In Canto XXXIV, many questions are answered about the afterworld. Many religions around the world believe in the idea of hell. People have many questions about hell. Usually questions like, what is hell? Where is it? What is hell like? Is there a devil? What does the devil look like?

Dante through his writing puts these questions in the readers’ minds by having the idea of different levels of hell. In Canto XXXIV, the reader finally enters the worst level of hell, the ninth circle, fourth ring. This ring is called Judecca. The name Judecca is part of the name of Judas Iscariot because he is the prime example of the sinners of the level. The sinners that are punished in this ring of hell are those who were traitors against their benefactors.

reversed his head to where his legs had been

Dante waited until the last ring of hell to finally tell us why it got colder and winder the deeper into hell he went. It was from the massive winds created by the overwhelmingly large wings of Lucifer. The winds being so cold shows the reader how powerful the wings really are. The powerful wind that Lucifer creates symbolizes his power in hell. His power is the same as the wind he makes, it affects everything in hell.

in Canto XXXIV is when we find out the answer to the question, “Is there a devil?” This question is answered when Dante finally saw Lucifer or the devil. Dante speaks to the reader to describe Lucifer:

all words would fall short of what is was.

Next, Dante allows the reader to know what the devil might actually look like. He describes a head with three faces. The face in the front was a blood red color. The face on the right was a yellow-white color. The face on the left was a dark color, black. The reason for the three heads and their colors are not for certain, but it is believed that the colors represent hatred, impotence, and ignorance. Dante creatively describes Lucifer as very strange and unreal looking, which is fitting for the idea of the appearance of the devil, by using the idea of three faces on one head.

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