The InfernoFrom The Divine Comedy

By Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri: 1265 - 1321

• Middle Ages– Social Chaos

• Florence– Powerful– Military Struggle

• Parents– Both Died– Raised by Step-

Mother– Self-educated

• Prior (Politics)– Elected Official– Exiled

• La Vita Nuova– Beatrice– Not Gemma Donati

• Commedia – Divine Comedy

• Inferno• Purgatorio• Paradiso

CHURCH (POPE) VS STATE (HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE)

• After the collapse of the Roman Empire, there were attempts to recreate the “Holy Roman Empire.”

• Conflicts between various Popes and emperors continued for hundreds of years.

• In Dante’s time, both the Pope and the

emperor claimed political authority.

CITY-STATES: CONFLICTS AND FACTIONS

• Guelphs and Ghibellines (think of these two groups in terms of Republicans and Democrats).– The Guelphs supported the Pope – The Ghibellines supported the Emperor.

• The Guelphs split into two subparties-Blacks and Whites

• Much blood was shed over these issues.

• Pope Boniface VIII sided with the Black faction; members of the White faction were persecuted.

• Dante (a white Guelph) was exiled from

his native Florence. He never returned.

• Dante’s experiences in this volatile political climate lead to the creation of The Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy includes The Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise.

LANGUAGE

• Written in Tuscan Italian (Not Latin)• Terza rima = third rhyme

– Tercets: 3-line stanzas – Chain rhyme: A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C, D-E-D.

• # of lines in any canto– always a multiple of 3 with 1 left over

Hell

• Nine Circles – Each circle representing progressively worse sins

• Three types of sin– Incontinence - weakness in controlling one's

desires and natural urges (lust, gluttony, greed…)– Violence – Against Self, others, God– Fraud – hypocrites, thieves

The Inferno

Sandro Botticelli –

Chart of Hell (1480-95)

Important things to examine

• The number 3.• Divine Retribution- the punishment fits the sin. • Free Will- all occupants of hell chose to sin and

not seek forgiveness. • Allegory: a form of literature in which objects

and persons represent ideas or qualities• Allusion: a reference to a literary or historical

person or event (look for mythological, biblical, and historical allusions

• Dante’s dual role as Poet and Protagonist

Number 3

• God of 3– Father– Son– Holy Spirit

• Afterlife– Hell– Purgatory– Paradise

• Cantos– 33 + 1 = 34

Canto I: Dark Forest• Disorientation

– Spiritual– Physical– Psychological– Moral– Political

• Dream-like state• Internal journey• Good Friday Gustave Doré: Canto I

Dante

• Narrator• Main character (protagonist) and traveler• Parallels Dante Alighieri (author)• simplified version: sympathetic, fearful of

danger, confused • adopts a more pitiless attitude toward the

punishment of sinners

Leopard

• The first character whom Dante meets• Spotted leopard symbolizes

– Malice – Avarice (greed) – Fraud

Lion

• The second character whom Dante meets• Intimating lion symbolizes

– Violence – Pride– Savagery

She-Wolf

• The third character whom Dante meets• Insatiable, hungry she-wolf symbolizes

– Self-indulgence– Concupiscence– Lust– Envy

Virgil

• Ancient (Classic) Roman poet– 70 - 19 B.C.– Aeneid

• Appears to Dante – Admired by Dante in real life

• Becomes his guide– Through Hell and Purgatory

Canto III: Gates of Hell

• Outer Circle of Hell• Cowardly Souls

– Fence-sitters– Opportunists– Neutrals– Angels who

refused to choose between God and Lucifer

William Blake: Dante and Virgil at the Gates of Hell

InscriptionI AM THE WAY INTO THE CITY OF WOE.

I AM THE WAY TO A FORSAKEN PEOPLE.

I AM THE WAY INTO ETERNAL SORROW.

SACRED JUSTICE MOVED MY ARCHITECT.

I WAS RAISED HERE BY DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE, PRIMORDIAL LOVE AND ULTIMATE INTELLECT.

ONLY THOSE ELEMENTS TIME CANNOT WEAR

WERE MADE BEFORE ME, AND BEYOND TIME I STAND.

ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER HERE.

Trinity

• DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE or Divine Power– God, Father

• PRIMORDIAL LOVE or Primal Love– Jesus Christ, Son

• ULTIMATE INTELLECT or Highest Wisdom– Holy Ghost/Spirit

Gate established by the Christian God (Trinity)

Uncommitted/Cowards

• Souls not rebellious against God and yet not committed

• Feared authority• Blamed others• Followed directions grumbling• Rejected by both God & Satan

Charon

• Ferries travelers across the Acheron River (aka: Styx)

• Angry– Flaming eyes– Wooly jowls

• Bows to God’s will• Reference to Classic

mythology

Sam Carbaugh’s Comics

Canto V: 2nd Circle of Hell

• The Lustful• Whirlwinds• Uncontrollable

William Blake: Dante's Inferno, Whirlwind of Lovers

Minos

• Legendary King of Crete • Occupies threshold of the 2nd Circle • Assigns places to the damned

–Wraps tail–# matches level of hell

Lancelot, Cleopatra, Dido, Helen, Tristan & Achilles

• Those guilty of the sin of lust• Historical & Classical figures

Mark Antony & Cleopatra

Francesca and Paolo

• Symbol of lust, free-will, carefree passions

• Adulterous couple killed by Francesca’s husband, Paolo’s brother– Giovanni

Malatesta, of Rimini

ImagesIcon images created by Suloni Robertson from her own paintings.Copyright © Suloni Robertson 2002-2004. All rights reserved.  Blake: Illustrations to the Divine Comedy of Dante, by William Blake.London: National Art-Collections Fund, 1922. Reproduction and use courtesy of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.  Botticelli: Drawings by Sandro Botticelli for Dante's Divina Commedia; reduced facsimiles after the originals in the Royal museum, Berlin, and in the Vatican library. London: Lawrence and Bullen, 1896.  Doré: Dante's Inferno, Translated by the Rev. Henry Francis Cary, M. A., from the Original of Dante Alighieri, and Illustrated with the Designs of M. Gustave Doré. New York: P. F. Collier, 1885.  Doré: Purgatory and Paradise, translated by Henry Francis Cary, from the original of Dante Alighieri, and illustrated with the designs of Gustave Doré. New ed., with critical and explanatory notes. New York, P.F. Collier, [1892?].  Flaxman: Compositions of John Flaxman, Sculptor, R. A., from the Divine Poem of Dante Alighieri, Containing Hell, Purgatory and Paradise; engraved by Thomas Piroli. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1807.  Vellutello: Dante con l'espositioni di Christoforo Landino, et d'Alessandro Vellutello; unknown artist. Venice: Gio. Battista, & Gio. Bernardo Sessa, fratelli, 1596. Reproduction and use courtesy of the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center.

Helpful Websites

• http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/index2.html

• http://foxtwin.com/inferno/