The Divine Comedy

A Classical Quest through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise

Purgatorio Paradiso

Dante’s Structure: The Quest For Salvation

Inferno

DANTE ALIGHIERI

   Born in Florence, May, 1265.

His family was old and of noble origin, but no longer wealthy. He probably spent a year at the University of Bologna as part of his education, studying the Trivium and the Quadrivium, typical of Medival curriculum.

 As customary, Dante had an arranged marriage in his youth to Gemma Donati, daughter of Manetto Donati.

 But Dante’s greatest love, and the greatest single influence on his work, was a woman named Beatrice.

BEATRICE

 Dante met Beatrice when he was nine and she eight, at his father’s home, most likely for a May Day festival.

 Beatrice married another man about 1287, and died in 1290 at the age of 25.

BEATRICE

• Beatrice was Dante’s angel. He could not touch her, because this was the age of Courtly love. • Dante’s life and work were dedicated to her.

• Dante’s muse and inspiration— the female aspect behind the genius.

• She is the divine light of love.

DANTE’S MEDIEVAL WORLD

 Dante’s world was threefold:  The world of politics  The world of theology  The world of learning  His Comedy utilizes all three; these areas are interdependent, so that it is impossible to say that one was more important than the other.

 The Middle Ages was dominated by the struggle between the

PAPACY

and the

EMPIRE.

 Both thought that they were of divine origin and indispensable to the welfare of mankind.

The Vatican Rome, Italy

THE PAPACY

One of the few remaining city-states in the world.

C

ONSTANTINE

I T

HE

E

MPIRE

WHERE CHURCH AND STATE WERE FIRST IN CONFLICT.

CAUSE OF THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE

 In the 8 th Century the Papal claim to temporal power was justified by the

“DONATION OF CONSTANTINE”

which stated that the emperor, had given power of the empire to the Pope before leaving for Byzantium.  This claim created great strife and discord in the empire.

 Nothing new between politics and religion . . .

 Later this was discovered to be a

FORGED DOCUMENT!

THE IMPORTANCE OF VIRGIL

• • • In the Middle Ages Virgil was regarded as a sage and necromancer. His poems were opened in a manner of divination called Sortes. The book was opened at random and a verse was selected as an answer to some question.

Does this sound kind of like a Quija Board?

VIRGIL 70 B.C.E. 19 B.C.E

   He was the greatest of the Roman poets.

His Aeneid provided the pattern for the structure of Dante’s Hell. Virgil was chosen as Dante’s guide through Hell, because Dante saw him as his master and inspiration for his poetic style.

    Virgil is also revered as the poet of the Roman Empire.

The Aeneid tells of the Empire’s founding. Virgil also wrote in his fourth ecologue of the coming of a Wonder Child who will bring the Golden Age.

This was interpreted in the Middle Ages as the coming of Christ.

STRUCTURE OF

THE DIVINE COMEDY

 DANTE’S WORLD WAS ONE THAT BELIEVED IN MYSTICAL CORRESPONDENCES AND THE POWER OF NUMBERS, STARS, AND STONES  EVENTS OF HISTORY— CONTAINED A MYSTICAL SIGNIFICANCE.



DANTE’S NUMERICAL SYMBOLISM:

 3 A SYMBOL OF THE HOLY TRINITY  9 THREE TIMES THREE.

 33 A MULTIPLE OF 3  THE 7 DAYS OF CREATION  10 CONSIDERED IN THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD A PERFECT NUMBER  100, THE MULTIPLE OF 10.

THREE SECTIONS OF

THE DIVINE COMEDY

INFERNO, PURGATORIO, AND PARADISO

3 was a holy number to Dante— suggesting the Holy Trinity.

STRUCTURE OF

THE DIVINE COMEDY

 Each section has 33 cantos (small division of poetry; canto means “song.”)  The Inferno includes an introductory canto, which makes 100 cantos total (1oo representing the idea of perfection or spiritual enlightenment achieved after the journey).

 Three major divisions of sin: 

Incontinence



Violence



Fraudulence

 By the time you finish reading, you will know which circle of hell you may find yourself in!

