Fire and Ice

"Fire and Ice"

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
and would suffice.

-Robert Frost

Robert Frost's poem states that both fire and ice are great forces, and that either could end the world though he would prefer it end in fire. He, like Dante, believes that ice is symbolic of hate. In Dante's Inferno, the ninth circle of Cocytus is a frozen pit with Satan in the center, unlike the other circles in which God's wrath is represented by fire. Ice is the natural opposite of fire as it is cold and relentless, like Satan. Any presence of God is an act of love, even if it is his wrath. Circle six is the first place fire is shown to exemplify God's wrath against the heretics who did not believe in the afterlife; part of the reason these souls are so heavily punished might be to reward the souls who obeyed God's laws during life by not being punished. The sinners in circle nine are so detached from God and his love and forgiveness that not even his wrath can fathom the punishment they deserve. Instead, God turns these sinners over to the ultimate evil, Satan, and his icy pit of Hell. At the beginning of Hell, there are words cut into stone that read, "Sacred justice moved my architect./I was raised here by divine omnipotence,/primordial love and ultimate intellect." It is implied that these are God's words, judging by the diction used such as "divine," "love," and "intellect." If God created Hell, it was probably an act of love to bring justice to the souls who did not live life to the fullest. Though fire is often part of the punishment, it represents God's presence in Hell. Those who did not obey God's will cannot go to Heaven or Purgatory because that would be unfair to the souls that did, so God created Hell for them. 

Whether the world will end in fire or ice is unknown, but judging by the symbolic reference Dante and Frost have given them, if the world ends in fire, God will have had enough of human disobedience and arrogance. If it ends in ice, Satan will have taken over the souls on Earth; not even God's wrath will be able to fix Satan's evil. Death in fire to me is more desirable because it is quick and destructive. Ice takes time to kill, it would be a slow and suffering punishment leading eventually to death. Satan is probably situated in ice because God's wrath cannot punish him. He is so extremely detached from his love that God's fire would do nothing to punish him. Instead, he is punished by his own evil, his very own wings freeze the lake of Cocytus in which he is stuck in. The sinners in circle nine committed crimes so terrible that they created their own fate by detaching themselves from God, therefore they cannot be in any other circle except the ninth because it is the only place where God is not present; there is only Satan and his evil situated perpetually on ice.

Jacob and Edward in the Twilight Saga represent fire and ice respectively. Jacob's skin is always hot and his heart beats, unlike Edward who is always ice cold and does not consider himself "alive."