Deeper inside Hell

Last week, the class went over canto 14 through 28. The cantos mostly cover circle 8 of Dante's Hell. I presented Canto 19, which is about the simonists. Simoninsts are sinners who practice an act of paying to receive sacraments, including those for ordination to a office or other position in the hierarchy of a church. I went first of Tuesday. The punishment for sinners in canto 19 is being upside-down, their head covered by rocks and burning fire with the oil dripping from their legs. The punishment fits the sin well since the hole resembles baptismal font and oil represents the holy water that had been misused. Also the canto has many allusions to Jason of Maccabees, and Constantine. I was too nervous to mention all I've researched but I think I did okay.

(an image of the visual I drew)

Right after my turn, Ellie B. went and presented canto 20 which is a canto about diviners and magicians. It was interesting how Dante put the magicians in same/lower part of hell as simonists. Magicians in dictionary terms can be just someone who guess what card you picked. The magicians in the canto is more of prophets who dare to see the future. The sinners have their twisted backward and have to walk. Their heads are twisted because in their lifetime they tried so hard foreseeing other's futures they can only look what they've walked before, the past. As Ellie B. said, I agree that Dante really comes up with clever ideas. Creating different sins/punishments for all 34 cantos will be pretty hard. However as I go deep inside the Inferno, I believe Dante's Hell should not be and will not be the standard hell for everyone. Most of the classmates agree that Dante's punishments are too cruel. It makes me wonder if anyone's not in hell.