Comparing Depictions of Heaven & Hell
In The Good Place
Hell is:
Also known as the “Bad Place”
Bureaucratic
Includes Headquarters
Static
A lot of traditional hell torturing methods are mentioned but never shown on-screen.
Other people
Neighborhood 12358W (Michael’s fake Good Place) was designed to enable the humans to emotionally and psychologically torture each other.
Heaven is:
Also known as the “Good Place”
Bureaucratic
Has an overseeing committee
Includes a Correspondence Center
Static
It presents the idea that an eternal paradise is great in theory, but in practice, will lead one to become a ‘happiness zombie.’
Also other people
Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason are only ever able to get into the actual Good Place (and change it too) because of each other.
In Dante's Inferno
Hell is:
Static
“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here,” is written on the gates of hell as a warning that change is impossible.
Made up of 9 circles
In order, they are: limbo, lust, gluttony, avarice, wrath, heresy, violence, fraud, and treachery.
In Milton's Paradise Lost
Hell is:
Dark and smells like sulfur
Hot or cold, depending on which part one is in
Nine days below Heaven
Based on how long it took Satan and the other demons to fall
A place of chaos
A place of hierarchy
Pandemonium as Hell’s version of congress
Satan at the head, followed by Moloch, Belial, Mammon, Beelzebub, then other demons.
Heaven is:
Nine days above Hell
Also a place of hierarchy
God at the head, followed by the Son, then the angels
In Constantine (2005)
Hell is:
Below the mortal plane
Meltingly hot and constantly on fire
Covered in smoke and heat waves
A hellish reflection of earth
Has a freeway
City buildings in the background
Static
Heaven is:
Bright and welcoming
A silver city above the mortal plane
