divine comedy

DivineBy Dante Alighieri

Comedy

About the

Author:

Durante degli Alighieri

Born Mid-May to mid-June, c. 1265

Florence, Republic of FlorenceDied September 13/14, 1321

(aged about 56)Ravenna, Papal States

Occupation Statesman, poet, language theorist,

political theoristNationality ItalianPeriod Late Middle AgesLiterary movement Dolce Stil NovoDante was an Italian poet and moral philosopher best known for the epic poem The Divine Comedy, which comprises sections representing the three tiers of the Christian afterlife: purgatory, heaven, and hell. This poem, a great work of medieval literature and considered the greatest work of literature composed in Italian, is a philosophical Christian vision of mankind’s eternal fate. Dante is seen as the father of modern Italian, and his works have flourished since before his 1321 death.

Dante Alighieri

Stucture: Story Purgator

io(Purgatory)

Inferno(Hell)

Paradiso(Paradise)

The Divine Comedy is composed of 14,233 lines that are divided into three canticas (Italian plural cantiche) -

- each consisting of 33 cantos (Italian plural canti). An initial canto, serving as an introduction to the poem and generally considered to be part of the first cantica, brings the total number of cantos to 100.

Additionally, the verse scheme used, terza rima, is hendecasyllabic (lines of eleven syllables), with the lines composing tercets according to the rhyme scheme aba, bcb, cdc, ded, ....

Sypnosis: Divine

Comedy

Beatrice(2nd Guide)

Virgil(1st Guide)

Saint Bernard(3rd Guide)

Dante Pilgrim has not been a good boy. His dead love Beatrice asks the Virgin Mary to help him see the error of his ways. Mary accepts and Dante is sent on a three-day trip through Hell, and on up Mount Purgatory on the other side of the world, and finally to Heaven in the sky. He is spiritually lost at the beginning of the story, so he needs guides to help him along the path.

*The woman he adored while she lived.

*(Saint Bernard) Namesake of the loyal dog – who takes him to see GOD.

*(Virgil) – author of Aeneid

Inferno [inˈfərnō]▬a large fire that is dangerously out of control.

Structure:

Inferno

The physical aspect of Hell is a gigantic funnel that leads to the very center of the Earth.

According to the legend used by Dante, this huge, gigantic hole in the Earth was made when God threw Satan (Lucifer) and his band of rebels out of Heaven with such force that they created a giant hole in the Earth.

Satan was cast all the way to the very center of the Earth, has remained there since, and will remain there through all of eternity.

Circle 1: Those in Limbo Circle 2: The Lustful Circle 3: The Gluttonous Circle 4: The Hoaders Circle 5: The Wrathful Circle 6: The Heretics Circle 7: The ViolentRing 1:Murderers, Robberers & PlundersRing 2:Suicides and those harmful to the worldRing 3:Against GOD, Nature & Art Circle 8: The Faudulent

Trench I: Panderers & Seducers

Trench II: FlatterersTrench III: SimoniacsTrench IV: SorcerersTrench V: BarratorsTrench VI: HyprocritesTrench VII: TheivesTrench VIII: Evil CounselorsTrench IX: Sowers of DiscordTrench X: Falsifiers

Circle 9: TraitorsRegion 1: KindredRegion 2: CountryRegion 3: GuestsRegion 4: Lords

CANTO I The Dark worlds of Error

Dante in the savage wood

The Inferno follows the wanderings of the poet Dante

as he strays off the rightful and straight path of moral

truth and gets lost in a dark wood. And that, folks, is just the beginning.

Dante

At the age of thirty-five, on the night of Good Friday in the year 1300, Dante finds himself lost in a dark wood and full of fear.

CANTO I The Dark worlds of Error

PantherLion

She-wolf

The panther at the beginning of the ascent The lion suddently confronts Dante The she-wolf appears

Just as three wild animals threaten to attack him, Dante is rescued by the ghost of Virgil, a celebrated Roman poet and also Dante’s idol.

