CANTO XXVIII
BRI PRICE
Literal
CHARACTERS
Sowers of Discord: Created discord on
earth; their bodies are torn apart in
Hell
• Mahomet: Founder of Islam
(Mohammed)
• Pier da Medicina: Incited civil
strife; disseminated scandal and
misrepresentation; incited feuds
between two Romagna families
• Curio: Brought about civil strife;
tongue removed for punishment
• Mosca: Brought Florentine
division by creating Guelphs and
Ghibellines
• Bertrand de Born: Headless shade
who helped increase feud between
Henry II of England and his young
son Prince Henry
• Interpretation
• The poets look down at the
8th circle (9th Bolgia) and
see sinners sliced by the
Demon with a sword
• Mahomet & Pier da
Medicina send a message
through Danto to the people
on Earth, warning them to
be weary of their actions
Allegorical
• Sinners of the 9th Bolgia
ripped people apart on
Earth  forced to be
ripped apart in Hell
• Curio said things that
started civil war  tongue
cut out in Hell
• Bertrand de Born used
mind games to separate
father and son  forced to
have body and mind
separated in Hell
Moral
• Sins of intellect
• Destroy the fabric of
society in order to gain
power and control
• Being cunning and
intelligent is a gift
from God, not to be
used for personal gain
Anagogical
• Demon
• The demon within on Earth
• Comes out to torture in Hell
• Sundering Sword
• Adapted for different
punishments
• Mahomet
• Prophet of God; sent to Hell
• Unblessed passage
• False God, false baptism
Poetic
• Theme
• Dark, violent, gruesome
• One giant metaphor; as the
sinners ripped apart people on
Earth, so are they ripped apart
for eternity in Hell
CANTO XXIX
Literal
•
CHARACTERS
Falsifiers: Punished in the 10th
Bolgia; victims of disease and
illness
• Capocchio: Student with
Dante; an alchemist who called
self an “ape of nature” because
of his power to mimic or to
produce a draught
• Aretine: Griffolino d’Arezza; a
physicist; took money for
promising miracles; burned at
stake for falsifying
• Interpretation
• Dante thinks he will
see a relative (Geri del
Bello) but Virgil urges
him to hurry up
• Virgil & Dante cross to
10th Bolgia- dark; hard
to see
• A pit of diseased,
screaming, horrible
stench
Allegorical
• The Valley of Disease
• Falsifiers are a disease;
spread lies- spread
disease
• Darkness  blindness
to truth & God
• Constant odor of death
 constant stench of
lies
Moral
• Falsifiers tamper with
how society functions
• Misleading society =
misleading God
• Pretending to be
something or have
something is to
pretend you are not
what God made you to
be
Anagogical
• Capocchio claimed to be
“ape of nature”  God is
nature; he cannot
manipulate nature because
he cannot manipulate God
• Griffolino d’Arezzo
claimed he was a miracle
worker  only God can
create miracles
• Aegina  story of Gods
Juno & Jupiter;
destruction & repepulation
Poetic
• Theme
• Pitiful, dark, hopeless,
painful
• Dante states that he
does find pity for these
people
• Personifies disease
Works Cited
• http://www.mythfolklore.net/2003frametale
s/images/dante/inf_dore_mahomet.jpg
• http://apliteraturesasd.wikispaces.com/file/view/dante%26vir
gil.jpg/33789059/dante%26virgil.jpg