The Inferno
Canto XXXI
Central Pit of Malebolge: Giants
Characters
Virgil- guide
Dante- pilgrim
Nimrod- giant; King of Babylon; never portrayed as a giant in the bible, though he is
in other mythology; built the Tower of Babel as a challenge to God or in an attempt to
get to Heaven; he was punished by having he and his workers all speak/understand
different languages; he cannot speak nor understand any known language
Ephialtes- giant; Son of Neptune (god of the sea); warred against the gods;
Apollo killed him; one arm is chained behind his back, the other across his chest
Briareus- giant; warred against the gods; son of Uranus (heaven) and Tellus (earth);
stands with one arm chained across his chest, the other behind his back
Tityos- giant; son of Tellus (earth); Jupiter hurled him here
Typhon- giant; son of Tellus (earth); Jupiter hurled him here
Antaeus- giant; son of Neptune and Tellus; was strengthened in battle every time
he touched his mother (the earth); Hercules killed him by holding him in the air
while strangling him; never rebelled against the gods, so he is not chained
Symbolism
Giants= in hell for their general nature, not for any particular sins;
represent elemental forces unbalanced by love, desire without restraint,
existence without theology or morality; symbols of the earth; unchecked passion
Nimrod's babbling= repercussion of conspiring against the gods
Ephialtes and Briareus's chains= repercussion of plotting to war against the gods
Location of Giants= guards of the final pit of Hell; giants are born of the earth,
so it is suitable that they be sunk in earth's lowermost area (Dante visualized Hell
as deep in the earth)
Conflicts
Man vs. self: Dante's battle with fear
Man vs. supernatural: Nimrod's conflict with the gods; giants' war with the gods
The Inferno
Canto XXXII
Circle 9: Cocytus- Compound fraud
Round 1 (Caina): Treacherous to kin
Round 2 (Antenora): Treacherous to country
Cain: the biblical son of Adam and Eve who betrayed his brother Abel
Antenor: believed to have betrayed Troy to the Greeks
Characters
Virgil-guide
Dante- pilgrim
Alessandro and Napoleone degli Alberti- Caina; twins and Counts of Mangona;
Alessandro was a Guelph and Napoleone was a Ghibelline; they killed one another
in a fight over politics and their inheritance
Modred- Caina; King Arthur's nephew; tried to kill Arthur
Focaccia- Caina; one of the Cancellieri of Pistoia; murdered his cousin,
which began a family feud ending in the split of the Guelphs into the White and
Black parties
Sassol Macheroni- Caina; Florentine; appointed guardian of his nephew,
but killed the nephew in order to get the inheritance for himself
Alberto Camicion de' Pazzi- Caina; murdered someone in his family
Carlino de' Pazzi- Alberto's relative; still alive; turned over a White castle for
a bribe, and will be placed in Antenora when he dies
Bocca degli Abbati- Antenora; Florentine traitor; in the battle of Montaperti, he
chopped off the hand of the standard bearer (signal man) of the Florentine cavalry,
and the cavalry was left without direction (defeated); Dante ripped out his hair for
refusing to tell his story
Tesauro dei Beccheria- Antenora; Florentine Guelphs cut off his head for plotting
with the Ghibellines (who'd been expelled)
Buoso da Duera- Antenora; head of a Ghibelline army specifically sent to oppose
French invasion; accepted a bribe and allowed the French army to pass unopposed
Gianni de' Soldanier- Antenora; Florentine Ghibelline nobleman; in 1265, he became
a leader of the Guelphs (commoners)
Ganelon- Antenora; betrayed Roland's position to the Saracens
Tebaldello de Zambrasi- Antenora; surrendered his city, Faenza, to Bolognese
Guelphs in order to take revenge on the Ghibelline family, Lambertazzi, who were
seeking refuge there
Symbolism
Cocytus= last body of water in Hell
Punishment of all in Circle 9= fixed in ice according to level of guilt, since in life they
had denied love, God, and all human warmth; since they refused God's love, they're
located furthest from his sun; they denied all human bonds, so they are bound only by the
ice in Hell
Punishment in Round 1 (Caina)= sinners are bound up to their necks, but can bend
their heads down so that tears do not seal their eyes shut
Punishment in Round 2 (Antenora)= sinners heads are fixed, so they are unable to keep
the tears from sealing their eyes
Alessandro & Napoleone's punishment= these twins had destroyed each other's lives,
so in death, they are forever stuck with one another; like Paolo and Francesca, they add
to one another's suffering
Dante's cruel treatment of Bocca degli Abatti= Dante's complete rejection of pity for
this
level of sin
Bottom of Hell= center of the universe; focal point of all guilt; gravity, evil, and weight
drag mankind down; thus, Satan is also dragged down toward the center of all guilt,
fixed forever in the ice in the lowest portion, furthest from redemption
"What the hell's wrong?" etc.= punnery used to keep audience from feeling sorry for
these people despite their awful situation
Bocca degli Abatti's refusal to disclose identity= sinners here do not want to be
remembered; Abatti's disclosing of all the other sinners' names was done in
retribution
Note about treachery: Dante makes no distinction between treachery against one's
country and treachery against one's political party
Conflicts
Man vs. society: sinners' actions in life
Man vs. nature: sinners' punishment (ice)
Man vs. man: Alessandro and Napoleone's head butting, sinner chewing on other sinner
The Inferno
Canto XXXIII
Circle 9: Compound Fraud
Round 2: Treacherous to Country
Round 3: Treacherous to Guests and Hosts
Ptolemea of Maccabees—murdered father-in-law at a banquet
Characters
Virgil- guide
Dante- pilgrim
Count Ugolino- Antenora; chews on Ruggieri; Guelph; plotted with Ruggieri to