Virgil

CANTO II

The Descent

Virgil and Dante begin their journey

Virgil asked the deceased love-of-Dante’s-life, Beatrice, to send someone down to help him. Virgil to the rescue! He’s an appropriate guide because he’s very much like Dante, a fellow writer and famous poet.

When asked why he came, Virgil answers that the head honchos of

Heaven—the Virgin Mary and Santa Lucia—felt sorry for Dante.

Beatrice and Virgil

Beatrice

CANTO III

The Opportunists(Gate)

Virgil and Dante at the gates of Hell

Dante passes through the gate of Hell, which bears an inscription ending with the famous phrase "Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate", most frequently translated as "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here

Dante and his guide hear the anguished screams of the Uncommitted. These

are the souls of people who in life took no sides;

the opportunists who were for neither good nor evil,

but merely concerned with themselves.

CANTO III

The Opportunists(Gate)

Charon on the River Acheron

After passing through the vestibule, Dante and Virgil reach the ferry that will take them across the river Acheron and to Hell proper. The ferry is piloted by Charon, who does not want to let Dante enter, for he is a living being

Virgil forces Charon to take him

however, the passage across the

Acheron is undescribed, since

Dante faints and does not awaken until he is on the

other side.

Charon

CANTO IV

The Virtuous Pagan Circle 1 - Limbo

The doomed souls embarking to cross the Acheron

The first circle of Hell (Limbo), considered pre-Hell, just contains all of the unbaptized and good people born and before the coming of Christ, who obviously couldn’t be saved by him.

CANTO IV

The Virtuous Pagan Circle 1 - Limbo

Homer, the poets, and heroes in Limbo

The first circle of Hell (Limbo) :

Virgil resides here, along with a bunch of other Greek and Roman poets.

Dante encounters the poets Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan, who include him in their number and make him "sixth in that high company".

CANTO V

The LustfulCircle 2

Minos judges the transgressions and dispatches the souls

Dante and Virgil leave Limbo and enter the Second Circle — the first of the circles of Incontinence — where the punishments of Hell proper begin. It is described as "a part where no thing gleams. They find their way hindered by the serpentine Minos.

Minos

who judges all of those condemned for active, deliberately willed sin to one of the lower circles.

He sentences each soul to its torment by wrapping his tail around himself a corresponding number of times.

CANTO V

The LustfulCircle 2

The souls of the lustful in the infernal hurricane

In the second circle, lustful sinners are tossed around by endless storms.

CANTO V

The LustfulCircle 2

The souls of Paolo and Francesca

Dante speaks to the soul of Francesca da

Rimini, a woman who was stuck in a

loveless, arranged marriage and

committed adultery when she fell in love with a dashing youth

named Paolo.

Paolo

Francesca

CANTO VI

The GluttonousCircle 3

Virgil feeds Cerberus in the third circle

Cerberus - the monstrous three-headed beast of Hell, ravenously guards the gluttons lying in the freezing mire, mauling and flaying them with his claws as they howl like dogs.

Cerberus

CANTO VI

The GluttonousCircle 3

The gluttons battered by eternal rain

Dante then awakes in the

third circle, where the

Gluttonous sinners suffer

under a cold and filthy rain.

CANTO VII

The Avaricious and ProdigalCircle 4

The souls of the avaricious and the prodigal forced to roll heavy stones

Virgil leads Dante on to the fourth circle, where the Avaricious (greedy people) and Prodigal (reckless spenders) roll heavy weights in endless circles.

Virgil rebukes Plutus at the entrance to the fourth circle

Circle 4 – Guarded by Plutus.

Plutus

CANTO VIIIThe Wrathful and SullenCircle 5 – The River Styx

The soul of the Florentine Philippo Argenti accosts the poets on the Styx

The next stop on the tour is

the fifth circle, where the

Wrathful and Sullen are

immersed in the muddy river

Styx. While they are crossing the Styx, a sinner named Filippo Argenti reaches out to Dante (presumably for help), but Dante angrily rejects him.

