The Divine Comedy
A Classical Quest through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise
Paradiso
Dante’s
Structure:
The Quest
For
Salvation
Inferno
Purgatorio
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.
BEATRICE
 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.
 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 PAPACY
The Vatican
Rome, Italy
One of the few remaining city-states in the world.
CONSTANTINE I
WHERE CHURCH AND STATE
WERE FIRST IN CONFLICT.
THE EMPIRE
CAUSE OF THE STRUGGLE BETWEEN
THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE
 In the 8th 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.
 Later this was discovered to be a
FORGED DOCUMENT!
 This claim created great
strife and discord in the
empire.
 Nothing new between
politics and religion . . .
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
 DANTE’S NUMERICAL
SYMBOLISM:
 3 A SYMBOL OF THE HOLY
TRINITY
 9 THREE TIMES THREE.
 33 A MULTIPLE OF 3
 EVENTS OF HISTORY—
CONTAINED A MYSTICAL
SIGNIFICANCE.
 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
 Three major divisions of sin:
(small division of poetry;

Incontinence
canto means “song.”)

Violence

Fraudulence
 The Inferno includes an
introductory canto, which
 By the time you finish
makes 100 cantos total (1oo
reading, you will know which
representing the idea of
circle of hell you may find
perfection or spiritual
yourself in!
enlightenment achieved after
the journey).
 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.
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.
Io non so ben ridir com’ i’ v’intrai,10
tant’ era pien di sonno a quel punto
che la verace via abbandonai.
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.
Ma poi ch’i’ fui al piè d’un colle giunto,
là dove terminava quella valle
che m’avea di paura il cor compunto,
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
THE 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
Sin
Uncommitted
Acheron River
Circle I—Limbo
Virtuous Unbaptized
Circle II
Lustful
Circle III
Gluttonous
Circle IV
Prodigal, Avaricious
Circle V (Styx)
Wrathful
City of Dis: Capitol of Hell
Circle VI
Heretics
Circle VII:
Violence
•Against Neighbors,
•Self, God, Nature
Abyss (Geryon)
Circle VIII:
Malebolge
(Evil Ditches)
Fraud
•Panderers, Seducers, Flatterers,
•Simonists, Soothsayers, Grafters
•Hypocrites, Thieves, False Counselors,
• Counterfeiters, Falsifiers
Circle IX (Cocytus)
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.
 AS ONE SINNED IN LIFE,
SO HE OR SHE IS
PUNISHED IN DEATH.
 CONTRAPASSO:
“SUFFER THE
OPPOSITE”—
PUNISHMENT OF
SOULS BY A PROCESS
EITHER RESEMBLING
OR CONTRASTING
WITH THE SIN ITSELF
POINTS TO REMEMBER
 THE INFERNO IS PART
OF A WORK CALLED
THE DIVINE
COMEDY.
 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.
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.
Canto 1:
Mid-Life Crisis
The Call
Meeting with the Mentor
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 4th 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