get rid of his own nephew, Nino de'Visconti, in an effort to get more power; Nino died,
and Ruggieri took advantage of the now weakened Guelphs, throwing Ugolino, his sons,
and his grandsons in in prison; the prison was sealed a year later, and the crew was left
to starve to death; the youngest grandson, Anselm, was 15; in a war with Genoa, he gave
up castles to Lucca and Florence to buy these cities' neutrality, but they were already
aligned with Genoa (so it was treason against his country, Pisa)
Archbishop Ruggieri degli Ubaldini- Antenora; Ghibelline; plotted with Ugolino to get
rid of the Guelph leader, Nino de'Visconti, then betrayed Ugolino and had him, his
grandsons, and his sons sealed in a prison tower, left to starve to death
Friar Alberigo- Ptolomea; Jovial Friar; his brother, Manfred, struck him during an
argument; Alberigo acted as if he forgave his brother, and invited Manfred and his son
to a banquet; with the signal, "Bring in the fruit," an assassin killed both Manfred and his
son; his mortal body is still on earth
Branca d'Oria- Ptolomea; Ghibelline of Genoa; invited his father-in-law, Michel Zanche
(grafter)
to a banquet and had him and his companions cut into pieces; his nephew aided him in
the slaughter; mortal body still on earth
Symbolism
Ruggieri and Ugolino= since Ruggieri deprived Ugolino of food in life, in death he
becomes the food for his starved victim; because these two plotted against their own
countrymen in life before being split by betrayal, they suffer together for all eternity;
they contribute to one another's misery
Punishment in Round 3 (Ptolomea)= sinners lie flat while tears seal their eyes shut;
subsequent tears cannot fall and they are unable to express their grief, thus adding to
their agony; sins of the people in the round are so awful that their punishment begins
even before their physical bodies die; demons inhabit their bodies on earth, and their
souls are sent to Ptolomea to suffer
Alberigo's story of Branca d'Oria= Alberigo explains that Branca's soul was in hell
before Michel Zanche's, thus illustrating the fact that these sinners come to Ptolomea
immediately after committing their sins
Dante's broken promise to Alberigo= Dante had promised to unseal Alberigo's eyes
if he would tell his story, but Dante opted not to keep his word; Dante felt that his sin
was so terrible, that even being "rude to him was a courtesy" (150)
Conflicts
Man vs. man: Ugolino gnawing on Ruggieri; sins of those in Round 3
Man vs. self: struggle of those in Round 3 to loosen their tears and allow their grief
expression
Man vs. nature: sinners' plight against the ice
Man vs. society: sins of those in Round 2
The Inferno
Canto XXXIV
Circle 9: Compound Fraud
Round 4: Judecca, Treacherous to their masters
Center: Satan
Characters
Virgil- guide
Dante- pilgrim
Satan- gigantic; stuck in ice; 3 pair of wings; 3 faces- one red, one yellowish white, one
black
Judas Iscariot- Judecca; chewed by red face; accepted money in return for turning over
Jesus Christ to the Romans; head is in Satan's mouth, in much the same position as the
Simoniacs
Cassius- Judecca; chewed by whitish face; advised Brutus to murder Julius Caesar; lower
body in Satan's mouth
Brutus- Judecca; chewed by black face; lower body in Satan's mouth; killed Julius Caesar
Symbolism
Punishment of those in Round 4= since they betrayed their leaders in life, they are left
to suffer alone in Hell; each sinner lies beneath the ice, completely frozen in
uncomfortable positions; they cannot cry or communicate, just as they stole those
options from their leaders
Punishment of those with Satan= these are the worst of those in Round 4; these betrayals
had marked effects on history and all mankind; therefore, their bodies are marked by the
tearing jaws of Satan
Positioning of the sinners in Satan's mouths= Judas is positioned head first and seems
to suffer the harshest flaying because his sin was most offensive to God; he sold a
religious icon to others for money, just as simoniacs sold favors for money; the others
are left with their heads out, as their betrayals had nothing to do with religion
Brutus's silence= in life, Brutus was an inherently honest man, and had been convinced
that killing Caesar was what would be best for Rome; in death, he understands that his
actions were misguided and he deserves his punishment
Satan's faces= parody of the Holy Trinity
Satan's punishment= Satan turned on God, his leader, in an attempt to gain more power,
so now he is left completely powerless; he flaps his wings to escape the ice, yet the
flapping merely serves to create bitingly cold winds, sealing him even more firmly in
the ice; his wings create the ice in all of Circle 9
The climb= Virgil and Dante travel down Satan's side, toward his feet; in the middle,
Virgil turns upside down and appears to be climbing; Dante feels they are climbing
back up to Satan, but in fact, they are now climbing through the center of the earth- thus,
climbing up is really climbing down his legs, up toward the surface that is the opposite
side of the earth
Lethe= Dante and Virgil must cross in order to get to the mount of Purgatory;
in mythology, Lethe was the river of forgetfulness; Dante uses Lethe as a means for
those to cleanse themselves of the memory of sin before continuing on into Purgatory
Timing= Dante exits on Easter Sunday; he has experienced a spiritual rebirth, and
will continue his journey heavenward
Stars= every book in The Divine Comedy ends with stars, the symbol of hope and virtue
Conflicts
Man vs. supernatural: Satan's torment of Judas, Brutus, and Cassius; Dante's climb
down/up Satan
Man vs. nature: sinners' punishment in Round 4
Man vs. self: Dante's fear while climbing down/up Satan
Man vs. man: betrayals committed by those in Round 4
Man vs. society: impact of the betrayals of Brutus, Cassius, and Judas