Dante’s Inferno

Canto IV - VII

Canto IV: Limbo

Virtuous Pagans & Un-baptized Children

– Dante awakens (fainted while crossing the river

Styx – Acheron) – and sees the vastness of Hell

– The “Circles” represent ledges around the

edges of a great pit

Virtuous Pagans

– Born without the light of Christ’s revelation

– Their only pain is that they have no hope.

Canto IV

Sees a great dome of light

– House of Human Reason

– Welcomes Vigil, Why?

Dante is welcomed by Homer, Horace, Ovid,

and Lucan (Great Poets), Why?

Others found in Limbo:

– Hector, Caesar, Aristotle, Socrates, Plato

Canto IV

“…Has any, by his own or another’s merit, gone ever from this place of blessedness?” Dante asked

“I was still new to the estate of tears (Why?) when a Mighty One descended here among us, crowned with the sign of His victorious years. He took from us the shade of our first parent, of Abel, his pure son, of ancient Noah, of Moses, the bringer of law, the obedient. Father Abraham, David the King, Israel with his father and his children, Rachel, the holy vessel of His blessing, and many more He chose for elevation among the elect. And before these, you must know, no human soul had ever won salvation.”

Canto IV

The company of six is reduced by four. My

Master leads me by another road out of that

serenity to the roar and trembling air of Hell.

I pass from light into the kingdom of eternal

night.

Canto V: The Carnal

Canto V

Dante and Virgil enter the second circle of Hell– Minos, the dread and

semi-bestial judge assigns each soul to its eternal torment

– Souls confess to Minos & Minos wraps his tail about himself: one coil for each degree the soul must descend

Quick Review

Dante has encountered three beasts and

two “guardians” so far. Who are they?

1. ________

2. ________

3. ________

4. ________

5. ________

Canto V

Dante and Virgil get past Minos

They observe a great tempest

– Those who betrayed reason to their appetites

– Abandoned themselves to the tempest of their

passions: so they are swept forever in the

tempest of Hell

Among the sinners:

– Helen, Achilles, Paris, Lancelot

Canto VI: The Gluttons

Canto VI

A great storm of putrefaction falls

incessantly

Stinking snow and freezing rain which forms

into a vile slush underfoot

Souls of the damned lie in the icy paste,

swollen and obscene

Canto VI

Cerberus guards them and eats their flesh

– What does this represent?

– Think about what they did in life…

In life they made no higher use of the gifts of

God than to wallow in food and drink

– Producers of nothing but garbage and offal.

Canto VI

Dante and Virgil near the ledge and the

fourth circle and they encounter the

monster Plutus

Canto VII: The Hoarder & Wasters

&

The Wrathful and the Sullen