Circle 7: Round 1

When thinking of a river, words like calming, cleansing, and relaxation come to mind. In literature, a river often represents moral life with its movement and flow. In Siddhartha, the river is used as a guidance, something people look to for its old wise advice. The river is full of wisdom and knowlegde about life. The water is refreshing and cold, and washes away the past. However, this is not the case in Circle 7.

The river of blood in Circle 7 Round 1 is the opposite of what we think of a typical river. This river is unique, "the river of boiling blood," where the souls lye in the deadly burning blood. It is not ordinary blood, but the blood of those who the souls murdered, "There we shall find the river of boiling blood in which are steeped all who struck down their fellow men." (112) The depth of the blood they lye in corresponds to the amount of lives they killed. It is forbidden for the souls to rise from the blood, or else they shall be shot with a arrow of a sentar, "They run by that stream in thousands, snapping their bows at any wraith who dare to eaise himself out of the blood more than his guilt allows."(p.113) This river represents guilt, anguish, and regret. Unlike the ordinary river that reminds us of life, the river of boiling blood represents the dead. It is not cool and refreshing, but boiling hot and very painful. The contropasso for this round is the souls had "boiling blood" in life,the anger that caused them to commit murder, so they remain in boiling blood in death.Dante's view of a river is shown to be painful and frightening. The image of the murders resting in the blood they shed emphases the resentment Dante feels towards murders. The murders are forced to chock on the blood, lye in the blood, and drowned in the blood because of the sins they committed for eternity.