I'm doing the online "100 days of Dante" reading group, <https://100daysofdante.com/the-9-levels-of-hell/#the-inferno> and in Dr. Fred Sanders' lecture for Canto 3, he points out that the Gates of Hell is a way that the underworld is contained in its place.
"Dante gives the gates of hell as the very first manifestation of cosmic order," he notes. "Things are ordered and in their places in the Christian cosmos, and these gates establish that boundary. By the way, it is worth noting that there's no need to have a corresponding set of gates for Paradise. There are some doors and boundaries throughout Purgatory, but Dante will not be showing us a similarly imposing speaking set of the gates of heaven. They're not necessary. In a true cosmos, order anywhere means order everywhere. And gates are not as fitting a symbol of heaven as they are of hell."
No boundaries are necessary for that which is true and good, but it is loving to draw them for that which is false and evil.
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