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People Who Hurt Other People

Part of what makes the inferno cool is the irony of the punishments. The fact of the matter is, in almost all cases, the sinners in Dante's Hell are given exactly what they wanted... but in a literal, "monkey's paw" kind of way.

You know, "be careful what you wish for, or you just might get it." By punishing sinners via giving them what they wished for, Dante is able to show how most sins are their own punishment.

For example, in Inferno, "blood-thirsty" warlords are submerged in a river of blood, suicides who gave up on being alive are turned into trees and inanimate objects, and flatterers who treated crappy things like they were wonderful get to spend all of eternity in a pile of poop.

These are the “blood-thirsty” warlords that I mention above. This part of The Inferno is just one perfect example of Dante’s ironic punishments or “contrapasso.” The idea behind this torture is if a person is “thirsty for blood,” why not give them all the blood they can drink, literally? This painting is small, sweet and to the point. Napolean Bonaparte, Alexander the Great, and Genghis Khan (in inexplicably samurai-inspired armor) are all chained to weights at the bottom of a river of blood.

If this image makes you chuckle a little bit, in a macabre kind of way, good. That’s the reaction that I wanted, and it’s probably what Dante wanted, too.

Description
People Who Hurt Other People

Part of what makes the inferno cool is the irony of the punishments. The fact of the matter is, in almost all cases, the sinners in Dante's Hell are given exactly what they wanted... but in a literal, "monkey's paw" kind of way.

You know, "be careful what you wish for, or you just might get it." By punishing sinners via giving them what they wished for, Dante is able to show how most sins are their own punishment.

For example, in Inferno, "blood-thirsty" warlords are submerged in a river of blood, suicides who gave up on being alive are turned into trees and inanimate objects, and flatterers who treated crappy things like they were wonderful get to spend all of eternity in a pile of poop.

These are the “blood-thirsty” warlords that I mention above. This part of The Inferno is just one perfect example of Dante’s ironic punishments or “contrapasso.” The idea behind this torture is if a person is “thirsty for blood,” why not give them all the blood they can drink, literally? This painting is small, sweet and to the point. Napolean Bonaparte, Alexander the Great, and Genghis Khan (in inexplicably samurai-inspired armor) are all chained to weights at the bottom of a river of blood.

If this image makes you chuckle a little bit, in a macabre kind of way, good. That’s the reaction that I wanted, and it’s probably what Dante wanted, too.