Our Old House Philosophy
Those Curious Details
Rules for Remuddlers
A History of the Denver Square
   (a.k.a. American Foursquare)
Denver in 1918
Albion House Plans
Project History
Landscaping
Knights of Knob and Tube
Current Projects
    1997 Kitchen Before/After
    1997 Kitchen Remodeling
Sources and Saviours
Denver Square Home
Bettinger Home
To Hell with Remuddlers
>So, the people around the corner have gutted a cool
>old Denver Square, leaving only a shell. They then
>embedded a generic suburban house into the
>structure - great room, cavernous kitchen, and the
>standard built-in wide-screen TV. Of course, they
>had to knock out the back wall to do it. The whole
>character of the house is gone. Gone too are the two
>other bedrooms on the second floor, compressed to
>make room for the obligatory five-piece bath.
>
>Which level of Hell are these turkeys headed for, anyway?

A quick review of the structure of The Inferno is in order. According to Dante, Hell has nine circles, and each circle has one or more divisions, or bolgia. The lower you go - the worse the sin, and not surprisingly, the farther you are from God. The upper levels hold the "animal" sinners - sins of instinct like Lust and Gluttony. Lower levels hold those committing the "human" sins of comprehension and intent, like the Schismatics and Soothsayers.

You can see the floorplan of Hell in the 1515 version here:
http://www.italnet.nd.edu/Dante/images/tp1515/1515.wc1.150dpi.jpeg

At first, I thought that Remuddlers might be in The Seventh Circle, which is the circle of the Violent. An argument could be made that they should be consigned to burn with the Violent Against Nature or the Violent Against Art. However, the Violent are acting out of passion, and to really ruin a house, the remuddlers must take a long-term dispassionate view.

According to this, I believe that Remuddlers are consigned to one of the lower bolgia in the Circle of the Fraudulent and Malicious: the Eight Circle - Malebolge in Nether Hell. A quick review of the Cantos starting with Canto 18 reveals the structure is as follows:

XVIII. The Eighth Circle, Malebolge

Remuddle: Kings College, Cambridge with a new front door.
  • The First Bolgia: Seducers and Panderers
  • The Second Bolgia: Flatterers.
  • The Third Bolgia: Simoniacs
  • The Fourth Bolgia: Soothsayers
  • The Fifth Bolgia: Peculators
  • The Sixth Bolgia: Hypocrites
  • The Seventh Bolgia: Thieves
  • The Eighth Bolgia: Evil Counselors
  • The Ninth Bolgia: Schismatics
  • The Tenth Bolgia: Alchemists, Other Falsifiers and Forgers
http://www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/dante/dante_contents.htm

Given this, I'd have to say that remuddlers end up in the Tenth Bolgia of the Eight Circle. This is as far down as they can go without jumping into the Ninth Circle, the Ring of Traitors.

Remuddling is a form of falsification, and in many ways a form of forgery. Some translations of Dante use Counterfeiter for Forger, and it is plain that a remuddled house is a counterfeit. Remuddling is fraudulent and it is also malicious.

QED

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