Cantos XXI-XXIII

"Do you, O Malacoda, think I could get/ Through all of your defences safely as this/ Except by Heaven's will and happy fate?/ Now let us pass- for Heaven also decrees/ That I should show another this savage road." (XXI. 79-83)

This passage shows the relationship that exists between the realms of Heaven and Hell. I have always thought that Hell and Heaven were natural enemies, god versus evil. However, Virgil uses "Heaven's will" as good reason that the demon Malacoda should not attack the traveling pair. I find it interesting that there are established rules between the two realms of the after life. What does Hell and its inhabitants have to fear from Heaven and its angels? Seeing as how they are already in Hell, the place of true torment and suffering, what would be the consequences if a servant of Hell were to break the rules of the apparent truce. Is there any greater punishment than banishment to the depths of Hell? Apparently there is something worse than the suffering of Hell, as can be seen in Malacoda's reaction when he immediately calls off the other demons. It is quite ironic that Heaven, the place of paradise and peace, has the power to inflect a torture worse than that of Hell. I also feel as though the relationship is a little one sided. Surely a spirit from Heaven would not be allowed to bring a sinner from Hell on a journey through the spheres of Heaven. Why is it that Virgil commands so much respect from the treacherous beings that have been sent to Hell? I am spectacle that Beatrice and others in Heaven would be truly concerned for Virgil's spirit, seeing as how he was denied the chance to get into heaven and banished to Hell.

'The one impaled there you are looking at/ Is he who counseled the Pharisees to bend/ The expedient way, by letting one be put to torture for the people. You see him stretch/ Naked across the path to feel the weight." (XXIII. 110-114)

This passage describes a soul that Dante and Virgil have come upon who is being punished in the Sixth Pouch of the Eighth circle of Hell. This is where the Hypocrites serve their punishment and the punishment for this particular soul has been to be "stretched out vilely crosswise" or crucifixion. The tortured soul must "feel the weight" as the other sinners walk over his crucified form. Once again Dante makes a religious allusion to the bible as the shade once counseled with Pharisees, the group of thinkers and religious group that rejected the teachings of Jesus and his claims as being the messiah. Jesus is the "one" who was "put to torture for the people" and it is the soul's sins that aided in the Crucifixion of Jesus. As in all the other rings of Hell, the punishment of those who are confined there match the sins that they have committed. The soul was sent to Hell for his hypocrisy and aiding in the the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and as his punishment he is the one that becomes crucified. This story is the written by Dante himself and because it is his vision of Hell he can put whoever he feels deserves to go to the fiery depths. Why then does Dante continually show sympathy and compassion for those who are left to suffer? If a person is willing to put someone into Hell, why be concerned for what tortures they may suffer. It seems a little naive to me for Dante to continue to show compassion for those who he has sentenced to suffer in Hell for all eternity.