Dante
In the lower circles of the Inferno, Dante represents sinners
grotesquely transfigured by the nature of their sins, as their physical
presence imitates the moral condition of their souls. For Victor to
invoke Dante in this manner, however, is to remind us that in his medieval
Christian universe no one is born damned, but rather must actively
estrange the self from God's merciful love in order to embrace damnation
as a principle of one's being. Victor also unwittingly raises the disturbing
question that will be underscored in the ensuing paragraph: in a world
where man plays God, what is the state of damnation and what constitutes
hell?
