The Inferno (by Dante Alighieri)
Major Characters:
Dante- main protagonist of the Divine Comedy, strays from the True Way into the Dark Wood of Error, must journey through Hell to
escape
Leopard of Malice and Fraud- 1st of the three beasts of worldliness
Lion of Violence and Ambition- 2nd of the three beasts of worldliness
She-Wolf of Incontinence- 3rd beast of worldliness that stops Dante, represents lack of restraint and inability to do things in
moderation, unquenchable desire
Virgil- Dante’s symbol of Human Reason, guides Dante through the 9 circles of Hell
Minor Characters:
Minos- judge of the damned who assigns each soul to its eternal torture
Paulo & Francesca- lovers swept up in the eternal tempest of love
Ciacco- citizen of Dante’s home of Florence, stuck in 3rd circle of Gluttons
Medusa- Gorgon, hair of snakes, people turned to stone at the sight of her eyes
Farinata Degli Uberti- Tuscan war-chief
Cavalcante Dei Cavalcanti- father of Guido Cavalcanti, contemporary poet of Dante
Guido Cavalcanti- friend and fellow poet of Dante, father in law of Farinata
Ser Brunetto Latino- friend and fellow writer, prophesizes Dante’s sufferings at the hands of the Florentines
Geryon- the Monster of Fraud, flies Virgil and Dante to the 8th circle (Malebolge)
Pier Delle Vigne- soul of man who committed suicide, in the form of a tree
Vanni Fucci- thief from the 7th bolgia, prophesies bad tidings for Dante
Ulysses and Diomede- double-headed flame, punished as evil counselors for leadin to the destruction of Troy
Judas Iscariot, Brutus, Cassius- chewed by the 3 mouths of Satan
Basic Information
- totally composed of tercets (terza rima)
- 1500 triple rhymes
- Divine Comedy  Allegory (represents something in the guise of another)
- translated by John Ciardi
- divided into 34 Cantos
Circle 1- Limbo, the Virtuous Pagans
Circle 2- The Carnal
Circle 3- The Gluttons
Circle 4- Hoarders and Wasters
Circle 5- Wrathful and Sullen
Circle 6- The Heretics
Circle 7- Violent against Neighbors, Themselves, and God/Art/Nature
Circle 8- Fraudulent and Malicious (Malebolge with 10 bolgias)
Circle 9- Compound Fraud
Important Quotations
“It is what common speech would be if it were made perfect” (introduction)
“But tell me: in the time of your sweet sighs by what appearances found love the way to lure you to this perilous paradise” (61)
“Reader, so may God grant you to understand my poem and profit from it, ask yourself how I could check my tears, when near at hand
I saw the image of our humanity distorted so…” (175)
Plot Summary
One important detail about “The Inferno” that Dante makes very clear is that Hell is a state of mind. Dante include real
people of his own Florence, as well as fictitious characters from literature to show that Hell is a state of the mind. Dante uses the
background of Hell to portray an allegory. Dante Alighieri was distressed with the world that he lived in. He portrays the people in
Hell and their symbolic retribution through his allegory of Hell.
The basic plot of “The Inferno” is not too difficult. Dante finds himself straying from the true Way and finds himself in a
dark and mysterious Wood. The three monsters of worldliness block Dante’s passage forward, forcing him to travel through the nine
circles of Hell before reaching Purgatory and eventually Heaven. Virgil, a fellow poet and the symbol of human reason, offers to guide
Dante on his journey through the depths of Hell. Dante travels through all nine circles, witnesses the symbolic retribution of the
tortured souls of Hell, and eventually escapes by climbing up the back of Satan himself.
Themes
Appearance v. Reality- This is an extremely important theme of “The Inferno”. The entire story is an allegory that teaches the reader a
lesson. His allegory is represents something in the disguise of Hell.
Consequences of Actions- This rather obvious theme of “The Inferno” accounts for the symbolic retribution that each soul in Hell
receives for their various sins on Earth. Dante creates the punishments according to the severity of the crime that he feels is worse. For
example, his version of Hell tortures people guilty of compound fraud more than someone guilty of say wasting or hoarding.
Canto I
Dante the pilgrim awakens in a “Dark Wood of Error”…symbolism aside, he tries to escape the wilderness but is driven back by the 1.
