Today we take up a set of thorny questions surrounding the punishment of hypocrites in the 8th circle of the Inferno. What forms of corruption pollute the human spirit and the human community in especially damaging ways? What are the implications of the ease with which the demons in this circle trick Virgil, supposedly the embodiment of human reason? We also consider the meaning of a strange episode where one of the damned plots to briefly escape from his torments by fleeing the pitchforks of the demons who surround him. Is there playfulness in Hell? The sinners throughout the circles of the Inferno are not will-less, apathetic husks – they still want things, they still have goals, and they still see themselves through Dante’s eyes, and try to affect his image of them. What is the meaning of will in a changeless place? Comedy? Poetic freedom? Or a further, subtler form of punishment? All this and more, on this episode of the Key.