The InfernoDante Alighieri

Dante: Poet Exiled from Florence White Guelph 1265 – 1321 Places enemies in hell

Politicians Poets (Ovid , Lucan) Church figures

Commentary on corruption Popes

Dante: CharacterTravels through hell

Nature of sin

Symbolic of human raceSympathy towards shades sufferingEmotional, fainting Contrasts the feelings of the author

VirgilCondemned to Limbo(1st circle)Master, Guide, TeacherGuides and protects Dante through hell Teaches morals and God’s justification Represents human rationality and reasonDeliberate, determined, wise 

Canto I

Dark wood, facing sunlit hillLeopard, Lion, She-wolfBack to the wood, VirgilCan’t pass the beasts,

propose as a guide through Hell

Canto II

• Feel not worthy

• Virgil comfort him => how he has been send to him

Canto III

Vestibule, hear sighs from the damned souls

Souls rejected by Heaven and Hell => no hope of truly dying

Meet Charon

Strong wind disturbs Dante’s senses => fall on the ground

Canto IV

First circle : LimboMeet people around the only lightReach a castle => “bearing told of great authority” and “master sage”

Canto V

Second circle : LustfulMinosFirst time see souls being punishedConstantly whirling without hope of rest Francesca and Paolo => pity => faint

Canto VI

Third circle : GluttonsPunishment = discomfortCerberusCiaccoPlutus

Canto VII

Confronting Plutus – fourth circle :Prodigal and Miserly2 semicircles – clashing FortuneFifth circle (river Styx) : wrathfulFight foreverTower

Canto VIII

Before reaching the tower => PhlegyasAttacked by Filippo ArgentiCity of Dis => fiendish angels threatingVirgil comfort, argueSlam doors

Canto IX

Gate of DisLack of Divine aidThree furiesCall for MedusaHeavenly messenger approachesEnter into sixth circle- vast settingTorment by Heretics

Canto X

Tombs of hereticsEpicureansFarinata interrupts

Canto XI

Edge of seventh circleExplanation of next three circles and subdivisions

Canto XII

First ring of seventh circleRiver of bloodNavigate around the riverGuard (Nessus) names 3 shades within the river

Canto XIII

Second ring

Enters forest (Shade trees)

Formation of Shade trees

Canto XIV

Edge of third ringDivisions (zones)Explanation of blasphemers (zone 1- within)Happen across another “Red River”

Canto XV

Second zoneExplanation of sodomitesHappen across Latini (Shade)

Canto XVI

Still in second zoneSinners from Florence Virgil asks for Dante’s belt

Canto XVIIGeryon (Fraud)3rd ZoneUsurers

Preventing artGreed/MoneyFurthering Mankind

Rain of FirePurses/Emblems around NeckDown to 8th Circle

Canto XVIII

Malebolge (Evil Pouches)Wall, 10 ridges, pit

1st PouchPanderers/Seducers Demons with whips

2nd PouchFlatterers“Foul sight”

Canto XIX

3rd PouchSimoniacs (pardoners)Pope Nicholas IIIDante’s Criticism

Canto XX

4th PouchAstrologers, Magicians, DivinersContinuous lineFace backwards

Canto XXI5th PouchGrafters/ConmenPositions of powerGreedTar PitsMalebranche (evil claws)Malacoda (leader)Time frame: Good Friday

Canto XXII

Still 5th pouchSpeak with BartererVirgil and Dante run from Malebranche

Canto XXIII

Slide down to 6th pouchEscape MalebrancheHypocritesLead lined clothingCaiphus (preist to Pontius Pilate)CrucifiedDante gets directions

Canto XXIV

Rocky descent to 7th pouchThievesSerpents chasing shades“Stealing” forms

Catch, bite, burn, recreated

Dante’s Political Party

Canto XXV

Three shades Six footed serpentMerge forms

Canto XXVI

Eighth Circle, Eighth PouchFlames-contain souls of sinners that committed a fraudUlysses and Diomedes – Trojan Horse

Canto XXVII

Guido de Montefeltro – advisor to the PopeRelease from guilt cannot come before repentance, which cannot come before the sin

