The first quote that I am going to discuss is in canto 7 lines 40-42.
“And he to me: Every one of them was so cross-eyed of mind in the first life, that no measure governed their spending.”
I chose this to look into more closely because I this is where I started to see the pattern forming of the layers of Hell. In the 6th canto gluttony is discussed and represented in many ways by the atmosphere. Then in canto 7 greed is the sin represented. I think that “cross-eyed of mind” is an interesting way of saying that these people couldn’t see their own greed and need for material goods. In this section of Hell these souls are deprived of everything and their hair is cut short. This is interesting because I believe at this time long hair was admired and worn by the wealthy.
I also looked at the beginning of canto 11 lines 1-6:
“Our decent will have to be delayed so that our sense can become a little accustomed to the evil smell”
This quote just represents the horrible sight that is to come because the smell is so horrible. I can not imagine a smell so bad that you have to ease your way into it. This truly represents the journey of going deep into the bowels of Hell. It is interesting to describe the smell as evil because a smell cant really be evil. It is just representative of the evil that is lurking below.
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