Today, even though some of Dante’s visions of sin and punishment may seem non-existent in our society, they are not. Dante’s message is still the same: love is the force that will hold us together and is our strongest link to God and Heaven. It is this love, his love for Beatrice, which drives Dante, on his journey through Hell to Heaven. Dante recognized our faults as a society and the importance of love in our lives. This is even truer today than it was in Dante’s time. The sins and punishments may be dated, but this is only because we humans have started to slowly give up our religions beliefs for scientific ones. Dante feared God, but we do not; our values have changed tremendously. We think more of our own personal needs desires and wants. Our society has transformed into a greedy and lustful civilization. Unfortunately, it is safe to say, that almost everyone in this world today, would end up in Dante’s Hell because not only do we all sin, but we do it a lot.
Just alone in the United States of American, Gluttony is practiced more than any other nation in the entire world. Americans seem to be getting more overweight by the day due to eating food in immoderate amounts. The U.S.A. also by far has enough food and money to feed their starving, yet they squander this money instead on less important issues like war and building weapons. Americans are not the only ones guilty of such sins; most of North American and Europe are too. Not only are we Gluttonous, we are also Prodigal, Lustful and Treacherous; this would take at least half the worlds’ population to Hell. People like billionaire Donald Trump, Saddam Hussein, Hugh Hefner and politicians would all be in Hell.
Violence is a very large part of today’s society. Violence runs rampant throughout our world: there is violence against other people, against animals, against ourselves and there is war. Nowadays if one country has a dispute with another, war breaks out. At times it seems that our society is desensitized when we hear about murders and rapes. People like President George W. Bush, who seems to be pushing for war against Iraq, despite worldwide criticism and little evidence, would be sent to Hell. There are also the Fraudulent. These people also are in abundance today. These are the people to make money illegally or immorally; they cheat and steal all in the name of money and power. There are the Falsifiers; they lie and counterfeit money. Limbo is one of the only sins in Dante’s world that is no longer existent in ours. This is because the church no longer holds such a great deal of power in society as it did in the 14th century. The only form of Limbo is on earth, where certain governments punish those who do not believe or speak out against them, such as the Nazis.
Dante’s journey through Hell shows us that a lot people will end up in Hell, even ourselves; his journey also shows us that the knowledge of evil is in ourselves and we are the only ones that can save ourselves. We need to begin to move toward a new self and new society. Even though, our society is less religionist than in Dante’s time, we still need to look at our actions and think about the end results: if do not look at the possible after effects of our decisions, we could end up hurting ourselves or someone else. We need to look at our sins, and even if we aren’t religions, need to recognize that being greedy, lustful, and violent and liars is not right and will ultimately be our own undoing in life. Dante’s Inferno should be perceived as a warning. A warning on what awaits us not in the after life, but in our own Hell, if we continue to behave selfishly and against the common good. Some people may not believe in Heaven or Hell, but the truth is we make our own Heaven or Hell. Dante wrote, “To a greater force, and to a better nature,
you, free, are subject. And that creates the mind in you which the heavens have not in their charge. Therefore, if the present world go astray the cause is in you, and in you it is to be sought.” Dante was lost in the woods, he needed to look inside of himself but he didn’t know what his personal Heaven was, but he had his love to guide him through Hell to his paradise, and that is what we need to find, because to love is to receive a glimpse of heaven.
