Fraud and Dante

It's clearly seen in the start of circle 5 and throughout upper hell, Dante becomes much more graphic and expressing more emotion then the other circles. Both Dante the character and Dante the writer change with the language and complexity of the circles. There are still sign of pity ( in Bolgia 4) but the other circles show much more tension. It makes you wonder why his feelings changed.

It's true that Dante is emotional to circle 7, but circle 8 is much more obvious. In Bolgia 2, the souls are now overflowing "..in a river of excrement...blubber through their snouts...(147)" literally swimming and eating poop. The Simoniacs hanging upside down with fire burning their feet, diviners walking backwards as distorted humans, Grafters in a sticky pit with demons, the list goes on and on. His punishments now horrifying and tragic compared to the sins of violence. We don't know exactly why things change, but is certain that Dante was affected personally of these sins. He was criticized by the church for saving a boy from drowning during a baptism (clearly showing his anger in Bolgia 3) and was accused of grafting in Italy. These personal feelings made these sins more important than before. He has no pity to share with Pope Nicholas III stating, "...stay as you are; this hole fits you well...this avarice of yours grieves all the world..."(155-156).  Dante express fear in Bolgia 5 by pressing "...my whole body against my guide,/...not for an instant did I take my eyes/ from those black fiends..."(173). His fear and also anger towards the grafters and demons shows his hate of the men who exiled him. His disgust of the demons is showing his innocence by not supporting the accusations.

Dante's hatred of fraud was also influenced by God. He believed no one should go through life without contributing or testing gods power. God is the only one who has the ultimate power, no one else. These people humiliated, hurt, and tested God through their sins. So yes, I see the logic to Dante's thoughts. The souls of violence may have hurt others, but the frauds hurt God as well. Therefore, their punishments may be  severe and evil by God showing  the souls the pain that they cause to all of Christianity.


http://kirjasto.sci.fi/dante.htm
Here is a link to website about Dante. I found it helpful red about his exile from Italy to understand what happened and why it was so personal.