Animal allegories have been used in literature since the begging of time. These animals can be used in many different ways. Dante utilizes various animals in his famous work The Inferno. He compares and even shapes his sinners into the animals. These comparisons depict why theses sinners are in Hell. Dante uses the idea of contrapasso. Contrapasso is when the punishment resembles the sin its self. During their lifetime these sinners were irrational and did not think before they acted like a beast would. Due to this they are now compared to actual beasts in Hell. Dante portrays the sinners in Hell as animals rather than humans because their sins have made them “beast like”.
Dante’s work has several allegories and one of the biggest is his use of animals. He uses the animals to portray the sinners in Hell. These sinners are in Hell because they sinned sometime during their life span. Some of the sinners included thieves, fraudulent, and barterers. Depending on their sin they are placed into a certain level of Hell. As Dante describes each level he uses harsh beast like animals to describe these sinners. Dante says in canto twenty-two that, “ at the edge of a ditch the bullfrogs sit with only their snouts showing, hiding their feet and thick bodies” (line 25). Although it may seem like it, Dante is not actually talking about bullfrogs sitting at the edge of the ditch he is in fact referring to the sinners. These sinners are those who exploited public office with corruption and bribery and they are now forced to boil in a pitch in Hell. Dante writes that these barterers are as bullfrogs because they are sitting in the bank of a pitch as a bullfrog would. Also Dante refers to these sinners as bullfrogs rather than humans, because they are no longer considered humans due to their horrible sins. These sinners are no longer considered humans in the eyes of Dante because once someone has sinned they are more as an animal than a human. Dante uses many harsh animals to describe the sinners as animals instead of humans such as boars, birds, dogs, horses, hawks, bulls, and many more.
In canto twenty-seven Dante writes, “ While I was the form of bone and flesh that my mother gave me, my works were not those of a lion but a fox” (line 73). This canto is the eighth pouch of the eighth circle of Hell. In this level the people are being punished for being fraudulent and contradictory during their lifetime. The sinners in this level are compared to foxes that are known as sneaky animals. An example of this can be seen in Dora the Explorer, the fox is the sneaky one who always steals everything from Dora. This is contrapasso because the sinners were sneaky in their lifetime and now they are considered as sneaky foxes in Hell.
Dante even goes as far to actually turning some of the sinners into snakes themselves. In canto 25 Dante says “ From then on Snakes have been my Friends, because one of them wrapped itself around his neck” (line 4). These sinners, or thieves, were punished by snakes tightly wrapping around them. The sinners and snakes soon switched bodies causing humans to become snakes. This is contrapasso due to the fact that snakes are thieves in nature because they steal eggs and in the sinners lives they were thieves. The snakes can also be considered a biblical allusion. This is because a serpent told eve to steal the apple in Adam and Eve. This snake is what lead eve to commit the first sin of humans.
Dante the author of The Inferno applied many interesting aspect to his story of Hell. One of the most notable would have to be his extensive use of animals. He utilizes these animals in very abstract ways. Dante uses harsh beast like animals to depict the sinners as beasts themselves due to their terrible sins. These added animals make The Inferno more in depth and exciting to read.
