Poetic Justice in Dante's Inferno

Poetic Justice is when an individual’s actions are rightly retaliated in either punishment or reward, respectively in each case. This concept is very similar to karma or the saying “what comes around goes around”. In Dante’s Inferno by Dante Alighieri, the idea of poetic justice was employed when he assigned each sin its appropriate punishment. A perfect example of this is presented in the second ring of the seventh circle. Here reside those who exhibited violence against themselves or their possessions. These souls have been forced to take the form of trees or bushes. In God’s eyes, life is a gift and these souls have carelessly discarded this privilege. Their fate is sweetly ironic because in life many of them committed suicide and willingly gave up their bodies. Therefore, they must now inhibit a plant form and are restricted from any movement what so ever. Many cut their life short because they experienced seemingly unbearable amounts of pain. Yet now in hell they are tortured by harpies, which are strange creatures that appear to be half woman, half bird, and since they will never be able to escape this agony, it’s a mockery of what they were seeking flight from.  They also feel mind-splintering pain when one of their branches (extremities) is broken from the trunk. This symbolizes the voluntary surrendering of lives or possessions, for a tragic fate of everlasting pain in hell. Evidently, these violent beings have been served poetic justice through the punishments they will forever endure in hell, as a result of the sins they perpetrated on earth.