Fallen Souls Essay Research Paper Fallen SoulsThesis

Fallen Souls Essay, Research Paper

Fallen Souls

Thesis Statement: 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.

I. Introduction

II. Medea and Jason

A. Jason?s love affair.

B. Medea and the three children exiled.

C. Medea?s slaying of the three children and Glauce.

D. Jason?s penalties.

III. O. J. Simpson

A. His Crime.

B. His Penalties in the Inferno and in life.

IV. Benedict Arnold

A. His Crime.

B. His Penalties in Hell.

V. Conclusion

Fallen Souls

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 life 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 what 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; they

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 where 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.

?Arnold, Benedict.? New Standard Encyclopedia. 1982 ed.

?Jason.? New Standard Encyclopedia. 1982 ed.

?Medea.? New Standard Encyclopedia. 1982 ed.

Thompson, Eileen, ed. Prentice Hall Literature: World

Masterpieces. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc.

1991.