 Three-line poetric structure:

Terza Rima

Dante’s Use of Terza Rima

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, ché la diritta via era smarrita.

Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, For the straightforward pathway had been lost.

Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte che nel pensier rinova la paura!

Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say What was this forest savage, rough, and stern, Which in the very thought renews the fear.

Tant’ è amara che poco è più morte; ma per trattar del ben ch’i’ vi trovai, dirò de l’altre cose ch’i’ v’ho scorte.

Io non so ben ridir com’ i’ v’intrai, 10 tant’ era pien di sonno a quel punto che la verace via abbandonai.

Ma poi ch’i’ fui al piè d’un colle giunto, là dove terminava quella valle che m’avea di paura il cor compunto, So bitter is it, death is little more; But of the good to treat, which there I found, Speak will I of the other things I saw there.

I cannot well repeat how there I entered, 10 So full was I of slumber at the moment In which I had abandoned the true way.

But after I had reached a mountain's foot, At that point where the valley terminated, Which had with consternation pierced my heart, guardai in alto e vidi le sue spalle vestite già de’ raggi del pianeta che mena dritto altrui per ogne calle.

Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders, Vested already with that planet's rays Which leadeth others right by every road.

THE

INFERNO

T HE SIGN ABOVE THE GATES TO THE ENTRANCE TO HELL

THE SPIRALING INFERNO

 DANTE’S HELL IS A HUGE FUNNEL SHAPED PIT.

 THE CENTER IS LOCATED BENEATH JERUSALEM.

 THE NINE REGIONS ARE DESIGNATED FOR A PARTICULAR SIN.

 ITS REGIONS ARE ARRANGED IN A SERIES OF DESCENDING CIRCULAR STAIRCASES THAT DIMINISH IN CIRCUMFERENCE THE DEEPER THAT VIRGIL AND DANTE TRAVEL.

 THE HIGHER UP A SINNER, THE LIGHTER THE SIN, THE DEEPER THE SINNER, THE DARKER AND MORE TERRIBLE THE SIN.

DANTE’S FUNNEL SHAPED HELL

Circle of Hell

Vestibule Uncommitted

Sin

Acheron River Circle I—Limbo Circle II Circle III Circle IV Circle V (Styx) Virtuous Unbaptized Lustful Gluttonous Prodigal, Avaricious Wrathful City of Dis: Capitol of Hell Circle VI Circle VII: Heretics Violence • Against Neighbors, • Self, God, Nature Abyss (Geryon) Circle VIII: Malebolge (Evil Ditches) Circle IX (Cocytus) • Fraud • Panderers, Seducers, Flatterers, • Simonists, Soothsayers, Grafters • Hypocrites, Thieves, False Counselors, Counterfeiters, Falsifiers Traitors to: Kindred, Country, Guests, Masters

AT THE BOTTOM OF THE INFERNO DANTE’S SATAN THE EPITOME OF EVIL, THE FALLEN ANGEL

CONCEPT OF DIVINE RETRIBUTION

 PUNISHMENTS IN HELL ARE REGULATED BY THE LAW OF RETRIBUTION.

 THESE PUNISHMENTS ARE RELATED TO THE SINS EITHER BY ANALOGY OR ANTITHESIS.

 CONTRAPASSO: “SUFFER THE OPPOSITE”— PUNISHMENT OF SOULS BY A PROCESS EITHER RESEMBLING OR CONTRASTING WITH THE SIN ITSELF  AS ONE SINNED IN LIFE, SO HE OR SHE IS PUNISHED IN DEATH.

POINTS TO REMEMBER

 THE

INFERNO

OF A WORK CALLED

THE DIVINE COMEDY.

IS PART  IN THE MIDDLE AGES COMEDY MEANT SOME HUMAN EXPERIENCE THAT BEGAN IN TRAGEDY AND ENDED IN HAPPINESS.

 IT IS ALSO AN ALLEGORY.

 THE MORAL PURPOSE IS TO POINT OUT TO THOSE STILL LIVING THE ERROR OF THEIR WAYS AND TO PUT THEM ON THE PATH OF SALVATION.