Leopard of Malice and Fraud 2. Lion of Violence and Ambition 3. She-Wolf of Incontinence.
All seems lost…and then;
Virgil – the Roman poet who wrote the Aeneid comes to Dante’s aid with knowledge of the way out. Virgil will act as Dante’s guide
through hell as instructed by…
Beatrice- a symbol of Divine love, who will be his heavenly guide when Virgil can go no further.
The pair start off.
Canto II
Dante doesn’t think he’s worthy but Virgil reproaches him and reminds him that Beatrice sent for him.
Canto III
The poets go through the gate of Hell and see the opportunists – souls and angels who are neither good nor evil. They are forced to
chase a wavering banner they can’t catch while being stung. This punishment system is called symbolic retribution – or- as they
sinned so are they punished. The poets move to Acheron where they meet Charon and Dante passes out.
Canto IV
Circle 1 – Limbo
Home of the virtuous pagans- souls who were good, but never knew Christ.
Dante meets
Homer
Ovid
Lucan
Horace
They accept him into their company. This is the place where Virgil came from.
Canto V
Walking towards Circle 2- Dante and Virgil part with the poets and walk towards the second circle. They meet…
Minos- the half bestial judge of souls.
The souls confess to him and he then assigns them to the circle where they will reside.
Circle 2- Sins of the flesh.
Some people we see here:
Dido, Achilles, Cleopatra, Paris, Helen, Tristan.
These sould are swept around in a whirlwind for eternity.
Canto VI
Circle 3- the Gluttons
Cerberus- the mythological three headed dog rips apart gluttons who are anchored to the ground.
Dante has a conversation with Ciaccio the Hog- one of the first contemporaries of Dante
Canto VII
Circle 4- Hoarders & Wasters// Wrathful & Sullen
Hoarders and wasters are forced to push boulders, while the wrathful fight in an enormous muck pit and the sullen sink beneath the
surface and mutter a song.
Canto VIII
Circle 5 Styx
Circle 6 Dis
Poets walk through sinners and arrive at the fortress of Dis, where the rebellious angels refuse to let them pass.
Canto IX
Circle 6 – Heretics
The poets sit at the gates of Dis and the three Infernal Furies start threatening them to go away. They go to call the Gorgon.
A heavenly messenger appears and opens the gates with a word. He leaves and the poets walk through the gates into a vast cemetery
where the coffins are on top of the ground with the lids of and the sinners are engulfed in flames inside the coffin. Heretics did
violence to God by denying immortality.
Canto X
Circle 6
Farinata Degli Uberti is a heretic who raises himself from a coffin to speak with Dante.
He was a great war chief of the Tuscan Ghibellines. The majesty and power of his bearing seem to diminish hell itself.
Canto XI
The poets reach the inner boundary of the sixth circle and Virgil takes some time to explain the general layout of Hell.
Canto XII
Circle 7- Violent against their neighbors.
Here the punished are forced to stand in a river of boiling blood. The depth to which they are submerged is equal to the amount of
killing they did in life.
Attila the Hun and Alexander the Great are here up above their eyes.
The poets are found by the centaurs ; Chiron the chief orders Nessus to carry them across.
Canto XIII
Circle 7 – Suicides(violent against themselves)
Poets find suicides turned into trees. The Harpies feed on their branches while the squanderers of goods are pursued through the
woods by dogs. Whenever a branch is broken, the tree spouts blood and the suicide is allowed to talk through the wound.
Canto XIV
Circle 7 – Violent against art, nature, and God
Poets move on to a plain of burning sand wherein descends an eternal rain of fire. There are three types of sinners here
Blasphemers are stretched out on the sand while the fire rains on them
Sodomists are forced to run on the sand whil he flames fall on them
Usurers huddle on the sands with their eyes locked eternally on a money purse hanging around their neck.
Capaneus is stretched out on the sands still blaspheming God.
In this Canto the Old man of Crete, as well as the origins of the rivers of hell are explained.
Canto XV
Circle 7- the Sodomites
Dante and Virgil walk along the edge of the burning sand when a band of Sodomites runs by.
Here we see Ser Brunetto Latino, a writer who appears to have had considerable influence on Dante.
