There were several themes throughout this allegory, one of them being that you will receive the same punishment (or reward) after you die based on how you lived life on earth. The deeper Dante and Virgil went into hell, the worse the punishments became. In Canto XXXII, lines 1-6, “If I had rhymes both rough and stridulous, as were appropriate to the dismal hole down upon which thrust all the other rocks, I would press out the juice of my conception more fully; but because I have them not, not without fear I bring myself to speak,” Dante speaks about how horrifying it is to be that deep in hell that he cannot even find the words to describe it. It was becoming harder and harder to express the harshness of this dreadful place. At this point of the journey Dante and Virgil are in this first circle of the ninth ring of hell where the traitors lie frozen in ice. Traitors are the worst offenders to God, thus receiving the worst eternal conditions and punishment. The worse a person lives their life on earth, the more dreadful their afterlife will be. It is ironic that the very pit of hell is ice, not fire like everyone imagines. The ice symbolizes the hardening of hearts, perhaps. Fraud is the ultimate betrayal of life and love, so the ice represents the hardened hearts.
The last lines in Canto XXXIV really sum up the story and show how Dante’s life changed for the better, “The Guide and I into that hidden road now entered, to return to the bright world; and without care of having any rest, We mounted up, he first and I second…Some of those beauteous things which Heaven doth bear; thence we came forth to rebehold the stars” lines 133-139. Dante survived his long, eye-opening journey through hell and is now going to climb away from sin on earth. He is looking towards the stars, towards God and Beatrice. Love is the only thing that can get him there.
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