THE FINAL GOAL: SALVATION BY THE CROSS

In your WNB, make a chart to keep track of the cantos and levels of hell:

Canto Circle/Region Sinners Punishment Allusions Symbols

Cantos 1-2 The Dark Wood

Three Beasts:

Leopard Lion She-wolf

Virgil as Guide Three Blessed Women:

Virgin Mary St. Lucia Beatrice

Dante, the speaker, suddenly finds himself lost in a dark forest.

Canto 1:

Mid-Life Crisis The Call Meeting with the Mentor

He tries to climb up a hill but he is blocked by three beasts: a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf, so he is trapped.

He is alone in the dark valley when suddenly a spirit appears. This is Virgil, the Roman poet.

When Dante asks about the beasts, Virgil tells him that the she-wolf will kill anyone who tries to pass her, but someday the great Greyhound will come and destroy her and send her back to Hell.

Because of the beasts, Virgil tells Dante that he must take a different path and that he will guide Dante.

Virgil also tells Dante that they must first pass through Hell and see the eternal punishment of the sinners before being able to reach Heaven.

Then Virgil sets out on the journey and Dante follows behind him.

Symbol

: The Shadowed Forest represents the dark time in Dante’s life. He has come to a crossroads, perhaps a mid-life crisis, where he is questioning good and evil and the purpose and meaning of his life.

The Three Beasts by Priamo della Quercia (1444-1452)

Symbols: The three beasts (leopard, lion, and she-wolf) are symbols that represent the three divisions of sin (fraud, violence, and incontinence). These are the sins that were believed to have caused the downfall of humankind, and since Dante is at a crossroads in his life, this journey is intended to make him question his life and what punishment might await him for the sins he has committed.

Symbolism and Allusion:

The three beasts might also symbolize the politics of the day. Because of the conflict between the Pope and the Emperor, leadership was continually in question. The Greyhound was believed to be an allusion to the hope for a future leader who would come to save Italy.

She-Wolf

by Gustave Dore

Lion

by Gustave Dore

Allusion

: Virgil--Publius Vergilius Maro (70 BC – 19 BC) Virgil was the Roman poet of the epic

The Aeneid

. He is considered Rome’s greatest poet, and he was an inspiration to Dante. In the poem he serves as Dante’s guide and mentor, as Dante even refers to how much he has been influenced by him.

A poet was I, and I sang that just Son of Anchises, who came forth from Troy, After that Ilion the superb was burned But thou, why goest thou back to such annoyance?

Why climb'st thou not the Mount Delectable Which is the source and cause of every joy?" "Now, art thou that Virgilius and that fountain Which spreads abroad so wide a river of speech?

I made response to him with bashful forehead.

"O, of the other poets honour and light, Avail me the long study and great love That have impelled me to explore thy volume!

Thou art my master, and my author thou, Thou art alone the one from whom I took The beautiful style that has done honour to me.

Behold the beast, for which I have turned back; Do thou protect me from her, famous Sage, For she doth make my veins and pulses tremble.' "Thee it behoves to take another road," Responded he, when he beheld me weeping, "If from this savage place thou wouldst escape; Because this beast, at which thou criest out, Suffers not any one to pass her way, But so doth harass him, that she destroys him; And has a nature so malign and ruthless, That never doth she glut her greedy will, And after food is hungrier than before.

Many the animals with whom she weds, And more they shall be still, until the Greyhound Comes, who shall make her perish in her pain.

Canto 2: Dante’s Refusal of the Call & Beatrice Calls for Back-up

Paraphrase of Canto 2

Dante calls on the Muses, the ancient goddesses of art and inspiration, to ask them to help him tell his story.

“O Muses, o high genius, help me now. . .” As he begins to tell his story, he thinks that he is not strong enough to face the terrors of Hell. He knows of only two other men who have returned after their journeys to the afterlife—the Apostle Paul (“the successor of Peter”) and Aeneas (“the one who fathered Sylvius”). He does not feel worthy of the greatness of either of these two: “But why should I go there? Who sanctions it? For I am not Aeneas, am not Paul; nor I nor others think myself so worthy.” He reminds Virgil that he was even too cowardly to face the hill and the beasts who blocked his way. When Virgil found him, Dante had already given up and had started downhill. Virgil tells Dante that his feelings of cowardice are common to man, but then he tells him about how he came to be his guide: “I was among those souls who are suspended; a lady called to me, so blessed, so lovely that I implored to serve at her command.”

