Betrayal In Dante's Inferno

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Inferno (Cantos XXVIII—XXXIV) Bartleby.com While reading Cantos XXVIII—XXXIV of Inferno, I found that Dante was exposing his readers to the worst realms of hell. This can be observed from the very beginning of Canto XXVIII, when Dante says “No tongue/So vast a theme could equal, speech and thought/Both impotent alike…” (lines 3-5). In other words, this part of hell is so gruesome that it cannot even be put into words. According to Dante, it seems that the worst sins to commit are fraud and betrayal, as they will cause you to end up in the greatest depths of hell. Dante seems to talk a lot about the idea of fraud, splitting it up into different segments. For instance, in Canto XXVIII, Dante talks about those who have divided communities, which explains why they were cut in half. Furthermore, in Cantos XIX and XXX,…show more content…
Additionally, Dante puts a lot of focus on betrayal by dividing this Circle of Hell up into different groups based on who the person betrayed. For instance, in Canto XXXII, Dante talks about those who betrayed their relatives and those who betrayed their country, while in Canto XXXIII, Dante discusses those who betrayed their guests such as when Count Ugolino was betrayed by Archbishop Ruggieri. Finally, in Canto XXXIV, Dante discusses the worst type of betrayal, which is going against one’s supporter. Brutus and Cassius were guilty of this for their betrayal of Julius Caesar and Judas was perhaps even guiltier of this in his betrayal of Christ. I believe the purpose of this passage is to illustrate the struggle between understanding good and evil. Dante makes Hell appear like an undesirable place that we can never escape if we are evil during our lives. This can be seen in Canto XXXIV, when Lucifer’s wings were unable to take him out of Hell as well as Virgil’s
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