The Inferno The Punishment of Sin Hell • • • • Represents Dante’s ideas concerning sin It is divided into 9 parts (or levels) Satan is not a ruler of Hell, but a prisoner! Shows that man is scarred when he sins (some physically- literally) • Hell is not always a place of punishment, but also of justice and love 1)Hell is within Earth (prison) after they enter Hell they lose the power of choice 2)Literally underneath our feet- symbolic of how close we are to the dangers of Hell 3)Hollow- like a funnel into the Earth 4)Diminishing- the further down he goes, the more people, the less space; the deeper the sin, the smaller the space Beginning the Journey “At the midpoint in the journey of life, I found myself is a dark forest where a clear path was lost.” Dante is middle-aged, and not sure of what he needs to do in his life. • While searching for a “straight path” (the path to salvation), Dante climbs up a mountain where he is attacked by three beasts. • A Lion • A Leopard • A She-Wolf • Lion = Sins of Violence • Leopard = Sins of Malice and Fraud • She-Wolf = Sins of Incontinence (Lack of Self-Control) • Dante returns in despair to the dark valley. • In the forest, Dante meets the ancient Roman poet Virgil (whom Dante admires). • Virgil tells Dante that that path is blocked and that another way must be taken to reach the mountain’s peak, and offers to be his guide. • Virgil warns Dante that he must journey through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. Vestibule • Neutrals and Opportunists, indecisive, no real beliefs, those who don’t choose sides. • They must constantly chase a blank banner and are stung by wasps and hornets, while worms consume their blood and tears. • They are in Hell, yet technically not part of it. Acheron • They reach the river Acheron. • Charon is told by Virgil that God set them on this pilgrimage. • Charon agrees to take them across. 1st Circle: Limbo • Here resided the virtuous pagans and the un-baptized. • They are without sin, but they never accepted Christ. • There is no punishment, just no hope. • A very dark place. • Famous people who reside here: Socrates, Plato, Homer, and Virgil. Gates of Hell • At then end of the first circle, they approach a gate where the doors are flung open. • Above the door is inscribed the words “Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here.” 2nd Circle: The Lustful/Carnal • First circle of Hell Proper. • Each circle gets smaller in size but greater in punishment. • As they enter the 2nd circle they come face to face with Minos, the judge of the dead. • Souls confess their sins to Minos and he wraps his tail around the sinner to determine the level of Hell they will occupy. • The souls of the lustful are blow about by a violent wind to and fro without hope of rest. • This symbolizes the power of lust to blow one about needlessly and aimlessly. • Famous people here: Achilles, Paris, Helen of Troy, and Cleopatra. 3rd Circle: Gluttony • After leaving the 2nd circle, Dante comes face to face with Cerberus who guards the 3rd circle of Hell. • Virgil pacifies the beast and they continue. • The gluttons lie in mud and muck while filth rains down upon them from the sky. • Some are even ripped apart by Cerberus. 4th Circle: The Avarice and Prodigal • In this circle the greedy and the wasteful are punished. • They are watched over by Plutus, god of fortune. • Both sets of sinners joust each other with great boulders that they must push toward each other and then apart again. 5th Circle: The Wrathful and Sullen • Through this level runs the river Styx, a murky marsh-like river. • The wrathful fight each other on the surface of the water while the sullen are held beneath the water. • Dante and Virgil have to call on the boatman Phlegyas to take the across the river to the city of Dis and the 6th circle. The City of Dis • The city of Dis divides upper Hell from lower Hell. • The wall is guarded by Medusa, the Furies and fallen angels. • Dante and Virgil can find no one to pass until and angel from Heaven comes down and throws open the gates of Dis that the two can continue on to the 6th circle. 6th Circle: Heresy • Here the heretics are burned and buried in fiery tombs. • Dante stops and talks to a soul. The soul reveals that they know the future but are ignorant to what is occurring on Earth at present time. 7th Circle: Violence • Upon entering the 7th circle Virgil and Dante encounter this circles guardian, the Minotaur. • Violence is broken into three separate rings with three sets of separate punishments. • Outer Ring: Violent Against Neighbor • Middle Ring: Violent Against Self • Inner Ring: Violent Against God Outer Ring: Violent Against Neighbor • Here are the violent who did violence against other people. • They are immersed in the Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood. • According to their degree of violence is how deep they are in the water. • These people are tortured by centaurs who shoot arrows into the sinners who try to escape from the waters. • Famous People Here: Alexander the Great and Attila the Hun Middle Ring: Violent Against Self • Suicides are turned into twisted bushes and trees and are feed