigal who squandered them
-The occupants had to push large stones across the floor in circles, and ram them into each other, scorning each other for their faults.
-
“They struck against each other; at that point, each turned around and, wheeling back those weights, "cried out: ‘Why do you hoard?’ ‘Why do you squander?’” 7.28,29,30
-Both sinners are guarded by Plutus, either the classic god of the underworld or the Greek god of wealth
”’Pape Satàn, Pape Satàn aleppe!’ so Plutus, with his grating voice, began.”7.1+2
Modern-day Inferno
Downward we traveled in the depths, now coming upon the fourth circle: Empty-Hearted.
It was a seemingly endless highway .
The air was frigid and chilled my life blood.
Upon the highway there lay many cars
Empty and abandoned they sit in snow
With the souls of the empty-heated pulling them along the highway as punishment.
For they were heavy burdens in their lives
Because they deliberately did nothing and fed off the accomplishments of others
They became burdens to the rest of the world.
Now, they feel what it is like to be a burden, empty, worthless yet there forever.
Thus is the fate of those who do nothing
66
69
72
75
78

• In Dante’s original
Inferno , the fourth circle was for those who horde and those who squander.
This was for the greedy, self-absorbed clergy that would horde possessions and make their lives about personal gain instead of serving the population. Those who squandered were also located in the fourth circle, those who spent needlessly and wasted their possessions.
•
I encompassed this element of wastefulness and hording with the modern circle of selfishness.
Circle Four was thus modernized from Avaricious and Prodigal to empty-hearted. Emptyhearted is similar to the original because these people have nothing to contribute to the community. People who horde and people who squander are only out to benefit themselves and not anyone else, as the modern-day empty-hearts are to leech society for their own benefit.
When one intentionally does nothing with one’s life, they become a parasite to humanity, living off of the sympathy and grace of others. They become a burden to the rest of society as they now need to carry them along. While welfare and shelters are two very good things that aid the less fortunate, when one makes a living off of them out of laziness, it poisons the rest of society, and prevents the advancement of technology and the standard of living.
• In the original, the occupants of the fourth circle had to push great stones around for their punishment. In the modernized Inferno , the occupants must pull empty cars along a highway covered in snow. They pull empty cars to represent their empty deeds that the other people of the world had to carry.
• In the culture of the middle ages, everyone worked or they died, it was that simple. No one could support others because they could barley support themselves. Now a days, people can afford to create organizations to aid others. Our culture has changed into one that feels it can help everyone; and some take advantage of the system

Dante’s Vision of Wrathful
Dante’s Inferno
From the Latin origin, “irritare” the fifth circle was for the wrathful and the gloomy.
The wrathful fought each other in the river of styx, while the gloomy drown for eternity under the mud of the river
“who'll wallow here like pigs in slime” 8.50
“the muddy sinners so dismember him…began to turn his teeth against himself” 8.59+63
-They the place is hot just as the fury of the souls were hot in anger during life
“so his shade down here is hot with fury”
8.48
-Showing how even the shade was hot, thus no escape from the heat as their was no escape from their fury
Modern-day Inferno of Diseased
Modern-day Inferno
Further down we traveled to a place where water abided. A great river rolled throughout this circle long and deep it was
“What be this place?” Asks I to Ralph, “Why do we float along so?” “The pit to which the diseased are banished, those indulged in their pain.”
81
84
These are the souls who lived with disorders and with them willfully remained. They lived as ones who were sick, yet in health they are
These are those who say, I can’t listen for
I’m diseased. And those who cry ‘I cant sit still’ because they’ve been allowed to remain.
87
90
In their current state, which really had no 93 irregularity , they lived in their pretend realm of sickness which served no purpose unto the world
96 They are like the empty-hearted, though worse, for they pretended to have a reason
As they justified their lives, however fake

• In Dante’s original
Inferno , the fifth circle was specifically for the wrathful, but also for the gloomy, or depressed in spirit. In the late thirteenth century and the early fourteenth century, a dreadful famine was raving Europe as the weather had become increasingly more severe.
Everyone had to work even harder to harvest their crop as Europe was plunged into a “little ice age” The chapter 11 note packet states, “A small drop in overall temperatures resulted in shortened growing seasons and disastrous weather conditions, including severe storms and constant rain.” People everywhere had begun to realize that they were living in life or death times. The wrathful would have made living even more difficult as conflicts would have arose between households. Anger, being considered one of the seven deadly sins, is a stepping stone to wrath. Wrath is more serious than simple anger meaning, a willful or intentional unforgiving nature towards another persuadably out anger. The culture of the day could not afford such villainous people,as mercenaries, Vikings,and pirates plagued life for individuals and countries alike.
• Today, however, wrath is labeled “anger” and people go to physiatrists for management. But they do not necessarily work to abolish the anger as much as control it. In modern times, we do not get rid of the problem. If a child is restless or fidgety, humanity used to reprimand him/her and teach them differently. Now, the child is brought to a “professional” and diagnosed with a disorder, where they now have an excuse to be as restless and fidgety as they want, even to a disrespectful level. This is a problem in society. People now say, “I have anxiety problems I cant do talk to him,” or “I have ADHD I cant listen to you.” It is no different than the wrathful or the gloomy who find a sickly way of life and flourish in it. Circle Four was for people who intentionally did not add to society for no reason. Circle five is for people who did not give their whole effort into adding to society because they justified their shortcomings as a disease instead of breaking the habits and becoming better.

