>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 |
 |
| 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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