Canto XVI
Circle 7- the Usurers
The poets can hear the waterfall that plunges over the great cliff. Dante unwinds a cord from his waist and Virgil drops it. Upon doing
this a great beast flies up from the bottom of the cliff.
Canto XVII
The monster is Geryon – a monster of fraud. Dante investigates the usurers while Virgil negotiates for their travel. Then, the two jump
astride the beast and fly down into the eighth circle.
Canto XVIII
Circle 8- or the Malebolge
Bolgia 1 – panderers and seducers
Bolgia 2 – Flatterers
Malebolge is a great circle of stone that slopes like an amphitheatre. The slopes are divided into ten concentric ditches and within
those ditches each with his own kind are punished those guilty against simple fraud.
The poets walk on a series of stone dikes that appear like the spokes of a wheel.
Jason is in the first ditch, being driven eternally forward.
The Flatterers are sunk into excrement.
Canto XIX
Circle 8
Bolgia 3 – Simoniacs(those who sold church offices or favors)
These sinners are upside down with their feet getting burned until another soul drops in and then they just drop into an abyss of rocks
never to be seen again.
Canto XX
Circle 8
Bolgia 4 – Fortune Tellers and Diviners
Tiresias is here. The sinner’s heads are turned backwards on their bodies and they are driven on eternally.
Canto XXI
Circle 8
Bolgia 5- Grafters
Grafters are sunk in boiling pitch and guarded by bands of demons who torment those they can see with grappling hooks and claws.
Malacoda is the demon chief.
This is the first of the Gargoyle cantos.
The language becomes decidedly vulgar here as an expression of the demons vulgarity.
The bridge is broken so they must travel- with demon escort- around to another bridge.
Canto XXII
Circle 8
Bolgia 5 – Grafters
The demons continue their antics and the poets slip away during a fight they get into.
Canto XXIII
Circle 8
Bolgia 6- Hypocrites
These sinners are weighed down by leaden robes and forced to walk in circles over the Jewish High priest who agitated for his
crucifixion(Caiaphas).
Canto XXIV
Circle 8
Bolgia 7 – thieves
Thieves turn into reptiles and then attack one another.
Canto XXV
Circle 8
Bolgia 7- thieves
Endless and painful transformation is the final state of thieves.
Puccio Sciancato remains unchanged.
Vanni is driven away when he blasphemes God.
Canto XXVI
Circle 8
Bolgia 8- the evil councilors
Evil counselors are hidden from sight and wreathed in flame – there is a double tongued flame that contains the souls of both Ulysses
and Diomedes.
Ulysses describes his last voyage, which is the subject of the poem Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson.
Canto XXVII
Circle 8
Bolgia 8- the evil councilors
Count Guido da Montafeltro relates how Boniface the VIII made him sin.
Canto XXVIII
Circle 8
Bolgia 9- sowers of discord
Walk around in a circle getting hacked at by a demon with a bloody sword.
Mahamet is here, being punished the most severely
Canto XXIX
Circle 8
Bolgia 10 – Falsifiers and Alchemists
Subjected to a host of different corruptions. Alchemists are simply falsifiers of things.
Canto XXX
Circle 8
Bolgia 10- Evil impersonators, counterfeiters, and liars
Dante gets into a conversation with a sinner and Virgil rebukes him thoroughly. Dante repents and then Virgil forgives him.
Canto XXXI
Circle 9
Central pit of Malebolge- Giants
Giants guard the final pit of hell
Nimrod- the builder of the tower of Babel
Ephialtes & Briareus- made war against the gods
Tityos & Typhon- offended Jupiter
Antaeus- innocent except for being a giant
Antaeus takes the poets into his hand and lowers them into the ninth Circle
Canto XXXII
Circle 9
Round one- Caina- treacherous to kin
Round two- Antenora- treacherous to country
Sinners are frozen in ice while Satan’s wings blow freezing winds over their faces
The sinners just get progressively more frozen as they go towards Satan.
Canto XXXIII
Circle 9
Round Three- Ptolomea- treacherous to hosts
Canto XXXIV
Circle 9
Round Four- Judecca- treacherous to their masters
These sinners are completely sealed in ice.
Satan has three faces and he chews a sinner in each mouth
1- Judas
2- Cassius
3- Brutus