In the lower circles of the Inferno, Dante represents sinners grotesquely transfigured
by the nature of their sins, as their physical presence imitates the moral condition
of their souls. For Victor to invoke Dante in this manner, however, is to remind us
that in his medieval Christian universe no one is born damned, but rather must actively
estrange the self from God's merciful love in order to embrace damnation as a principle
of one's being. Victor also unwittingly raises the disturbing question that will be
underscored in the ensuing paragraph: in a world where man plays God, what is the
state of damnation and what constitutes hell?