Although Dante believed "incontinence" was the worst of the 3 types of sins (he thought it was the hardest to overcome), it is represented in the "upper hell" (these self-indulgent actions are not done intentionally). Some of the 7 deadly sins are expressed in this upper hell because they are uncontrollable. I thought it was interesting that only 5 of these 7 sins were represented with their own circle of Hell in Inferno since these cardinal sins are considered in the Bible to be the worst possible things to do. Now, I know The Divine Comedy was not based solely on the Bible, but I figured if Dante was going to give some of the sins their own circle he might as well have given a circle to them all. I feel that these sins should be given some more attention, taking into account how important they would have been in Dante's time and even now.
Dante directly mentions:
1. Lust (circle 2)
2. Gluttony (circle 3)
3. Avarice/Greed (circle 4)
4. Sloth (circle 5--I will include this as a direct reference because the slothful are mentioned as being underneath the wrathful)
5. Wrath (circle 5)
Envy and Pride are not explicitly accounted for! Many people would argue that pride is the most treacherous of all the 7 sins so it amazes me why this sin, especially, was not given its own circle. I wish I could ask Dante why exactly he did this--whether it was intentional or it was an unconscious act in that he was just trying to focus his attention on the bigger picture. The order of the sins in the "terraces" can be argued, too. Some individuals might find that lust is worse than gluttony, for example, and should thus come after gluttony and so on and so forth. All in all, each sin really feeds into the other.
Which of the 7 sins do y'all think is the most "dangerous?"
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4 comments:
I think wrath is the worst possible sin because it can often lead to violence. I think there are two types violence. The first is self defense. I think this is okay, and because of this factor, people may accept violence in some cases, therefore not proclaiming it unjust and in turn, people may not think of wrath as the worst sin. Secondly though, there is the type of violence that has no motive. For example, think about all these horrible school, theatre, mall, etc. shootings. These acts cannot be justified except for in the mind of the murderer. The reason I think this sin is the worst of all is because the one committing violence not only takes others lives, but also takes away their chance to repent their sins. These people unfairly die before they're ready, and I realize that this same thing will happen if they die of natural causes, but in that case, life and chance is not being taken away from them by another human being.
Abbey, you mention that pride was not represented in the upper hell. I think pride is not represented because if it was Dante would be sent straight down as the most prideful sinner. Of what the class has read from Dante's Inferno, we have seen that Dante has continuously related himself to christ, one of the best poets, and the whole story is about how God has given Dante, a mortal, the ability to enter Hell. Dante has elevated himself to a certain status in his writing. Dante seems to be full of himself and especially prideful.
WOAH! You're so right. That's a great observation, Anastasia!!
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