The Entrapment of Hell in Dante's Inferno

"Lose all hope, all who enter here." In Dante's Divine Comedy, these words are inscribed on the gates of hell. These words are incredibly fitting for hell. After all, there is no escape.

There are innumerable obstacles that stop people from escaping, from uncrossable rivers, never-ending windstorms, and man-eating bugs to unspeakable monsters. Hell has many ways to contain the things in its depths and that includes the devil. Dante's Hell is an outward manifestation of the souls being themselves.

Everything in hell has no hope of escaping. Having no hope is a self-fulfilling prophecy. The devil has not realized that this applies to him as well. He is constantly flapping his wings. Trying to escape the ice entrapping him, but the more he flaps the more ice he creates. Lucifer is the king of not looking beyond himself and he is frozen by his own efforts. Just as we, with our vices and hubris, manifest our own hopeless traps.

There is no hope for anything to escape