Fire and Ice

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
and would suffice.- Robert Frost

In Robert Frost’s poem, Fire and Ice, he talks about the destruction and the devastation of fire and ice. He wrote this poem with an inspiration from Dante’s Inferno. Dante uses fire and ice as punishments in hell. Fire is seen not immediately, but is first seen in circle six with the burning tombs, again in round three of circle seven, and in bolgia three, seven, and eight. Ice is not used though until the ninth circle where Satan is.

            Although when a person thinks of hell, the first thought is fire, fire is not shown until the sixth circle and four more time. In the Inferno fire is used to inflict pain upon the sinners. Although the fire usually has nothing to do with the contrapasso, it is a significant part of hell and the punishment. This point of view of fire is shown in circle seven round three, “You are made to suffer as much fire inside as falls upon you” (113). Dante is showing how they suffer from the fire upon them, yet it has nothing to do with their sin of violence against nature. Yet to Dante fire is not the worst punishment, it is ice.

            Ice is seen as a bad punishment in the Inferno because it does not appear until the ninth circle, the worst circle of all. Also he places Satan in ice. It is weird because ice is the last thing thought of when Hell is brought up, yet it seems to be very harmful in Fire and Ice and the Inferno. In the ninth circle the sinners are trapped in ice, most crying. Dante finds this disturbing and sad how they are being punished so harshly, “I saw staring back from their four faces the terror and the wasting of my own, I bit my hands in helpless grief” (271). Dante cannot stand to watch these people in so much pain. He hears the people talk about the pain, “Father, it would give us much less pain if you ate us: it was you who put upon us this sorry flesh, now strip it off again” (272). The people are talking to Jesus, asking Him to spare them. This praying in Hell shows how much suffering the people undergo with just their heads in ice.

            Dante and Robert Frost make ice sound detrimental to a person or soul. Even though Frost says he would support fire, he also sees ice as destructive.  In the Inferno the ice is the worst possible punishment while fire is just sometimes seen as a hurtful substance. These symbols show that Dante believes that fire is a medium punishment and ice is the worst punishment in the set up of his poem.

*For More Info about the relationship of Fire and Ice and the Inferno: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_and_Ice_%28poem%29

 

Archetypal Symbol of Circle Seven Round One

            The archetypal symbol that Dante uses in round one of circle seven is a river of blood. Rivers and blood archetypal symbol is life, which is exactly what these people took away from others. Dante cleverly intertwines this sin of taking away life with the archetype of the river of blood.

            The way Dante utilizes this archetype through the contrapasso of the sin and punishment. Because people took the lives of others in life, they now wallow in the blood of the lives they took. Each person stands in the amount of blood equivalent to how many people they killed. This is shown when Dante notices the fall in amount of blood, “We came in sight of some who were allowed to raise the head and all the chest from the river… Thus, as we followed along the stream of blood, its level fell until it cooked no more than the feet of the damned,” (97).  This is when the river and blood archetypes begin to show the lives taken by the sinners as the amount of blood shrinks.

            Though life sound like the opposite of what these sinners of circle seven now have, the life of the river of blood represents a time when they were alive. Dante uses the archetype to show the contrapasso of the level in Hell. The river of blood is only one of the three archetypes used in circle seven, including trees and deserts of fire.

           

The Law of Contrapasso

The law of contrapasso in Dante’s the Inferno demonstrates how the punishment of a person in hell relates to their sin in life. In each circle of hell there is a different sin and punishment that Dante has thought of. The contrapasso in circle three is clear with the carnal, or lustful.

            In life these people put their lustful needs in front of everything else that was important, like God. Dante uses Dido as an example of one of these people, “The other is Dido; faithless to the ashes of Sichaeus, she killed herself for love" (37). He also uses the famous Cleopatra, and Achilles to show the other people of lust. It is as though these people lived their life being lifted off their feet by love, “As mating doves that love calls to their nest glided through the air with motionless raised wings borne by the sweet desire that fills each breast" (38). Through the sky the lovebirds fly together, swept off their feet.

            Their punishment is being beaten around by winds, almost tornado-like. As Dante approaches he describes the sight, “Here, there, up, down, they whirl” (37). The people are being lifted off their feet and blown around. Dante see the sin as people being swept off their feet in lust during their life on earth, which leads to the contrapasso of the sin and punishment.

            The carnal were lifted off their feet in their life and flew away with their lovebirds, now as they are in hell they are whipped off their feet and lashed by the wind forever. The figurative has become literal for these lusty people. No longer is being swept off their feet for pleasure but for punishment and in Dante’s words, “perilous paradise” (39). The punishment embodies the law of contrapasso, as it is the literal action of their lustful life with pain instead of bliss.