Matt Koenig

Miss Skirtich
English 10: Honors World Literature
3 April 2016
The Inferno that follows outlines the worst types of sinners in order. The punishments were
decided according to the severity of the sin. Similarly to Dantes Hell, the shape is that of a
funnel. The Seventh and Eighth Circles are comprised of three and six subdivisions respectively.
Circle One is home to Those Who Never Had Control. These are the people whose early
lives scarred them so badly they never found a way out, leading them to sin. Whether it was
parental abuse or extreme loss, their backgrounds damaged their psyche so badly that recovery
was not possible. As these people go through life, some find themselves developing violent
tendencies, hurting themselves, others, or both. Although their upbringing is not an excuse, it is
easier to understand why they did what they did. Therefore, similarly to Dantes First Circle of
Hell, they face virtually no punishment. They have no hope of getting to Heaven, but they have
a peaceful, green meadow to call their own.
The sinners of Circle 2 are the Drug Abusers. These are the people who deliberately began
using drugs for pleasure. This also includes drug dealers. Because they were constantly
searching for a better high, they must spend eternity sprinting through flames, constantly running
faster. If they slow down or remain at the same speed for too long, they are devoured by the
flames and start again. One example of this type of sinner is Walter White, from AMCs
Breaking Bad.

The proud are the inhabitants of the Third Circle. The proud are those who refused to share
the gifts they had been given with the less fortunate. They never donated money and used their
talents only for themselves. They thrived on the attention and praise of others. Because they did
this, they are starved, as they refused to help the starving, and are eternally thirsty, as they gave
the thirsty no drink in life. They are stuck in pitch-black holes, so that no one can see them and
praise them. The only thing visible is a Crucifix, which they must adore. They are forced to sing
praises to God, as they refused to do in life, thinking they were too good for faith. One example
of this is the rich man who refused to help Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31
Circle Four is home to the Lustful. These are the people who let their bodily desires overtake
their lives. Because they sought pleasure on earth, they must lie in pits of mud and excrement.
The amount of exposure allowed depends on the severity of sin. Those who seduced a person
and in doing so, ruined a relationship, are stuck upside-down in the filth. One example of this
type of sinner was Giacomo Casanova.
The thieves of the Fifth Circle took the property of others. Now, they spend eternity having
their bodies taken from them. They walk in a circle surrounded by demons, and each demon rips
a different part of their body from them. As they proceed around the circle, each body part
excruciatingly grows back just in time to be torn off again. Movies provide plenty of examples
of theft for us, for example the main characters of Now You See Me.
In the sixth circle there are the Arsonists, those guilty of setting fire to property and
buildings. They burnt these things for whatever reason they saw fit. This destruction of property
has led to them being forced to swim eternally in a lake of fire. Anyone who tries to get out is
shot with a flaming arrow by the circles guards, centaurs. The liquid in the lake is kerosene, so

if an arrow hits a sinner, they immediately go up in flames. Examples of arsonists are chased in
the Criminal Minds episodes Ashes and Dust and House on Fire.
The Seventh Circle is home to Those who Scarred, and also is the beginning of Lower Hell.
Being tortured has a permanent impact on someone, therefore those who carried out the
tortures are permanently punished the same way in the First Division of the Seventh Circle.
Whatever method of torture the person carried out is constantly carried out on them without any
relief. Whether it be electrocution, drowning, or any other form, there is a demon for each
sinner, to act as that particular person had in life. There is no relief for the sinner, as the
drowning is constant, as is electrocution, etc. Whatever they did in life is eternally done unto
them without a chance of being relieved. Torturers are common in military and political
clandestine services. An example of this type of sinner would be a member of ISIS, a group that
has tortured Christians.
In the Second Division of the Seventh Circle, the rapists have to pay for their sins. The
rapists took advantage of another persons sexuality for their own benefit. They ruin mens and
womens lives so that they can have a release. Their desires tear families and couples apart,
because the trauma they leave in their wake is too much for many people to handle. Because
they are willing to tear apart families, they themselves are torn apart. Blinded, they run through
a flaming forest, being chased by savage animals who rip the sinners to shreds. One example ofa
sinner here is Benny Sela, an Israeli man who committed rape at least 24 times.
In the Third Division of the Seventh Circle, the pedophiles are punished. The pedophiles
abused children, indirectly and directly. Pedophiles take advantage of a childs youth and
innocence, and often do not even seek help for their disgusting tastes. Those who indirectly