Canto XXVIII

Eight Circle, Ninth PouchSowers of DiscordDance in a circle as a demon hacks them to pieces

Canto XXIX

Eighth Circle, Tenth Pouch – 4 zonesZone 1. Falsifiers of Metals

Canto XXX

Zone 2. Falsifiers of others’ Persons - MyhrraZone 3. Falsifiers of Coins (counterfeiters)Zone 4. Falsifiers of Words (liars) - Potiphar

Canto XXXI

Into the Ninth CircleChained giants

Canto XXXII

Cocytus – Frozen Lake4 ringsRing 1. – Caina – Traitors to kinRing 2. – Antenora – Traitors to homeland

Canto XXXIII

Count Ugolino, Archbishop RuggieriRing 3. – Ptolomea – Traitors to guests

Canto XXXIV

Ring 4. – Judecca – Traitors to lords and benefactors

The Devil – Brutus, Cassius, Judas

Virgil leads Dante out the other end of Earth

Qualities of an EpicBegins in medias res - Canto 1 (l. 1-3) “Midway upon the journey of our life”Vast setting – Canto 34 (l. 112-113) “And now beneath the hemisphere”Begins with a statement of theme – Canto 1 (l. 112-117) “Therefore I think and judge it for thy best “Begins with an invocation to a muse – Canto 2 (l. 7-9) “O Muses, O high genius, now assist me!”Includes the use of long lists – Canto 4 (l. 121-144) “Mongst who I knew”

Ship references

Qualities of an Epic: 2Features long and formal speeches – Canto 2 (l. 43-126) “Tell me, my master, tell me”Shows divine intervention on human affairs - Canto 9 (l. 89-90) “He reached the gate”Features heroes that embody the values of civilization – Canto 5 (l. 116-117) “The torment that you suffer”Often features the epic hero’s descent into hell – Canto 3 (l. 9) “All hope abandon, ye who enter in!”Epithets…

Literary ElementsAlliteration- “So that the firm foot ever was the lower.” Canto I (l. 30) Allusion- “He answered me: ‘Within there are tormented / Ulysses and Diomed, and thus together / They unto vengeance run as unto wrath. / And there within their flame do they lament / The ambush of the horse, which made the door / Whence issued forth the Romans’ gentle seed...’” Canto XXVI (l. 55-60)  Assonance- “Here the nobility shall be manifest / And I began...” Canto II (l. 9-10) Consonance- “Justice incited my sublime Creator” Canto III (l. 4)Deus ex Machina- “Well I perceived one sent from Heaven was he, / And to the Master turned; and he made a sign / That I should quiet stand, and bow before him.” Canto IX (l. 85-87) Enjambment- “The many people and the diverse wounds / These eyes of mine had so inebriated” Canto XXIX (l. 1-2)Imagery- “Speaking no word, we came to where there gushes / Forth from the wood a little rivulet, / Whose redness makes my hair still stand on end. / As from the Bulicame springs the brooklet, / The sinful women later share among them, / So downward through the sand it went its way. / The bottom of it, and both sloping banks, / Were made of stone, and the margins at the side; / Whence I perceived that there the passage was.” Canto XIV (l. 76-84)In medias res- “Midway upon the journey of our life / I found myself within a forest dark, / For the straightforward pathway had been lost.” Canto I (l. 1-3)Parallelism- “Through me the way is to the city dolent; / Through me the way is to eternal dole; / Through me the way among the people lost.” Canto III (1-3) Simile- “In similar wise the evil seed of Adam / Throw themselves on that margin one by one, / at signals, as a bird unto its lure.” Canto III (l. 115-117)Symbolism- “The infernal hurricane that never rests / Hurtles the spirits onward in its rapine; / Whirling them round, and smiting, it molests them.” Canto V (l. 31-33)

In life the sinners were blown around and controlled by lustful thoughts, now in hell they are eternally punished the same way. “For the straightforward pathway had been lost.” Canto I (l. 3) -Dante has lost his way on the true path of life; meaning sin has obstructed his path to God Crumbling Statue