Circle 2: Lust

Virgil and I continued to walk down the cave for about a half hour before we reached a split road. At this point, I wasn't even surprised. After all, this place is full of weird crap.

I looked at Virgil, expecting him to lead me down one of the two. Instead, he stopped and turned back to me.

"The decision is yours, Dante. This is your journey, and you must choose where it goes."

Great. These two caves look exactly the same, and I'm supposed to choose which one is the least scary?

"What happens if I pick the wrong path?" I asked.

Again, Virgil chuckled. I'm really starting to get tired of that.

I walked over to the caves, trying to figure out which one was the correct one to take. I closed my eyes, took a breath and went with my gut.

"Let's go down the right path," I said, trying to sound confident in my choice.

Virgil nodded, and I walked cautiously behind him into the darkness. We walked and walked, and my legs got heavier and heavier with every step. Just when I started rethinking why I would ever follow this man, I saw another faint light in the distance. As we got closer, I could spot another man sitting by a fire.

"I swear, if this is another president, I'm going to lose it," I thought to myself. But as we got closer, I realized that he looked nothing like a president. He was draped in an elegant, black robe and wore a turban, with darker-toned skin and a mischievous glare that stared right through you. Now this guy, I recognized immediately. After all, he was a character in one of my favorite movies .

"Jafar," I said. "This is ... a twist I didn't see coming."

He laughed arrogantly, as if I shouldn't have been surprised to see a Disney character in a dark cave in the middle of nowhere.

"Don't be so shocked, boy," he stated. "You've probably seen far crazier things today."

"Jafar has found himself here because of the second great sin: lust," said Virgil. "Not only did he lust for the princess, but his lust for power drove him to do whatever it took to become sultan. Jafar's nefarious actions could have resulted in disaster if it were not for Aladdin, but his decisions warrant punishment nonetheless."

"This should come as no shock to the boy," Jafar exclaimed. "He knows what I've done. But let me be very clear: I do not regret anything I've done. There was no one more fit for the throne. It only could have been me!"

"And yet, it was not," Virgil said with a sigh. "Instead, what you have done has brought you here. Do not worry, Jafar; there will be plenty of more time to consider your actions."

Virgil turned and began walking away from Jafar. I should've followed him, but I was too confused by everything that's happened to even move. I looked back at Jafar, which was a mistake, and his glare sent chills down my spine. Good thing I don't have to spend too much time with this guy. I finally managed to turn away from the fire and catch up to Virgil, but I was tired of just following him blindly.

"What exactly is the purpose of all this?" I demanded. "It's like we're walking through a museum and all these prisoners are your personal exhibits. Why are you showing me these random people and telling me things I already know about them?"

Virgil turned around, and I quickly caught myself. I had a sudden feeling this guy was not really one to mess with. Who knows what kind of spooky ghost spell he might know?

"Think about what I have shown you so far," he said. "Think about why these people are where they are. Their actions have put them in this place, and now they must live by themselves, with no other comfort other than the burning fire, as a result of their actions."

"I don't get it. We've walked past them; why don't they just run out of the cave?"

"That's the thing. The people that inhabit these caves cannot leave them. It does not matter how far they go; they will continue to run without end. You have the chance to live a purer life and to become a more virtuous person. But you must understand the consequences if you stray away from that path."

This might sound crazy, but he actually sort of made sense. I knew both of the people we had come across so far and all the things they had done, but it never occurred to me that they would have to pay for these actions. Even though I'm literally walking past dead people and movie characters, I feel like I'm starting to get why on earth this is all happening to me. With a fresh perspective, I followed Virgil further into the darkness.

Story source: Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline (2002).

Author's Note: The second circle of hell is lust as well, and I wanted to maintain that aspect of the plot. However, after going with a historical figure in the first story, I decided to go with a fictional character for this story. This is a unique aspect of Dante's writing. Throughout the original story, he includes characters from different historical periods that fit under one overarching theme, which in this case is lust. Jafar is a perfect representation of that feature, and his personality was much easier to convey than Nixon's. As a huge Disney fan, I felt like I knew more about that character rather than the 1001 Nights version, and it was easier for me to convey that personality to the reader. I also saw this story as a chance to develop Dante's personality a little more. In the first story, he was the innocent, wide-eyed guy who was blindly following Virgil in the cave. However, he's starting to realize the purpose of this adventure. As we progress into the third story, I'm hoping to show the impact this trip had on him. Finally, I revealed the consequences for the people who end up in this "hell". I was inspired to a degree by Jean Paul Sartre's No Exit. The original story punishes the characters by forcing them to endure each other's company for all eternity, thus hailing the phrase "hell is other people". However, while his punishment was more existentialist and revolved around the idea of hell being other people, I thought of a more isolated scenario. I don't think anyone would ever find that pleasurable, and certainly not a young man like Dante. Yet, I thought it was important not to change Nixon and Jafar's personalities just because of where they ended up. While this could be seen as a way to reflect on their actions, I didn't want to compromise the elements of the two characters that brought them there in the first place.