abused children (with child pornography and such) are thrown from a high cliff onto burning
sand. When they have spent a day face down on the burning sand, the process repeats itself.
Those who directly abused children (through molestation, exposure, etc.) are thrown from a
higher cliff onto a bed of nails as fire rains down on them. This process repeats every thirty
minutes. One example of a pedophile and molester is Jerry Sandusky.
Circle 8 is home to the Killers, and has six subdivisions, or Bolgias.
The people found in this Bolgia are guilty of having killed a single person during their
lifetime. Because they could have avoided this fate but never repented, they are forced through a
labyrinth with no way out. However, they believe there is a path to escape and get to Heaven.
This maze symbolizes the fact that because they never repented or turned to God, they will
always be wandering down a path of false hope. One example of a sinner is a drunk driver who
kills another person in a crash.
Warriors who killed on the battlefield are punished in Bolgia 2. They sit in small pits that
are deep enough that the sinner cannot see out of his own. The pit is filled with the blood of each
man he killed on the battlefield. For the great warriors, this means they are drowning. No
sinner may to come above his allowed limit, or else a solid cover is placed on top of the pit and
the blood is brought high enough that there is no air between the cover and the blood. One
sinner who would especially suffer in this Bolgia is Paul Warfield Tibbets, Jr.; the man who
personally dropped the nuclear bomb on Hiroshima, killing 100,000 people.
The sinners punished in Bolgia 3 are those who killed out of revenge for a past offense.
They walk in circles, while being whipped and beaten with clubs by demons. Revenge is a very

common theme in many movies today, and can be seen in Gladiator, when Maximus attempts to
get revenge against Commodus.
The sinners of Bolgia 4 are the Suicides. During life, they were not grateful for the great
gifts that God had provided them, and committed the terrible offense of throwing away all they
had received in taking their own life. Because they were so anxious to get rid of their bodies, a
demon cuts each soul to pieces, which are then thrown into a fire. This returns the soul to its
original state, just in time to be cut apart again. People found in this Bolgia include Ophelia
from Hamlet, who took her life after the death of her father.
The sinners found in Bolgia 5 are the Serial Killers. They took the lives of at least three
people, and many of them took several more than three. These killers are frozen on their backs
to a lake, while giant icicles fall from the ceiling, impaling them. The icicles drop at random,
and because the cave is as dark as night, the sinners never get a chance to brace themselves. This
symbolizes the killers victims often being completely in the dark about what would soon happen
to them, and when it did they had no way to protect themselves. Some people who are in this
circle are Jeffrey Dahmer and John Wayne Gacy.
The people found in this sixth and final Bolgia of Circle 8 are the leaders who ordered
massive numbers of people be killed. These genocidal leaders killed millions of people, and all
of that blood is on their hands even if they never pulled a trigger. These sinners are forced
underneath of a weight as heavy as that of all of the bodies they took the lives from. Relief is
impossible and they will be crushed like this until the end of time, when they will be reunited
with their bodies. When this happens, the pain will become even more excruciating. Some of
these sinners include Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Herod.

The sinners found in the ninth and final circle of Hell are those who committed any of the
previous sins in return for money. These are the assassins, the mercenaries, some torturers, and
many more. They are punished in a great pool of magma, in which all must remain completely
submerged. Anyone who raises just a bit of their body from the flames is attacked by great
sharks in the magma, and brought down to the bottom of the pool. Here they are flayed by the
sharks until another sinner tries for relief. They are completely incapable of doing anything but
trying to get to the surface for just a few seconds. At the center of the pool is Satan, trying to get
out of the magma but unable to because the low ceiling above will not allow his massive form to
be freed. One sinner here is Judas, who caused Jesus death by turning him in to the authorities
for thirty pieces of silver.
These sinners are punished in this order because I believe the lower in Hell they are, the
darker the sin. Sinners who were willing to kill and sin for money are at the bottom because
there is nothing more selfish than that. The Killers are in Circle Eight because taking someones
life and not repenting deserves everything Hell has to offer. Those Who Scarred come in Circle
Seven because they ruin peoples lives for their own sadistic desires. Before these sinners are the
Arsonists, because they destroyed property that was not their own for whatever sick reason they
had in mind. The thieves belong in Circle Five because they took another persons property, but
did not destroy it. In the Fourth Circle are the Lustful, because their sins were for their own
pleasure and did not always hurt other people. The Proud are in the Third Circle because they
are simply ignorant, and do not even deserve the attention dedicated to a later circle. The Second
Circle contains the Drug Abusers because their sins really only harmed themselves, rather than
harming others, which occurs in all later circles. The First Circle is home to Those Who Never

Had Control, because their background set them up for a troubled life before they could do
anything about it.