Gluttony: The Contrapasso We See

The sin of gluttony is addressed in the third circle of Dante’s Hell. In life on earth, the Gluttons had been engaged in excessive eating and drinking. The Gluttons spent their lives in the warmth that they acquired through their excessive eating. In Hell, as part of their eternal punishment, the Gluttons lied in wet, freezing cold slush. Hell for the Gluttons was a recreation of the opposite of everything that happened in their lives. As Dante is passing through this part of Hell, he describes what he sees, “Huge hailstones, dirty water, and black snow pour from the dismal air to putrefy the putrid slush that waits for them below,” (p.45). The tone and diction in this line shows the nastiness of the slush and how disgusting it must be to sit or lie in it. The words “dismal air” explain the status of the breathing conditions, and it explains the effect of the scent of garbage from the slush.

Throughout the lives of the Gluttons, they produced massive amounts of waste and garbage. In this segment of Hell there are massive amounts of garbage and a foul odor fills the air, coming from the putrid slush that is constantly falling from the sky. The rest of their lives will be spent in this place, where a punishment similar to their sin has been issued; the large amounts of garbage and waste that they each produced throughout their lives consumes this Hell. The people seem to be described as pieces of garbage themselves, as they lie in the dirty slush being eaten at be the three-headed dog. The dog is described as a beast that is ever hurting and attacking the Gluttons, “His eyes are red, his beard is greased with phlegm, his belly is swollen, and his hands are claws to rip the wretches and flay and mangle them,” (p.45). I see Cerberus, the three-headed dog, as both a fat wealthy gluttonous person, and as a poor street person looking for food. The beast’s large belly mocks the Gluttons as it reminds them of what they did to themselves, and often Cerberus acts as thought the Gluttons were the ones in charge of his motions. On the other hand, Cerberus seems to play the role of a desperate and determined street person scavenging for food. I feel as if the Gluttons were a giant dumpster and Cerberus is a street person ripping through the trash in the dumpster in hopes of finding something worth needed.