Dante’s Inferno Themes

Themes in Inferno Overview

Inferno takes place in the year 1300, a time during which Dante the poet was active in Italian politics. He was intensely dedicated to a study of philosophy and politics, which influences some of the content of Inferno, including whose souls he witnesses in Hell. In the early 14th-century Florence, there was a political struggle between church and state. Dante tended to advocate more for a separation but the papacy maintained control of Florence for quite some time. This influence is evident in Inferno as Dante sees many of the historical figures involved in this power struggle as he journeys through Hell.

In terms of place, this poem takes place in Hell. Dante begins with the outer layers—first Limbo, and then into the First Circle of Hell and onward. As he travels deeper and deeper into Hell, he finds the punishments for different types of sins. He presents Hell as an exceptionally organized place concerned with one thing: punishing those who belong there according to their sins on Earth. As Dante spends more time in all nine circles of Hell, he changes from feeling pity towards the anguished soul to a more accepting and wiser attitude about justice.

Motifs in Inferno

There are several motifs in this poem that speak to broader thematic elements. The first motif is political arguments. Dante encounters several people that he recognizes from his life on Earth. He tends to enter discussions with these souls about the state of Florentine affairs. Although he himself avoids any heated discourse, many of these souls are in Hell because of their propensity for political strife. This motif enhances themes about living in God’s graces rather than succumbing to more evil influences.

A related motif is that of fame and prestige in human life. Many of the politicians who lived a life of fame and prestige were found to be in Hell once Dante began his journey. This is because they did not fully live in accordance to God’s values. They were greedy, corrupt, misguided, etc. and their actions simply landed them in Hell for eternity. It goes back to the classic saying, “you can’t take it with you.”

Another motif is the frequency of allusions to classical literature. This all starts as the ancient philosophers and poets who existed before Christ’s time on Earth are explained to live in Limbo. They were not bad individuals but cannot go to Heaven since they did not know of Jesus. However, they do not belong in Hell either. Furthermore, Dante incorporates mythological figures into the poem such as the river Styx, Minos, centaurs, etc.

Dante’s Inferno Themes

Here’s a list of major themes in Dante’s Inferno.

1. The Perfection of God’s Justice.
2. Evil Juxtaposed with God’s Grace.
3. Storytelling as a Means of Immortality.

The Perfection of God’s Justice

God’s justice – In Inferno, Dante has clearly put great care into inventing punishments that correspond with a person’s cardinal sins on Earth. For example, the wrathful are doomed to suffer eternal vicious attacks against one another.

He also mentions that God was moved to create Hell in the name of Justice. Therefore, this speaks to God’s ability to craft appropriate justice according to a person’s time on Earth. This helps to position Dante’s broader moral statements with Inferno about religion.

The guiding principle in Dante’s Hell is balance. The evils done on Earth are balanced with the evils returned in Hell. This reinforces the idea that there is a divine balance for each of our souls through God.

In this way, God’s judgment is actually quite rigid—objective, mechanical, no extenuating circumstances can save a soul from his or her sins. Punishment is rather formulaic in this way. However, the fact remains that sinners receive punishment in the exact measure of their sins, and this is, in a sense, perfect.

Evil Juxtaposed with God’s Grace

Evil juxtaposed – One way to look at Inferno is as a classification of all the major types of human sin. They each have a specific region of Hell in which they are punished fully. This was created by Dante following strict moral codes of Christianity.

The ultimate priority is God’s will, God’s grace, and God’s position as ruler in Heaven. Acts of violence, of any type, are seen as transgressions against God’s love for humans. So, while it may seem odd from a modern perspective that those who engaged in fraud are in a deeper Circle of Hell than those who committed murder, it goes back to a measure of how intense that sin was against God, not against other humans.

At the end of the day, evil is evil when it goes against God’s graces. Dante sticks to this idea as he creates the Circles of Hell rather than to consider the nuances, the psychology, or the philosophy of evilness.

Storytelling as a Means of Immortality

Storytelling – Several times, souls that Dante encounters in Hell ask him to remember them on Earth. In this way, this remembrance helps to immortalize these people even though they are dead.

This is clearly an important idea to Dante the poet—he speaks to his poetic abilities several times in the poem. For example, in the beginning, he calls on the Muses to help him tell his story. Towards the end, he asserts that he is better at storytelling about transition and metamorphosis than either Ovid or Lucan. In this way, Dante is immortalizing himself by writing prolific art.