The image of a Hell-mouth from Psalter of Henry of Blois

The image of a Hell-mouth from Psalter of Henry of Blois, 12th Century is an artistic representation of the gaping mouth of a huge monster believed to be the gate to hell. The image is a jaw with many teeth. Inside the jaws are naked people of all kinds some with animalized heads believed to represent the angels of hell. The jaws are those of two large whales seemingly entangling the lots of people. At the bottom side is an angel like female holding a key to the lock.
The medieval image is a representation of the last judgment. The imagery included in the art is that of a whale that is considered as a wreathed animal in the Leviathan and devoured souls entangled inside the mouth and being subjected to physical torture. The gate of hell is compared to the mouth of a whale. Whale uses its mouth as a trick to entice fish through the sweet scent it produces. Once they enter the mouth, it closes the jaws and swallows. In the art, the angel at the gate imitates the opening and closing of the jaws.
Just like the fish, people who let themselves to be ticked by the sweetness of sin will be entangled in the mouth of hell whose door is manned by the devil’s angel. Just as the fish cannot get out once swallowed, people too cannot free themselves once locked in hell. The art is an artistic representation of the ultimate consequences of a sinful life. It illustrates Pope Innocent’s view of the human condition. In his writings, the Pope asserts that those who sin shall become food for the warm and a mass of rottenness which forever stench (Withington 164).

The pope reiterates the words from Mathew 13:41-2 that describes hell as a place where people shall be groaning, screaming and shouting. The toil, trouble, darkness, anguish and terrible stench are all visualized in the monster whale’s mouth as the entangled try to free, die, and scream of pain and for help. The Pope calls for Christians to abandon un-Godly lifestyles to evade the final judgment and life in hell.
Work Cited
Withington, E. “Pope Innocent VIII. And Witchcraft”. Nature 101.2531 (1918): 164-164. Web.