The poem follows a pilgrim who, guided by a revered classical poet, descends through successive circles of the afterlife to behold punishments tailored to particular sins. Along the route he confronts allegorical beasts, speaks with tormented souls and witnesses vivid tableaux of mythic and historical figures; a sequence of cantos arranges crimes and retribution to illuminate a moral architecture in which divine justice and contrapasso govern suffering. The journey frames themes of sin, moral responsibility, repentance, and the soul’s progress toward eventual purification.