Cantos III, V, and XXXIV are only three of the Cantos of the fallen souls of the Inferno. The Inferno is the place we call Hell. It reeks with bad smells and bugs and fire along with the many other hideous things. The Inferno has many Cantos and Circles, each for a different sin or wrong doing towards another. In each circle and Canto there are different penalties to pay but it is for sure that each forbidden soul in the Inferno will live forever in eternal suffering. Our first soul to discuss is eternally locked in Canto V, Circle Two: The Carnal.
This man, Jason, became king of Cornith by committing adultery against his wife, Medea, with the king of Cornith’s daughter, Glauce. Jason returns to Medea and tells her that she and their three children are to leave his home immediately so he and Glauce can move in. The following day Medea sends Glauce a poisoned robe which kills her. This causes Jason to come to Medea for revenge, where he finds his three children murdered by their mother’s hand. Jason grief stricken falls upon his own sword and dies there with his sons. Jason is reputed to the Carnal a place where souls who give up there own ife for passion are swept forever in the tempest of Hell, forever denied the light of reason and of God, (Literature 635). He is forever with the judge of Hell, Minos. The Caina is the first ring of the last circle where those who performed acts of treachery against their kin, (Literature 638).
One destined for the Caina is O. J. Simpson. This man committed a sin that would send him to Canto XXXII. Simpson killed his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman in a jealous rage. Simpson will surely be judged by Minos to go to Caina were his soul will forever have to live in retribution and think about hat he had done against his wife, Nicole. O. J. will also have to live the rest of his life on earth and pay cash sums to the Brown’s and Goldman’s. And he will also have to live and watch his children grow up without a mother and see their pain, the pain that he will experience in Hell. The last Circle of Canto XXXIV, Circle Nine, Cocytus, is the final and most punished place for souls. In Cocytus the people were treacherous to their masters, (Literature 641). The punishment in Cocytus is given by Satan himself. The souls of the last class (with fear my verses tell it) were covered wholly; hey shone below the ice like straws in glass, (Literature 641).
And among these ice covered souls is the soul of Benedict Arnold, an American officer of the American Revolutionary War. During Arnold’s time as an officer he became one of George Washington’s most trusted officers. But his deceit and worthlessness was shown when Arnold sold his services to the British, (New Standard Enc. A-627). Arnold supplied the Brits with valuable military information and agreed to turn over West Point to John Andr’ a major in the British army. The plot fell through and Arnold fled from New England to London here he spent the rest of his life in obscurity poverty, (New Standard Enc. A-627). Now Arnold pays for his sins in the arms of Satan in Cocytus. Many souls truly repent and are sent to Heaven but some fail to regret and are sent to Hell. These souls in Hell are being continuously punished for their misgivings, yet some worse than others. Although some receive worse punishment than others they all pay dearly and reap what they have sewn in life. Hell is a place of eternal agony and misery where the evil of the world spends its spirit life. The Inferno, the eternal suffrage for the condemned.
