Dante on Lust

The whirlwind in the second circle is one of the most memorable places the pilgrim encounters on his journey through the Inferno in Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. The whirlwind holds within its sway the wayward souls lead astray but lust. Danta describes the circle: “All light is mute, with a bellowing like the Ocean turbulent in a storm of waring winds, The hurricane of hell in perpetual motion.” [1] As Dante and Virgil look on, two souls come near and converse with the traveler. He asks then why they were here. Love was given as the answer. He then asks how they came to such an end. Dante learns that they had committed adultery after being overcome by intense passion incited by a novel.


Ary Scheffer’s recreation of this part of the inferno reveals Dante and His guide shrouded in darkness as they watch the two twisting in a whirlwind of lust. Their bodies are heavily intertwined within a large sheet – it seems difficult to tell where one ends and another begins much like the complex and confusing feels insisted by lust. The painting at once expresses intense passion and intense agony, revealing the difficulty with which we can discern sinful behavior.

This is Dante’s point also; he used the imagery to show the reader life inside out. The Inferno itself was written to teach the reader the dehumanizing affect of sin. How sin deforms the soul, and what you become in life you will be in death. So each circle shows the distructive truth of sin and the affect it has on the character.

The picture of the "Hurrican of hell" is an allegory for the vice of lust. Its shows lust in its true bibical nature. We see that lust is deceptive for the two adulterers speak of lust as if it where love. Dante wrote that the people rested “so lightly on the wind” yet they where in the whirlwinds grip. This shows us that lust is a subtle trap. Lust is controlling and once its in control it it is hard to get free. if you follow lust to its end -the whirlwind never lets go. Lust twists the soul in how it blinds and controls. A soul is dehumanized but believes that “following your hearts” will lead to finding freedom. The freedom promised becomes an eternity in chains, chains that exist on the inside. Lust is a light controlling wind that will carry you away as it convinces you of the purity in an impure moment. We can also see that lust is progressive.A light wind in life gives way to a hurricane in hell. Thus, Lust true nature is seen as a powerful whirlwind. That controls from the first tempest to it's entire flow. The truth of this picture is seen in what the bible says of Lust. Here is a list of what lust is like biblically.

Focuses on self Gal - 5:13 NKJV
Leads to frustration - James 4:2 NIV
Continually wants more - Eph 4:18-19 NIV
Enslaves self - Rom 6:16,19 NKJV
Desires to gratify the sinful nature with things contrary to the spirit - Gal 5:19-21
Excludes Christ -Rom 1:28-29 NIV
Sins to gratify desires - Eph 2:3 NIV
Entices with evil desires - James 1:14 NIV
Wars against the soul - 1Peter 2:11 NIV
Avoids commitment and leads to tragedy - Pro 6:25-26 TLD [2]

Fighting the wind
Further, the use of wind also shows an antithesis with the biblical metaphor of the Holy Spirit as wind. Lust is the opposite spirit to the spirit of real faithful abiding love. So lust is understood to rise from the incontinence, lack of restraint, a vice that is just as intellectual as it is biological. Dante writes that there sins raise from “reason mastered by desire,”[3] So this shows us the virtue that we are to seek. Dante’s schooled in the Augustine moral system, which saw reason as a mind capable of perceiving truth and not just being logical. A reason that guided and anchors our desires.[4] The virtue of level headedness helped along by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit points us to our proper end, the love of God and covenant-keeping faithful abiding love.

Winds of wisdom
Further was can see some truths that illuminate our understanding of lust and its trappings. For one, in the fact that it was a novel that incited the adulterers to act shows the power of media to incite lust. We also see the lack of thinking reasonably in putting themselves in situations to incite lust. The two should not have been reading alone together. The fact that the two where bound to each other shows the product of such sexual infidelity – a shared shame of oneness.
So in the end, what are we to do? The answer is simple be level-headed, cultivate a desire to follow the Spirit, and enjoy life in true freedom; the freedom of the children of God.

End Notes

[1] Dante Alighieri, THE INFERNO. Canto V, trans Robert Pinsky (Noonday, New York, 1997) 37.

[2] Dennis Rigstad “Is it love or lust?” Psychology for living, February 1988. As Quoted in Daniel Akin “god on sex: the creator’s ideas about Love, Intimacy and marriage. (Broadman and Holman, Nashville, 2003) 130-131

[4] Dante Alighieri, THE INFERNO. Canto V, trans Robert Pinsky (Noonday, New York, 1997) 39

[5] Dante Alighieri, THE INFERNO. Canto V, trans Robert Pinsky (Noonday, New York, 1997) 313-314