Dante's Inferno---who's running hell?

**williamtheday** · 06-29-2023, 07:28 PM

Does Dante say if there's anyone in charge of the punishments in hell? The Devil seems to be too busy trying to get out the ice to do any administrating. Of course I'm speaking as someone not that well educated in classic literature.

**Kirby101** · 06-30-2023, 06:28 AM

God runs everything. Same in Milton. People have to stop blaming Satan for all the terrible things God does. (sarcasm)

**Jim Kelly** · 06-30-2023, 08:30 AM

In "The Divine Comedy" each of the three places--Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso--operates according to a system. The souls that end up in Inferno are sent to different levels of Hell, which fits their crimes on Earth. Their punishment is poetic justice according to their sins. Likewise in Purgatorio, to work off their sins, each soul has to go through a process of purification as they climb up the mountain, to prepare them for entry into Paradiso. And then there are different levels of Paradiso suited to where the souls belong. In Inferno and Purgatorio, Dante is guided by Virgil. But once he gets to Paradiso, he's guided by Beatrice, because Virgil is an unclean spirit and can't enter Heaven. Beatrice is one of the higher beings--Dante's idealized version of the woman he knew on Earth--she is close to God.

So every level operates according to a system and could be run by a computer. There's no randomness to it. Depending what you did in life, you go to the place that is prepared for you and your penance is predetermined. There's almost no need for a Devil, given it's so structured. Everyone in Inferno is there for the rest of eternity--they have no chance of going to Purgatorio--except for those pre-Christians who were freed by Christ in the "Harrowing of Hell." Christ had a one-time-only Get Out of Hell free card that allowed certain ancient luminaries to escape their eternal punishment and move to Purgatorio.