Second Circle – Lust

Lust is a psychological force producing intense desire for something, or circumstance while already
having a significant amount of the desired object. Lust can take any form such as the lust for sexuality
(see libido), money, or power.

- The second circle has a more traditional appearance of Hell. It is dark, full of screaming noises,
and suffering. The second circle holds people who were lustful throughout their lives. They are
punished by strong winds blown over them, throwing them back and forth. These winds
symbolize the restlessness and instability of people guilty of lust. Dante and Virgil notice many
people of Greek and Roman antiquity, mythology and history—such as Cleopatra, Tristan, and
Helen of Troy. Among other sinners punished for lust, they meet the souls of Paolo and
Francesca da Rimini—a couple condemned to Hell for their adultery and numerous love affairs.
Francesca explains:

Canto 5

"Love, which quickly arrests the gentle heart,

Seized him with my beautiful form

That was taken from me, in a manner which still grieves me.”

Dante, so touched and devastated by their story, faints. When he wakes, he realizes that he has already
arrived in the third circle of Hell.

-The second circle has a more traditional appearance of Hell. It is dark, full of screaming noises,
and suffering. The second circle holds people who were lustful throughout their lives.

In the first circle, those who resided there still had some freedom. In the second circle onwards
is where the real punishment began there to greet souls as they entered the second circle. Near
the entrance to the second circle stands Minos, a huge beast who decides where souls should be
sent for torment. At this point in Inferno, every soul must confess all of their sins to Minos, after
which Minos sentences each soul to its torment by wrapping his tail around himself several
times, corresponding to the circle of Hell to which the soul must go.
- Katong mga taw na lustful throughout their lives, na ni og commit og affairs, and adultery.
They are punished by strong winds blown over them, throwing them back and forth. These
winds symbolize the restlessness and instability of people guilty of lust. In the second circle
of hell, na witness gyud ni Dante kung unsa ka grabe ang mga sufferings because ang mga
taw na naa sa kani na level are hopeless because of their punishment.
- Dante and Virgil notice many people of Greek and Roman antiquity, mythology and history—
na naa sad sa second circle of hell such as Cleopatra, Tristan, and Helen of Troy. Among other
sinners punished for lust, they meet the souls of Paolo and Francesca da Rimini—a couple
condemned to Hell for their adultery and numerous love affairs.
Francesca tells their story; Paolo can only weep. Francesca da Rimini was the wife of Gianciotto,
the deformed older brother of Paolo, who was a beautiful youth. Theirs was a marriage of
alliance, and it continued for some ten years before Paolo and Francesca were caught in the
compromising situation described in the poem. Gianciotto promptly murdered them both, for
which he is confined in the lowest circle of Hell.
In the example of Francesca and Paolo, however, Francesca did not deliberately choose adultery;
hers was a gentle lapsing into love for Paolo, a weakness of will. Only the fact that her husband
killed her in the moment of adultery allowed her no opportunity to repent, and for this reason,
she is condemned to Hell.
The sin in Circle II is a sin of incontinence, weakness of will, and falling from grace through
inaction of conscience. Many times, in Hell, Dante responds with pity to some of these lost souls.
- Dante, so touched and devastated by their story, faints. When he wakes, he realizes that he
has already arrived in the third circle of Hell.