Dante’s Vision of Heretics
Dante’s Inferno
The Sixth Circle was the beginning of th City of Dis, the devil’s city
This also marks the starts of Virgil’s loss in power as they travel lower
"It is quite rare for one of us [people from limbo of where Virgil is found] to go along the way that I have taken now.” 9.20+21
-
From the Latin origin, “haereticus” circle six was for those who did not believe in God or the afterlife .
“Here are arch-heretics and those who followed them, from every sect.” 9.127+128
They were charged with spending eternity cramped in burning tombs for their blatant defaming of religion. All who follow their corrupt way of thinking were also banished to the sixth circle.
“the sepulchers make all the plain uneven…flames were scattered through the tombs…” 9.115 + 118
“The lid of every tomb was lifted up…and from each tomb such sorry cries…”
9.121+122
Modern-day Inferno of Dis
Modern-day Inferno
We came upon a city that sent doom, down my very spine. The very city of the devil rose up before our eyes
Before the city’s gates, in the plane just
Outside, there lies a numerous amount of cages with souls housed in the bars.
To Ralph I turned and inquired, “What be the cages we see around us? And who are the tortured souls within, trapped like this?”
“These are the upstarts . The one who poison order and reason , instilled by the heads of state and country. It’s them and their followers.”
99
102
105
108
And I looked out unto the crowd of the tormented, and realized that the iron bars were glowing hot as flaming embers .
To Ralph I turned to express my horror,
“They be burned and scarred by the molten bars!”
“Yes.” Says he “As they burned with the desire
111
114 to begin trouble, they now burn forever.
Those cages are more crowed than they look
And tortured they will remain for eternity.
117

• In Dante’s original Inferno, the Sixth Circle was the devil’s city of Dis, which marks the beginning of lower hell. From here, the demons become more fierce, as to the punishments for sins. Three circles abide in lower hell and they are reserved for the most vile sinners. Satan himself was written to abide in the last Circle. Outside the city of Dis, there is a great plane, where, scattered across the ground, lay many tombs (sepulchers) that are wreathed with flames. In each tomb lay several souls who can only communicate my moans and cries of anguish. These souls are for the heretics, those who spoke out against the church and the established religion.
•
In the modernized Inferno , it is written that instead of heretics there are upstarts. This is for several reasons. In the time of the original Inferno, the church was the most powerful structure in the day’s politics. In more modern times, however, the church has slipped far below its former sphere of influence. The government is now the most powerful political figure, thus changing the perspective of hell. It was a major crime to speak out against the church. Now, there is no punishment for heresy because of the civil right, freedom of speech.
• So in today’s culture, the equivalent of actively speaking out against one’s religion, is actively speaking out against one’s government. Thus, the upstart is one who intentionally cause discord between the public and the government, upsetting order and rebelling against the current mind set that the government knows what’s best. For today, the upstart is the equivalent to the later hectic on a sinful level, as they both spoke against the established order.
• The tombs in which the dammed were housed has also been changed as, a tomb signifies that of religious sin while a barred cage signifies that of a sin against the government. The souls are crowded into cages of burning bars to parallel to the tombs set in fire.

Dante’s Vision of Violence
Dante’s Inferno
From the Latin origin, “violentia” the seventh circle of hell was for those who engaged in forceful actions or attacks against another’s will
-There were three rings of this circle.
-The first, a lake of boiling blood and fire for those who commit violence against people or property
I.E. murderers, plunderers, and tyrants
-The second, a gnarled forest for those how committed suicide,thus crimes against one’s self
I.E. Suicides and spendthrifts
-The third, a sandy plane of those who committed violent crimes against God and the natural word or order
I.E. Sodomites, Blasphemers, and Usurpers
Modern-day Inferno of Fraud
Modern-day Inferno
As we traveled even lower into the dark recesses of the Great Below, we entered unto the seventh circle
It was the darkest of all the circles, to the point where we had to use our hands, to feel around the rock walls as we walked.
Here is the home of the thieves who stay, now in death in eternal darkness. Here three pits are guarded by vile goblins.
120
123
126
129 A head taller than a man, these goblins punish those of the three pits.
pouring water into the first pit.
Yet never filling, the occupants drown in the company of vipers for they were the ones who stole possessions .
The second pit would have smoldering ash poured in while never filling as they burned and choked for they stole other’s identities .
The third pit would have heavy boulders thrown in while never filling as they were crushed for they are those who stole other’s lives
132
135
138

