Hades In Dante's Model Of Hell

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History is full of examples where often inconceivable, improbable and impossible enemies are fabricated by society to motivate people. Hell was originally created by society to control the masses and to explain what happens to citizens of the society when they pass away if their behavior was bad. Hell is one of the best imagined evils ever as it has instilled fear in people from the beginning of time, effectively promoting good behavior by threatening eternal punishment if humans don’t conform to society’s rules and values. Hell is also a strong imagined evil because it has been adapted as society progresses, evolving into a Hell that fits the current society’s vision of evil. Hades represents the devil, and his domain in Greek culture and…show more content…
In Greek culture Hades symbolized a dark, fiery underworld which served as the dwelling for the souls of the dead whose actions while living were considered bad or immoral. Hades was also the name to the Greek god responsible for overseeing the underworld. Although Hades has been depicted in many different ways, one of the most famous and in depth descriptions is by Dante. While Dante’s writings about Hades are obviously fiction, he describes why society was motived to create such an evil. Hell or Hades in Dante’s model had many realms or circles which gave punishments for every crime or any act deemed immoral by society at the time. While on his journey through Hell Dante travels with Virgil, his favorite author and his tour guide through Hell. Virgil is destined to be in Hell forever because he was never baptized as he was born before Jesus Christ. When Dante appears in limbo Virgil is given freedom to leave his realm of Hell to accompany Dante on his trip through Hell, essentially becoming Dante’s all-knowing tour guide. Early in his travels Dante inquires about the noise he hears as he enters Hell. Virgil replies with a statement that would make anyone cringe with fear of being in this place, “This miserable measure the wretched souls maintain of those who lived without infamy and without praise. Mingled are they with that caitiff choir of the angels, who were not rebels, nor were faithful to God, but were for themselves” (Alighieri 22). This quotation from Virgil exemplifies why imagined evils are effective, in this case it is effective because Virgil is saying that people are punished even if they didn’t live immoral lives simply if they didn’t do good deeds in life. Dante included this in “Dante’s Inferno” to control society’s behavior, and to steer his society into contributing and being beneficial for the community instead of only worrying about
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