Philippo

CANTOIX-XI

The Wrathful and SullenCircle 5 – The Gate of Dis

Virgil and Dante disembark at the citadel of Dis

Now at the gates of a city called Dis, Virgil takes it upon himself to persuade the demon guards to let them pass. Unexpectedly, he fails.

CANTOIX-XI

The Wrathful and SullenCircle 5 – The Gate of Dis

The hideous Erinyes: Megaera, Tisiphone, Alecto

The walls of Dis are guarded by fallen angels.

Demon guards

This means that instead of continuing on with the journey,

Dante and Virgil must wait for an angel to

come down and force open the gates for

them. The angel opens the gates

CANTOIX-XI

The HereticsCircle 6

Farinata degli Uberti addresses Dante

After passing the city of Dis, our

dynamic duo, enters the sixth

circle, where the Heretics lay in

fiery tombs.

Farinata degli Uberti

Dante talks to Farinata degli Uberti, who predicts that Dante will have difficulty returning to Florence from exile.

CANTO XII The Violent against NeighborsCircle 7

The Minotaur on the shattered cliff

This circle houses the violent. Its entry is

guarded by Minotaur.

Divided into 3 rings:

Outer ringMiddle ringInner ring

Minotaur

CANTO XII The Violent Circle 7

As they cross from the sixth to the seventh circle,

where the Violent are punished,

Virgil finally begins explaining

the layout of Hell.

Violent against their neighbors

Circle 7

Violent against themselves

Violent against GOD

Outer ring

Middle ring

Inner ring

*The seventh circle will show all the violent sinners.

CANTO XII The Violent against their neighbors Circle 7 – Outer Ring

Outer ring – housing the

violent against people and

property, who are immersed in

Phlegethon – a river of boiling

blood, to a level commensurate

with their sins.

The centaurs attack the souls in boiling blood

CANTO XIII The Violent against themselvesCircle 7 – Middle Ring

Middle ring – In this ring are

the suicides, who are transformed

into gnarled thorny bushes

and trees.

The suicides in the forest

*The trees are a metaphor; In life the only way of the relief of suffering was through pain (suicide)

CANTO XIV-XVII

The Violent against GOD, Nature and ArtCircle 7 – Inner Ring

Inner ring – All reside in a

desert of flaming sand with fiery

flakes raining from the sky.

Brunetto Latini accosts Dante

Violent against:

GOD – blasphemers,

Nature –Sodomites;

Art – Usurers

Latini

CANTO XVIII

The Fraudulent Circle 8 –

Finally, Dante and Virgil ready

themselves to cross to the eighth circle.

Dante, at Virgil’s command, summons

the beast Geryon from the depths

with a cord wrapped around his waist.

Geryon

Geryon, symbol of deceit The descent into the abyss on Geryon’s back

Virgil stays to talk with the beast while urging Dante to look at the last of the Violent sinners. When Dante comes back, they mount Geryon and ride the beast during the descent into the eighth circle.

CANTO XVIII


The eighth circle contains ten

pouches, each containing different

types of sinners.

Dante’s Inferno





CANTO XVIII


Bolgia I : Devils and seducers Bolgia II: Paramours and flatterers in the eighth circle

Panderers and Seducers walk in separate line in opposite direction, whipped by demons.

Flatterers are steeped in human excrement.

CANTO XIX-XX


Bolgia V Dante rebukes Pope Nicholas III i Bolgia VI: Sorcerers and false prophets

Simoniacs -Those who committed simony are place head first in holes in the rock, with flames burning on the soles of their feet.

Sorcerers and false prophets- they have their heads twisted around on their bodies backward, so they can only see what is behind them and not in

the future.

CANTO XXI-XXIIIThe Fraudulent Circle 8 –

Bolgia V : Devils torment the barrators Bolgia VI: Hypocrites

Corrupt politicians( barrators) are immersed in a lake of boiling pitch, guarded by devils, the Malebranche

Hypocrites listlessly walking along wearing gold-gilded lead cloaks.

lol

CANTO XXIV-XXVII


Bolgia VII : The thieves tormented by serpents Bolgia VIII: Evil Counsellors

Thieves are bitten by snakes. Snakes bites make them undergo various transformations and some resrrected after being turned to ashes.