•
The seventh circle of hell was reserved for the violent, against others, against themselves, and against God and Nature. This circle is guarded first by a great minotaur, then the souls themselves are guarded by centaurs who would shoot the inhabitance in the case of attempted escape or in rebellion against the rules. For example, if a soul should rise farther out of the boiling lake than they are allowed, the centaurs would then shoot them with arrows for their disobedience. One such centaur served as a guard and companion to Dante and Virgil as they passed through the seventh circle. “Chiron [a centaur] wheeled about and right and said to
Nessus [another centaur] : ‘Then, return and be their [Dante and Virgil] guide; if other troops disturb you, fend them off.’” In the time of Dante’s Inferno , the culture had the same attitude towards violence as we have instilled today where dependant on the crime determines the severity of the crime either ending in long jail time to the death penalty.
• Through modernization, I changed the seventh circle from one of violence to one of theft, for in
American culture today, theft is a lesser crime than many forms of violence. Violence then, would be on a later circle.
• There are three pits in the modern Inferno , one for those who stole possessions, one for those who stole identities, and one for those who stole lives. The first pit is for the lesser offence of stolen possessions, they are drowned in water that is never still, but pouring from above. Thus, it is never stagnate water, but moving to give a pummeling sensation. This is for the lives of the victims they sent a spin due to there taking of their things. The second pit is for those who stole identities, who have burning ash thrown upon them causing them to choke, to represent the words they fabricated to make themselves others. They are thus burned as well to show that it is their body that suffers because they tried to be another’s. The third pit is for those who stole or took a life out of negligence or accident. They have stoned thrown upon them to signify the weight of loss that they caused the families of the victims to feel because of their carelessness.

Modern-day Inferno of violence Dante’s Vision of Fraud
To arrive at the eighth circle, one must cross the great chasm on the back of a Geryon
-The circle of Fraud was for those who intentionally lied about their identities or used others through deception to do their will
There are ten trenches in which different sinners are placed.
-First trench is for Panderers and Seducers
-Second trench is for Flatters
-Third trench is for Simonists
-Fourth trench is for Diviners
-Fifth trench is for Barrators
-Sixth trench is for Hypocrites
-Seventh trench is for Thieves
-Eighth trench is for false counselors
-Ninth trench is for Schismatics
-Tenth trench is for Falsifiers
Modern-day Inferno
Ralph and I have reached a truly evil place. The screams of the tormented rise and assault my ears and great stench plagues my nose.
“ Have no fear , for as we travel further,
The evil hosts know not to lay a hand upon me, for I am your guide in hell.”
Ralph calmed my failing spirit and forward into the eighth circle of violence we descended upon an elevator .
At the bottom, it was guarded by trolls
Who stared in contempt for the guide and me, yet said nothing, for they knew we were coming.
In the circle of violence, the noise and stench was overbearing, worse even
Than all other circles combined in one
In the dark were the violent murders, the insane and the mad homicidals all tortured in death to what they did in life.
141
144
147
150
153
156

•
The only way to travel to the eighth circle is by crossing the Great Chasm on the back of a demon called the Geryon. It is here that Virgil is seem becoming more and more powerless against the great and terrible monsters of lower hell. This is to signify that reason is powerless against faith, as in order to believe in a faith, one must subject some reason and accept that there are some things that cannot be explained. Virgil, who thus represents reason, grows weaker as the faith-based monsters grow stronger. The modernized Inferno , mirrors the culture of today however, where Ralph grows stronger and more assertive as the monsters get stronger to signify how even in the face of God, people still hold onto their own foolish and narrow-minded views and profess that there is a scientific reason for all.
•
The eighth circle was a circle for many sinners of very dark and vile offences. They were subject to the most severe punishments out of the previous seven circles for crimes involving intentional deception. The panderers and seducers were whipped by demons for as they drove people to do their will, thus the demons drive them. The flatterers were seeped in feces to represent the foul words they used to achieve their own desire. The simonists were buried headfirst in rock with their feet burned representing baptismal fonts. The diviners had their heads twisted backwards for they tried to see the future by forbidden means. The barrators or corrupt politians were submerged in boiling pitch to represent the sticky deals and dark secrets.
The hypocrites must wear lead coats and walk without purpose to represent the false exteriors they portrayed in life. The thieves are turned into frightful creatures as they stole from people in life, now in death their identities as men are stolen. The false councilors are trapped within fire for they used their positions of power to influence others to do fraudulent acts. The schismatics are torn apart by demons and when their wounds heal they are torn apart again to represent how they tore away from the church. And the final trench for the falsifiers is plagued with many diseases affiliated with the crime from fever to leprosy where the souls tear at their own flesh.

