Dante Really Doesn't Take the Escalator Down into Hell

People's perceptions of hell over the centuries have been influenced by art literature, and even Hollywood. They have imagined every kind of place for eternal punishment ranging from the surrel 15th century paintings by Hieronymous Bosch to Bugs Bunny cartoons depicting Yosemity Sam in a red suit and horns carrying a pitchfork around a place where the escalator goes down to a fiery basement. But what does the Bible say about hell, and how does Dante's Inferno correlate with what it says?
Dante clearly borrows much of his imagery in the Inferno from Biblical illistrations. He and Virgil are described as descending into hell, and he speaks of darkness and how several of the punishments involve intense heat like the boiling pitch in Canto twenty-one, the fire raining down on the desert plain in Canto fourteen, and the burning feet in Canto nineteen. Dante makes it clear that the unrightous sinners are suffering and that they are fully conscious of what is happening to them and what they did in the past (save for those who can only think of the future). There is weeping, anguish, and "gnashing of teeth" even to the point of chewing on each other, and the demons mentioned are hideous and cruel. However, there are some differences from the Bible, probably because the Inferno is literature and Dante wanted to be descriptive and maintain the theme of divine retribution. Not all of the punishments in the Inferno are assosciated with fire and burning and others even involve ice. Though some people may use the expression "cold as hell," the Bible makes no mention of ice ever being a part of hell. Dante uses the concept of divine retribution, where the punishment suits the sins committed. There is no specific mention of this in the Bible. Although it does say in Revelation 20:11-12 that the lost will be judged by their deeds, it only says that those whose names are not recorded in the Book of Life will be cast into the Lake of Fire to be tormented for eternity. This means that the nice person who rejects Christ will be suffering just as terribly as the most notorious sinners.
The Bible makes it clear that there is a place called hell and that it is a place made for Satan and his demons (Revelation 12:3-4). Isaiah 14:9-15, 2 Peter 2:4, and Jude 6 describe how Lucifer and the angels who rebelled with him were cast into a place called hell. Hell is described as being a place that is down from the earth's surface and is like a pit (Revelation 9:1). It is hot like a furnace and has smoke pouring out of it (Revelation 9:2). Peter refers to it as "tartaroo," which is a Greek word for a place where demons live and await their judgment. Jesus speaks quite a bit about hell. In Matthew 13, Jesus tells that the ungodly will be cast into the fire where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. His description of hell, or Gehenna, where the fire is never quenched and the worm never dies (Mark 9:43-48) is similar to the Valley of Hinnom. Child sacrifices to the fire-god Molech were offered in this valley, and in Jesus' time it was the burning dump were garbage, dead animals, and executed criminals were tossed. He also tells the story of the poor man and rich man in Luke 16. The poor believer ends up in heaven, but the rich man who rejected God burns in torment and is aware that he has himself to blame. Hell is clearly a terrible place that could be avoided if people would only yield their wills over to Christ and ask for forgiveness of their sins.
If one of the purposes of the Inferno was to present hell as the unfathomably horrible place that it must be, then Dante did an excellent job. It is sad to think that many college students will study the Inferno and yet never admit that this place of punishment is where they will spend eternity if they never turn from the path they are on as Beatrice begged Dante to do.