The unnamed shade at the end of the canto proclaims, speaking for the fate of many in this circle, “I made—of my own house—my gallows place.” The man has turned his dwelling place (of wood!) into Golgotha, but no redemption is found here; instead there is the inward, self-destructive turn of those who have chosen to destroy what they mistakenly believe to be their own in order to preserve what has never truly been theirs to keep: their reputation and an escape from suffering.