•
To descend through the Great Chasm, Dante and Virgil used a flying creature. In the society of the era, the only things known to fly were animals blessed with the ability. Now however, we have developed the technology to reach great heights on our own. Thus, in the modernized
Inferno, the two companions descend the Great Chasm in an elevator guarded by trolls.
•
The politics of the day viewed the supernatural as the most powerful concept to man. Thus, most of the sins in the eighth circle are for religious sins. As discussed in earlier circles, the government of today does not recognize the supernatural as a powerful concept, thus I changed the circle from one of fraud and religious sin to one of violence and sin against another. In America today, no human can receive the death penalty for thievery alone. Only a serious crime resulting in murder or several murders constitutes death to be a punishment. This proves that in today’s culture, it is a more heinous act to commit violence than one of fraud.
Violence is thus the eighth circle in the modern world because it is considered to be the most sinful. In this eighth circle of violence, each individual souls is tormented with the same amount f violence he or she exerted upon another living creature. To the stomping of a bug to the beating of a human being.

Dante’s Vision of Traitors
Dante’s Inferno
-The last circle of hell is guarded by a ring of giants that are visible the ninth circle only from the waist-up to remind the sinners that they are always watching.
”I'd have you know they are not towers, but giants…” 31.31
Within the ninth circle, there is a frozen lake called Cocytus where traitors are frozen in at different depths depending on the severity of their betrayals.
“…saw in front of me beneath my feet, a lake that, frozen fast, had lost the look of water and seemed glass.” 32.22,23,24
Round one: Betrayal to blood relatives
Round two: Betrayal to Country
Round three: Betrayal to guests
Round four: Betrayal lords and God
-Satan himself lives on this level, chewing the three worst traitors, Judas Iscariot,
Brutus, and Cassius in his three mouths
Modern-day Inferno of
Modern-day Inferno
Unto the last circle we did arrive.
and behold did the true evils of hell unfold before our very eyes.
The devil himself, Lucifer the lord of the deep. Sit waist deep in the frozen lake of despair, chewing the souls of terror.
Satan chews Hitler, fürer of world terror in his first mouth, Osama Bin Laden
In his second, and Fidel Castro last.
There are more souls frozen in the ice lake.
Those who commit terrorist acts against local, state, country, and around the world.
Hitler is subject to the worst amount of punishment for he killed God’s chosen people, the Jews, and millions more through war.
Osama and Fidel are subject to torture because they committed terrorist actions against several countries
159
162
165
168
170
173

•
The ninth circle was for the traitors throughout history, the worst being Judas Iscariot, who betrayed God by turning Jesus over to his enemies. It is said, that Satan also abides in the ninth circle buried waist deep in ice for is own betrayal while he was still in heaven, serving God himself. Satan was cast down from heaven and banished into hell because he was the ultimate traitor. Now, however, as serious as deserting, defecting, and betraying is, it is defiantly not considered the most heinous crime anyone could ever commit. With current events of Hitler’s tyrannical rein during World War II, to the devastating attack upon the word trade center in
2001, terror and the causing of it has become the number one most hated crime in the world and specifically America. The political leaders of the country fight daily against the threats against the United States of America just as the political leaders of Dante's day had to fend off the deadly aspect of betrayers. No one forgets the Battle of Thermopylae, where the most powerful force of soldiers was decimated by one traitor. No one forgets how the walls of Troy fell because of one traitor. Traitors could unravel power and bring empires to their knees. They were serpents of the human world, who could poising the integrity of a nation. In today’s culture however, those who undo power are those who cause terror. Hitler plunged the world into chaos where no one was left unscathed in some way. Osama Bin Laden and Fidel Castro made the world a scary place, one where everyone has to be checked fro explosive before traveling on an airplane, a machine built for comfort and convenience has been turned into a weapon of fear and discomfort. Just as the traitor was the worst of man, now those who incite terror is the worst of man.

• Dante’s
Inferno was written in the late thirteenth, early fourteenth century. It was an allegory explaining the geography and horrors of hell through the eyes of Dante Alighieri with the aid of his guide Virgil. Dante used the Inferno to tell many morals, some we may still not understand.
He taught of the evilness of man, the power of reason verses belief, and the corruption of the church within his poem.
• In an effort to construct a modernized version to the Inferno , I incorporated much more recent history and ideologies that have a social, cultural and political connection between the circles of the original and the newly forged circles this modern work.
•
This project takes the views and beliefs of the nation and current-day society as a whole and does not express the thoughts or beliefs of any one individual. There are many beliefs that people house, not all in agreement with some in this project. In a conscious effort to remain respectful yet informative, I apologize for any offence taken a person or persons through the content of this project.

•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•