Evil counsellors are encased in individual

flames

*They’re watching the flaming spirits of Oddyseus and

Diomedes (Trojan War)

CANTO XXVII-XXXI


Bolgia IX : Sowers of Dicord Bolgia X: The falsifiers and forgers tormented with itching

A sword-wieldded devil hacks at the sowers of discord.

As their wounds heal, the devil will

tear their bodies again.

Groups of various sort of falsifiers are

afflicted with different types of

diseases.

The severed head of

Bertrand de Born speaks to

Dante

CANTO XXVII-XXXI


Ephialtes in manacles among the giants

As they leave, Virgil points out

the sinning giants who are

immobilized around them in

punishment.

CANTO XXVII-XXXI


Nimrod of the giants

Nimrod—who was responsible for building the Tower of Babel—has lost the ability to speak coherently. His words are gibberish.

Virgil requests that one of the unbound giants, Antaneus, transport them in the palm of his hand down to the last circle of Hell. He complies.

The giant Antaeus lowers Dante and Virgil into the last circle

Nimrod

Antaneus

CANTO XXXIII The TraitorsCircle 9 –

The ninth circle of Hell, where traitors

are punished, contains four

different zones.

Dante’s Inferno





CANTO XXXIII The TraitorsCircle 9

Traitors, distinguished from

the “merely” fraudulent in that their acts involve

betraying one in a special relationship to the betrayer, are

frozen in a lake of ice known as Cocytus.

The traitors frozen in the ice of Cocytus

CANTO XXXIII The TraitorsCircle 9 – The Four Concentric Zones of 9th Circle

Traitors to their Kindred

REGION 1:Caïna

Named for Cain, is home to traitors to their

kindered.

REGION 2:Antenor

aIs name for Antenor of

troy,who betrayed his city to the

Greeks.

REGION 3:Ptolomæ

aIs probably named

for Ptolemy, the captain of Jericho ,

He killed Simon Maccabaeus and

his sons.

REGION 4:Judecca

Is named for Judas the Iscariot,

Biblical betrayer of Christ, is for traitor

to their Lords.

Traitors to their Country Traitors to their Guests Traitors to their Lords

CANTO XXXIII The TraitorsCircle 9 – REGION 1:Caïna

REGION 1:Caïna

The souls here are immersed in the ice up to their necks.

Dante addresses the traitor Bocca degli Abati

Bocca degli Abati

CANTO XXXIII The TraitorsCircle 9 – REGION 2:Antenora

REGION 2: Antenora

The souls here are immersed the same

level as those in Caïna, except they are unable to bend

their necks.

Ugolino gnaws upon the head of Archbishop Ruggieri

Archbishop Ruggierir

Ugolino

CANTO XXXIII The TraitorsCircle 9 – REGION 3:Ptolomæa

REGION 3:Ptolomæa

Where traitors against their guests suffer, immobilized

in ice and their tears frozen against their

eyes.

As they cry, their tears freeze and seal their eyes shut – they are denied even comfort of tears.

CANTO XXXIII The TraitorsCircle 9 – REGION 4:Judecca

REGION 4:Judecca

In the fourth the final zone, Judecca,

where traitors against their

benefactors are punished, Dante

witnesses the king of Hell, the three-

headed Lucifer, giant and frozen at

the core. In his three mouths,

Lucifer mechanically chews on the most

evil mortal sinners—Judas, Brutus, and

Cassius.

Lucifer, king of Hell, frozen in the ice

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References

INFERNO SUMMARYhttp://www.shmoop.com/inferno/summary.html

The Divine Comedy: Illustrations by Gustave Doréhttp://www.danshort.com/dc/page1.php?p=75

DIVINE COMEDYhttp://www.slideshare.net/arlene5162/divine-comedy-presentation









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