The work of Mechthild von Magdeburg is characterised by a carefully structured configuration of the otherworldly. In particular, this essay provides an attentive scrutiny of the vision of hell, which is organised according to the sins committed (symbolically linked to the archetypical figures of the great original sinners), the punishments inflicted, and the demons in charge of each infernal circle. This composition of hell makes use of an articulated system of contrastive relationships with paradise that in the essay are reconstructed in detail, thereby revealing the author's elements of originality with respect to the codified tradition.