Virgil has been assigned to the outer edge of Hell—Limbo, that is (we’ll learn more about this later). Beatrice came down from Heaven to Limbo to ask Virgil for help. Beatrice was Dante’s unrequited love from life. She learned about Dante’s suffering from St. Lucia (a 4 th century saint of sight and grace) who was also in Heaven and who had heard about Dante from the Virgin Mary. These three women—Beatrice, St. Lucia, and Mary—are all looking out for Dante, and Virgil questions why Virgil hesitates with such fear when these women put such faith in him and Beatrice was crying and begging Virgil to help.

Dante seems to feel reassured after hearing about Beatrice: "O she, compassionate, who has helped me! And you who, courteous, obeyed so quickly the true words that she had addressed to you!

This gives Dante the strength to continue on the path with Virgil: Now go; a single will fills both of us: you are my guide, my governor, my master." These were my words to him; when he advanced I entered on the steep and savage path.

The Nine Muses

Dante and Beatrice ascend to the Heaven of the Moon (Giovanni di Paolo 1540)

Allusion to the Muses: The Muses are the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne (Memory); they are the goddesses of literature, music, dance and other intellectual pursuits. Dante invokes the muses to gain poetic inspiration to tell the story of his journey through Hell with Virgil.

The allusion is important as a poetic device. The invocation of the Muses is a common motif that appears in classical poetry.

Allusion to St. Paul

St. Paul is considered one of the most influential of Christ’s followers and early missionaries of Christianity. His conversion on the road to Damascus is the most famous story about him. He is also responsible for writing the Epistles in the New Testament. Fourteen of these epistles are believed to be written by him. Dante refers to him when he hesitates before following Virgil through the gates to Hell. Dante feels inferior in comparison to St. Paul and Aeneas, who are the only men Dante knows of who have returned from a journey to Hell.

The Three Women

Allusion: Beatrice, The Virgin Mary, and St. Lucy are all believed to be watching over Dante. Beatrice intervenes on behalf of Dante and begs Virgil to help him in his time of suffering.

Word Choice and Imagery:

Rugged pass, deathless world, dark air, battle, dark land, shadows, phantoms, fires flaming, wars,

Canto 2 Passage Analysis

She said: "You, Beatrice, true praise of God, Why have you not helped him who loves you so That for your sake he’s left the vulgar crowd?

Do you not hear the anguish in his cry?

Do you not see the death he wars against upon that river ruthless as the sea?” No one within this world has ever been so quick to seek his good or flee his harm as I—when she had finished speaking thus— to come below, down from my blessed station; I trusted in your honest utterance, which honors you and those who’ve listened to you.’

When she had finished with her words to me, she turned aside her gleaming, tearful eyes, which only made me hurry all the more.

And, just as she had wished, I came to you” I snatched you from the path of the fierce beast that barred the shortest way up the fair mountain.

What is it then? Why, why do you resist?

Why does your heart host so much cowardice?

Where are your daring and your openness as long as there are three blessed women Concerned for you within the court of Heaven and my words promise you so great a good?”

Canto 3

Gates of Hell Vestibule

“Abandon all hope ye who enter here.”

Cowards The Indecisive Angels Punishment:

They are stung by insects and endlessly chase banners.

Acheron River Charon

Canto 4

Circle 1: Limbo The Unbaptized and Virtuous Pagans Punishment:

Boredom Forever separated from God

Virgil, Homer, Horace, Ovid, Socrates, Plato

Canto 5

Circle 2 Lust Punishment:

The lustful souls are blown about in a violent storm, without hope of rest.

Minos Francesca da Rimini and her lover Paolo

Canto 6

Circle 3 Gluttony Punishment:

They are forced to live in vile freezing slush, guarded by Cerberus.