on by Harpies. • The trees will maintain this form even after the Final Judgment. • The only way these sinners can talk to Dante is to have a branch broken (causing them pain). Inner Ring: Violent Against God/Nature • Here reside the sodomites and the blasphemers. • In this ring, the sinners must lay in a desert of flaming sands. • Fire rains down upon them from the sky, ripping away their flesh. Geryon • There is a large drop between the seventh and eighth circle. • Virgil convinces the monster Geryon to take them to the eight circle. • They ride down on Geryon’s back. 8th Circle: Fraud • This circle punishes conscious fraud. • There are many types of fraud, so this circle is broken into what Dante calls Malebolges (“Evil Ditches”). • Each Malebolge is specific to the type of fraud that is being punished. Malebolge 1: Panderers (Pimps) and Seducers • The sinners must march in separate lines while being whipped by demons. • Just as the panderers and seducers used the passions of others to drive them to do their bidding, they are themselves driven by demons to march for all eternity. Malebolge 2: Flatterers • The sinners here are steeped in human excrement. • This represents the words they used to falsely lead others. Malebolge 3: Simony • Simony: the crime of selling sacraments and holy offices for profit. • Here the simoniacs are place head first in holes in the rocks (resembling baptismal fonts) with their feet on fire. Malebolge 4: Fortune Tellers and Diviners • These sinners tried to look into the future by forbidden means. • Because of this, their heads are turn around backwards on their body. Malebolge 5: Corrupt Politicians (The Grafters) • These sinners are immersed in a lake of boiling tar, which represents the sticky fingers and dark secrets of their corrupt deals. • They are guarded over by a group of demons called the Malebranche (“Evil Claws”). • The Malebranche stab and hook the sinners in the boiling tar. Malebolge 6: The Hypocrites • The sinners here must walk around wearing cloaks lined with lead, while trudging around in a great circle. • The cloaks represent the falsity of their actions with the true nature of their intentions. Malebolge 7: The Thieves • This Malebolge is guarded by the centaur Cacus, who carries a fire-breathing dragon on his shoulders. • The thieves are pursued and bitten by snakes and lizards. • If they are bitten, the thieves undergo a transformation to turn them into snakes and lizards. • The only way to revert back to human form is to bite someone else. Malebolge 8: Evil Counselors • These are not people who gave false advice, but people who used their position to advise others to engage in fraud. • These sinners are blinded and encased in their own individual flames. Malebolge 9: Sowers of Discord (Religious and Political) • Demons hack at these sinners with a bloody sword. • The hacking divides their body as they divided others in life. Malebolge 10: Falsifiers (Alchemists and Counterfeiters) • Dante considers these people to be a disease on society. • These sinners are afflict with specific diseases, depending on what type of falsifying they did. • Alchemists are covered in scabs, perjurers have a fever that slowly cooks their body, counterfeiters are plagued with eternal thirst and cracked tongues. The Giants • On their journey, Dante sees that the ninth circle is surrounded by biblical and mythical giants. • The giant Antaeus lowers Dante and Virgil into the ninth circle. 9th Circle: Treachery • • • • • The central circle in Hell. Lake Cocytus, a frozen lake of the devils tears. Consists of four individual rounds. Round 1: Caina (Cain who killed his brother). Round 2: Antenora (Antenor of Troy who betrayed city to the Greeks). • Round 3: Ptolomaea (Ptolemy who killed his guest and ate them). • Round 4: Judecca (Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus). Round 1: Treacherous to Family • Sinners here are immersed in the ice up to their faces. Round 2: Treacherous to Country • These sinners are frozen in the ice with their heads above the ice. • Unlike the first round, there sinners are frozen close enough together that they gnaw on each other’s heads. Round 3: Treacherous to Guests and Hosts • Only half of the sinners face is above the ice. • The tears of the sinners freeze their eyes shut. Round 4: Treacherous to Masters • Here the sinners are completely frozen. • Their bodies are distorted and twisted within the ice. Satan • At the very center of Hell, there is Lucifer. • He has three heads (an unholy trinity) and wings. • He is frozen at the waist and tears come from his six eyes. • The wings of Satan freeze his tears forming Lake Cocytus. • Satan chews on the three greatest traitors (Cassius and Brutus who betrayed Julius Caesar, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus). Escaping Hell • The two poets escape Hell by climbing down Satan’s ragged fur. • They emerge on Easter Sunday (they started the journey on Good Friday) to a sky studded with stars. Dante in Popular Culture • Dante’s Inferno had a profound impact on the literary world even today. • The impact is so large, that there has even be a video game made about the poem.
