In Canto XI of The Inferno, we learn about the last 3 circles of hell. The Seventh Circle of Hell, which contains those who are violent, is subdivided into three smaller circles: they punish the sins of violence against one’s neighbor, against oneself, and against God. The Eighth Circle punishes “normal fraud”—sins that violate the natural trust between people.  Lastly, the Ninth Circle, the seat of Dis, punishes betrayal—sins that violate a relationship of particularly special trust. These circle gives us an understanding of Dante’s (the author’s) values and beliefs. In his creation of Hell, the lowest level is for the worst sinners, those who betray their friends, family and country. Therefore, we can conclude that Dante believes that betrayers are worse than serial killers. This is very interesting to me as a reader who lives in the United States. In the state of New York, first degree murder, a Class A-1 crime, can get you, life without parole in prison. However, some fraud convicts can avoid jail time by paying a fine. Virgil says,

Even with that being said, I still don’t understand how betraying someone can be seen as worse than killing them. With betrayal, there’s ways of redemption, apologizing, fixing the mess that was made, etc. However, with death, there’s no way of bringing the person back to life. In this same theory, violence only affects the victim but fraud can affects an entire community. Did Dante fail to realize that death can also affect an entire family, community, and nation, especially based on the person and/or circumstance?