post 2

Circle Seven, Round Three is the location of those who were violent against God, nature, and art. The setting itself is of a vast desert, with three groups of people being punished. The Blasphemers are lying on the sand, the Sodomites are running in circles, and the Usurers huddle on the sand. Both the sand and the fire are both symbols of how Dante enhances his work.

The fire in Circle Seven represents God's wrath. In literature, fire represents anger and destruction. Dante uses the fire to show that, in his opinion, these sins make God extremely unhappy and angry. The fire also represents divine justice. Because the fire is across the entire circle, Dante says that God’s wrath is inescapable. Because of the representation of fire, God's wrath is personified and inescapable With the use of fire, Dante can make multiple symbols for the reader to pick up on, and can enhance the section with its use.

The landscape of Circle Seven is of a burning desert. Deserts often represent hopelessness, death, and hostility. Dante uses the burning sands to show that there is no safe place from God’s wrath, as everyone in it is being burned by the rain of fire and the burning sands. Each group of sinners helps illustrate how God’s wrath is inescapable. The desert also represents hopelessness. In this circle of hell, there is no hope for the sinners to escape the wrath of God, as shown by the fact that the sinners are being burned from above as well as below. Hostility is exemplified by the fact that the sinners are in a desert, which very few humans can survive in. Dante uses the burning sand and desert to show that God is inescapable and that the sinners have no hope.