Unlike the previous sinners, in the 9th circle of hell, the sinners are punished with ice. The coldness pervades their bodies making them unable to express their emotions. In its very nature, the cold strips the sinners of an essential characteristic that makes them human – their ability to cry. The act of crying itself can be seen as a form of self-reflection and a way to unburden the emotional turmoil that exists inside. By taking away the sinners ability to cry, the cold renders them less human than they originally were. The nature of the punishment corresponds with the nature of their crime; the cold weather parallels their cold-hearted crime which essentially degraded them from a human to an animal (less than human). In canto 33, the sinner’s inability to cry parallels their transformation from civilized beings to animalistic primitives devoid of all virtue.

     Count Ugolino’s inability to cry mirrors the loss of his humanity as he succumbs to the temptations of cannibalism. When Count Ugolino is imprisoned with his sons in a tower and it’s door is being nailed shut, Count Ugolino says “I was not weeping, I so turned to stone within: they were weeping; and my Anselmuccio said ‘you have such a look father! What is it?’ (Canto 33, lines 48-50). Count Ugolino marks his transformation from a father to “stone” when he stops crying. The “stone” represents his loss of humanity because he begins to perceive his sons as food. Even though he initially denies it, his son observes that he has “such a look”. The sons notice that their father is looking at them differently, the “look” is synonymous with the way a predator eyes its prey before it consumed them for its means of survival. The ability to cry represents the idea that the individual is still human and tethered to a moral compass. Count Ugolino can’t cry because he is selfish and deceptive by nature. He betrays Archbishop Ruggieri and he’s imprisoned for his treason. When he is imprisoned with his sons, his selfish nature prioritizes his needs over his sons even though his fatherly affections attempts to hold off the temptation to consume them for as long as possible. However, his selfish nature and starvation prevails over his fatherly affection as he succumbs to cannibalism. Hence, he cannot cry because his intentions are already corrupted and he is spiraling towards cannibalism.On the contrary, his sons are “weeping” because they’re innocent. They have the ability to cry because their humanity and moral compass remains intact. In fact, they say “Father, it will be much less pain for us if you eat of us:” (Canto 33, line 60). They offer themselves up to the father because their moral integrity and affection for their father exceeds their own materialistic capacity for starvation. Their intentions and inherently their souls are much more purer than their father which permits them to cry.

     Count Ugolino and Brother Alberigo define crying as the ultimate desire of the sinners in the 9th circle of hell. Both Count Ugolino and Alberigo’s crimes consume their insides and prevent them from feeling anything but the nature and remorse of their crimes.For example, Count Ugolino says “You wish me to renew desperate grief that already possesses my heart merely thinking,” (Canto 33, lines 3-4). Count Ugolino uses the adjective “desperate” to characterize his grief because it reflects his desperate need to express that grief in some physical form. He wants to “speak and weep together” (Canto 33, line 8), the association of voicing his grief and crying further reiterates the idea that their grief can only be lessened through crying. Alberigo claims “And that you may more willingly shave the glassy tears from my eyes, know that, as soon as the soul betrays as I did, its body is taken over by a demon” (Canto 33, lines 126-129). While Alberigo doesn’t explicitly refer to the heart, he loses autonomy because his body is no longer his own; his corrupted soul is weighing his body down to hell. Alberigo uses the word “betray” because he betrays his brother when he kills them over a presumed dinner thus, his soul betrays him by sending him to hell before he has even died.

     Alberigo describes his soul as possessed by a “demon” that is holding his body body hostage till the end of time. Since the moment he committed murder and the demon took over his body, all of his humanity left him. He asks Dante and Virgil to “lift from my [his] eyes the hard veils, so that I may give vent a little to the anguish that gathers in my heart, before my tears freeze up again.” (Canto 33, lines 111-113). The “hard veil” has a dual meaning, the “hard veil” refers to Alberigo’s tears frozen over his face, but the “hard veil” can also mean that the nature of his crime is so diresome that it prevents him from ever being empathetic and humane again. Alberigo could’ve asked Dante and Virgil for anything but all he asks for is the opportunity to cry one more time. Both characters claim that their soul or heart is heavy inside of them because it’s carrying the guilt of their inhumane crimes that they can no longer express through humane means.

     Dante personifies “weeping” as a humane quality that is acting inhumanely to the sinners. For example, Dante narrates that “Weeping itself prevents weeping here, and the sorrow that finds a block over the eyes turn back within to increase the pain;” (Canto 33, lines 93-95). The phrase “weeping itself prevents weeping here” refers to the notion that if a person weeps, their tears freeze over their eyes and face preventing them from weeping more. It’s ironic that is a mechanism that reduces the human’s pain causes more pain to the human. The personification of weeping shows its dual nature of being a relief and punishment to the humans just like the sinners had the capacity to be benevolent and harmful and they chose to be harmful to their relations. Dante describes the act of crying as “for the first tears make a knot and, like crystal visors, fill all the cup below the brow.” (Canto 33, lines 96-99).  Dante uses a simile to describe the frozen tears as “crystal visors” that fill the “cup” or the “eye”. He uses the word “visor” which blocks the flow of tears from the inside and sunlight from penetrating the visor from outside. This reiterates that the sinners will never find comfort inside themselves or from their surroundings because their sin is so grave. Hence, they will be stuck in this stage of constant pain and turmoil where they lose all feelings that make them human except grief.

     Canto 33 focuses on the nature of weeping among the sinners. Dante alters the meaning of weeping for each soul. Count Ugolino wants to cry because he wants to express his grief for eating his own sons however, Alberigo wants to cry in order to obtain some for of autonomy over his own sins. Both want to express their grief for their fate however, neither can express it because crying is a humane characteristic that doesn’t fit their inhumane crimes.