Jeremy Mowery
Saturday, March 12, 2016
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The Inferno
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Arguments
Dante in The Inferno, argues that the Roman Catholic Church is a corrupt institution that promotes and
is filled with sin, thus the power of the church must be lowered to allow for an individual interpretation
of the divine using logic, and independent thought so that the people will recognize the problems and
sins consuming Italy and pursue solutions to those problem.
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Historical Context
Dante’s arguments are derived directly from the history of Italy and the experiences of his life.
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Author
Dante was a philosopher, politician, and poet in Florence who was also took part in the GuelphGhibellines civil in which Guelphs supported the papacy and the Ghibellines supported the Holy Roman
Emperor (Wetherbee). Having won the civil war, Dante’s faction split into two groups: The White
Guelphs and the Black Guelphs (Wetherbee). Originally, the differences in these factions were based on
family, but later the divisions were ideological in nature (Wetherbee). Dante’s faction, the white
Guelphs, favored a reduction in the power of the papacy and the Black Guelphs supported a
strengthening of the papacy (Wetherbee). Being a white Guelph dramatically changes the content of
The Inferno, because Dante’s faction favors a reduction of church control and thus Dante argues for a
world with less church control of faith and more of an individual interpretation of faith based on logic
and reason. Initially, the Whites were victorious but later the Blacks were able to regain control of
Florence when Dante and several delegates were sent to Rome under the guise of a meeting with the
Pope (Academy of American Poets). Dante was then falsely charged with the crimes of simony and
grafting and was exiled (Microsoft Corporation). This exile directly affects Dante’s work, written during
the exile in 1315, as he sees the church as home to great corruptions and because of his personal grudge
against a pope who he hates for his exile and despises politically for heading a hypocritical institution
(Microsoft Corporation). Throughout his poem, Dante criticizes both church practices and individuals in
the church because of his exile, and the deceitful methods through which he was unjustly punished. In
this way, his juvenalian satire acts as a call to action against the church and sin.
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Properties of the Poem
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Attributes of the Poem
The attributes of the poem reflect Dante’s experiences, arguments, and purpose. The Inferno, as the
series name “divine Comedy” suggests is satirical, humorous but with a serious call to action in a
juvenalian fashion. Dante’s poem is hilarious, the irony created through paradoxes and the dichotomy of
faith and logic make the work funny. Yet with the call to action to end, church control of Italy and faith
and apply logic on an individual level to divine so as to recognize the evils of the secular world to
accomplish the goal securing a better future. Unlike most serious works written in Latin at the time,
Dante wrote his book in the Italian language and using relatively simple diction. Dante wrote in Italian
and as simply as possible to ensure that the common person could read his masterpiece and act to limit
the church. In addition, to enhance the impact of his arguments Dante employs vivid and at times
grotesque imagery and idioms within similes and metaphors in an allegory that is entertaining to read
and not likely to incur the wrath of the church. By doing, this Dante makes his complex argument of a
reduction in church power, easy to understand by the audience of common people he is writing for.
Furthermore, defying standards by writing in Italian and calling the average Italian to action is a
metaphor for his argument to defy the standard of blindly following the church. Another element
present within the poem that is evident in all of Dante’s poems is Beatrice, a woman Dante claims to
have fallen in love with at first sight (Academy of American Poets). Every literary element used in The
Inferno applies to Dante’s goal of explaining his complex arguments in a simple manner that common
people can understand.
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Themes
To make his arguments Dante uses several themes in his poem, the first theme being the animal nature
of sin. Dante uses this idea that sin is an attribute of animals, to not only create a negative connotation
of the sins he describes but also to give an image that his readers understand. In addition, the use of this
theme relates to his argument of recognizing the problems of society to move towards a better future as
he degrades the sinful practices he describes. Another of Dante’s themes is the immutable law of justice
in the afterlife. Dante’s usage of this theme works to shock he readers and make them fear the
consequences of the sinful behavior that Dante describes. The theme of Italian politics in the poem
brings Dante’s arguments a secular level, as using concepts that every Italian is aware of, relates the
arguments to the worldly issues of the time. Demonstrated throughout the poem through prophecies
and characters, politics play a pivotal role in expounding arguments. The last major theme of the novel is
the conflict of logic and faith. Dante argues that both logic and faith are necessary for an accurate
understanding of the divine, so in the poem Dante uses the conflict of the two ideas to demonstrate
how they can work together. In Dante’s interpretation of Hell he shows that the organization of the
divine is logical, but not without faith.
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Culture
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2 “Real” Cultures
 Biblical references
Cain and Abel
Judas
Satan
 Having a culture that the audience knows makes the content more relatable

