The Emperor of the despondent kingdom
so towered from the ice, up from midchest,
that I match better with a giant’s breadth
than giants match the measure of his arms;
now you can guage the size of all of him
if it is in proportion to such part.
If he was once as handsome as he now
is ugly and , despite that, raised his brows
against his Maker, one can understand
how every sorrow has its source in him!
I marveled when I saw that, on his head,
he had three faces: one – in front – bloodred;
and then another two that, just above
the midpoint of each shoulder, joined the first;
and at the crown, all three were reattached;
the right looked somewhat yellow, somewhat white;
the left in its appearance was like those
who come from where the Nile, descending, flows.
Beneath each face of his, two wings spread out,
as broad as suited so immense a bird:
I’ve never seen a ship with sails so wide.
They had no feathers but were fashioned like
a bat’s; and he was agitating them,
so that three winds made their way out from him –
and all Cocytus froze before those winds.
He wept out of six eyes; and down three chins,
tears gushed together with a bloody froth.
Within each mouth – he used it like a grinder –
with gnashing teeth he tore to bits a sinner,
so that he brought much pain to three at once.
(Inferno XXXIV.28-57)
Dante Alighieri’s talent for delivering his ideas through written
images is rather extraordinary, as seen in his concluding description of the
“emperor of the despondent kingdom,” Satan himself. The first and most
striking aspect of Lucifer is his size. Dante takes care to emphasize this fact as
he describes Satan as “towering” up from the ice in which he is frozen and
states that he (Dante) “match(ed) better with a giant’s breadth/ than giants
match a measure of (Lucifer’s) arms.” Clearly, Dante the author wants to
establish Satan as the largest, most imposing character in his vision of hell.
Secondly, Dante emphasizes Lucifer’s ugliness, and that Lucifer’s
ugliness is represented in his “three faces.” Lucifer apparently has three
heads, each a differing color – red, white/yellow, and brown/black. Each
head has a sinner in its mouth, which we later find out are the three most
infamous traitors in human history: Brutus and Cassius, who betrayed Julius
Caesar, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus. As if the image of Lucifer
itself is not ghastly enough, Dante adds a layer of ghoulishness as Lucifer
“with gnashing teeth…tore to bits (these) sinner(s),/ so that he brought much
pain to three at once.” Clearly we are to picture the Emperor of Hell in
horrific terms.
Finally, and perhaps most intriguingly, Dante embellishes the
description of Lucifer’s wings: “Beneath each face of his, two wings spread
out,/ as broad as suited so immense a bird:/ I’ve never seen a ship with sails
so wide./ They had no feathers but were fashioned like/ a bat’s.” Again,
Dante emphasizes the magnitude of Lucifer’s physical being. But more
importantly, the physical detail befits a fallen angel. No longer does he have
the wings of an angel, but featherless ones as those of a bat, which uncoincidentally likens Satan to an animal that also lives in darkness and often
resides in cavernous geographic locations. These wings are not only
physically described, but kinesthetically function in hell as well – “he was
agitating them,/ so that three winds made their way out from him – / and all
Cocytus froze before those winds.”
All in all, Dante magnificently brings to life an image many share of
the epitome of human vice. Amazingly, this effect is the result of carefully
chosen words and phrases as opposed to paint and paintbrush. The result,
however, befits an artist of the highest caliber.