Ciacco of Florence Florentine Politics Last Judgment

Canto 7

Circle 4 Avarice Prodigality Punishment:

The Miserly and Spendthrift push great heavy weights together, crashing them time and time again

Plutus Fortuna

Cantos 7-8

Circle 5 Wrath Sullenness Punishment:

The Wrathful fight each other on the surface of the Styx, while the Sullen gurgle beneath it.

Phlegyas Filippo Argenti Fallen Angels

Cantos 8-9

City of Dis Lower Circles of Hell Circles 6-9 Furies and Medusa Harrowing of Hell Theseus Hercules

Canto 10

Circle 6 Heresy Punishment:

Heretics are trapped in flaming tombs

Farinata Cavalcanti Guelphs and Ghibellines Epicurus

Canto 11

Tomb of Pope Anastasius The Stench Intermission Virgil pauses to explain the structure of Lower Hell and God’s plan outlined by Aristotle in his Nichomachean Ethics.

Cantos 12-17

Circle 7 Violence: Punishment: Murderers

: They drown in the river Phlegethon, filled with boiling blood, while the Minotaur guards them, and if they attempt to escape, they are shot with bows and arrows by centaurs.

Suicides

: They have become stunted and gnarled trees with poisoned fruit and twisting branches from which their bodies will hang while the Harpies, foul birdlike creatures with human faces, make their nests.

Blasphemers, Sodomites and Usurers:

They are showered with flakes of fire that rain down against their naked bodies, while they are stretched, running, or huddled on burning sand. Sodomites can't stop running just as they couldn't stop their passions. Usurers have to stare at the money they made on earth with fire raining down on them.

Cantos 18-22

Circle 8 Bolges 1-5 Fraud Panderers and Seducers:

They are forced to march, single file around the circumference of their circle, constantly lashed by horned demons.

Flatterers

: They are immersed forever in a river of human excrement, like what their flatteries were.

Simonists

: They are turned upside down in large baptismal fonts cut into the rock, with their feet set ablaze by oily fires. The heat of the flames burns according to the guilt of the sinner.

Astrologists, seers, sorcerers , diviners:

Their heads have been twisted around to face backwards, and thus they are forced to walk backwards around the circumference of their circle for all of time.

Grafters

: They are thrown into a river of boiling pitch and tar. If they try to escape the pitch, a horde of demons armed with grappling hooks and barbs stands guard over them, ready to tear them to pieces.

Cantos 23-30

Circle 8 Bolges 6-10 Fraud Hypocrites

: They are forced to wear heavy lead robes as they walk around the circumference of their circle. The robes are golden and resemble a monk’s cowl but are lined with heavy lead, symbolically representing hypocrisy.

Thieves

: Serpents, dragons, and other vengeful reptiles torture the thieves endlessly. The bites of some of the snakes cause the thieves to spontaneously combust, only to regenerate their bodies for further torment in a few moments. They are pursued by the monstrous fiery Cacus.

Deceivers

: They are constantly ablaze, appearing as nothing so much as living, speaking tongues of flame.

Creators of discord and scandal:

They are forced to walk around the circumference of the circle bearing horrible, disfiguring wounds inflicted on them by a great demon with a sword.

Falsifiers

: They endure different degrees of punishment based on horrible, consumptive diseases such as rashes, dropsy, leprosy and consumption.

Cantos 31-34

Circle 9 Betrayal Caïna—Traitors to kindred:

They are immersed in ice up to their faces.

Antenora—Traitors to country/political entities:

They are immersed in ice and forced to eat out the skull of another sinner or have their skulls eaten by another sinner.

Ptolomaea—Traitors to their guests:

They lie supine in the ice, which covers them, except for their faces. Their bodies on Earth are immediately possessed by a demon, so what seems to be a walking man has reached the stage of being incapable of repentance.

Judecca—Traitors to their lords and benefactors:

They are completely encapsulated in ice, distorted in all conceivable positions. Satan appears upside down with three faces, and in each mouth eternally being eaten are Brutus, Cassius, and Judas Iscariot.

Ugolino della Gherardesca and Sons Cantos 32-33 Count Ugolino and Archbishop Ruggieri Circle 9: Antenora