Use of both cultures is used to criticize the originality of the church and the denial of logic when
they applied logic in adapting the Greek culture
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Manufactured Culture: Logic
 Dante creates his own culture which emphasizes a logical interpretation of faith, a belief system
not like the other two in the poem
 The culture exists to demonstrate that logic can be applied to the divine without losing the
element of faith
 The combination of the three cultures creates humor because they are all contradictory yet
work together
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Society
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Hell
 Society of Hell features Christianity, Greek Myth, and Logic
 Hell is built on Christian teachings, populated by Greek monsters, and organized logically
 God rules all of Hell through the use of guilt symbolized by the Greek monsters
 Everything conforms to the Law of Hell meaning that everything is bound by it’s guilt and
punished logically
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Plot and Literary Devices
Dante’s arguments are supported and displayed in his poem
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Start of the Journey
 Humanity lost in woods of ignorance that is blind faith to the church
 Animal symbols indicate that sin brings humans down to an animal level animal nature of sin
 Leopard: incontinence
 Lion: violence
 She-wolf: fraud
 Classification of animals demonstrates that logic is applied to divinity
 Taken from Jeremiah
 Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them, and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them, a
leopard shall watch over their cities: every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces:
because their transgressions are many, and their backslidings are increased
 Virgil as a guide shows that logic needs to guide humanity towards salvation
 Virgil having been sent from heaven through Beatrice establishes that reason is a divine gift
used with faith
 Simile Pattern is used to logically define the divine
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River Acheron

Opportunists suffering in Hell indicates that a stance is necessary
Need to recognize the problems
 Law of Hell is logical interpretation of the divine
 Pope in Hell shows that the church is the source of Sin as well as showing that the church is a
problem in society
 Fallen angles are evidence of a culture
 Charon is evidence of a culture and a symbol of justice
 Fainting is an element of structure used to transition and also to mirror the type of sin and it’s
severity in society
Starts with not being able to tolerate sin/ignoring sin
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1st Circle: Limbo
 Unbaptized but good and yet in Hell is Dante’s satire against the church
As if the mortal world could really interpret the divine
Indicates hypocrisy
 The fact that some a brighter and better off is satire
 God picking a few is lampoon of church giving salvation to only the elite
Symbolic of the hypocrisy of the church
Simony and nepotism
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2nd Circle: Carnal Sin
 Minos as a mythical creature of pagan faiths is satirizing the origins of Christianity
 People swept in winds as their passions swept them from reason is the law of hell and is very
logical
 Pattern of similes used to describe the divine with idioms is logical and against church
preaching, but is yet the only way for the audience to full grasp the content of the scene
 The lovers tale demonstrates that sin is animal is nature, and that most sins are concentrated in
Italy
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3rd Circle: Gluttons
 Living in the slush created by a dirty snow is punishment for having created nothing of use
Cerberus slobbers over and devours souls like they slobbered over and devoured food
Souls are swollen and fat because in life they ate until they were swollen and fat
 Cerberuses presences is evidence of the Greek culture
 Ciacco makes a prophecy that the whites will be exiled from Florence because of deceit by the
Pope
Theme of Italian Politics
Attack on the church
Display of faith
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4th Circle: Hoarders and Wasters

Plutus of Greek mythology is evidence of the culture
Symbol of guilt as only those who are guilty can be controlled
 Souls pushing rocks indicate the logical punishment for those who were single minded and
greedy
 Most of the damned being the clergy shows that the church is not a reliable source and the
people need to interpret the divine
 Dame Fortune is evidence of the logic/divine culture
shows that even with logic there is room for the divine
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5th Circle: Wrathful and Sullen
 Marsh of Styx evidence of Greek culture
 Sullen entombed bellow the mud logical punishment for turning away from God
Having to sing parody of hymn is the same as always violently cursing God
 Wrathful tearing each other apart being forced to violently tear each other to pieces and have
themselves torn to pieces is logical and just punishment for violently attacking people in life
 Phlegyas demonstrates Greek culture
Monster that can only control those who feel guilty
Virgil able to convince to let go to other side of Styx shows that guilt only applies to
people who feel guilty
 Dante wishing Fillippo Argenti to be punished further is evidence of recognition of the problem
as Dante has no remorse or compassion for a sinner that harmed people in life
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6th Circle: Heretics
 Gates of Dis filled with angles that chose Satan’s side in the war represent the Christian culture
Shows a division in Hell that is logical
Division of Upper and Lower Hell where the Upper Hell is the sins of the Leopard
(incontinence) and Lower Hell is sins of the Lion (violence) and the She-Wolf
(fraud), this shows that Dante views the sins that require greater thought to be
the most egregious this is also an attack on the church as many specific
members of the church are in the lower portions of Hell. Greater time in terms
of the length of the novel is spent here because Dante emphasizes the real evils
of the Chruch.
Dis is also a symbol of the opposite of paradise
 Mosques symbolic of evil in historical context of Jerusalem being controlled by Muslims
Call to action for people to recognize the real problem of other religions, not different
opinions within Christianity
 Medusa evidence of Greek culture working with logic and Christianity
Symbolic of the divide of Hell as Medusa is the first real mythical beast that is malicious
and not just acting by instinct. Also she is the first creature in Hell that tries to harm
Dante Heavenly Messenger saving Dante and Virgil is Dante’s demonstration that logic
alone cannot be used to interpret faith and that people need faith to understand the
divine and go through life
Shows the society of Hell because God’s power is still supreme
 Heretics in the Inferno are those who say that the soul dies with the body, being punished by
forever having to lay in an iron coffin that is being heated by flames is logical punishment for
saying that the soul doesn’t exist because now the soul rests in coffin
 Farinata’s appearance is one derived from Italian politics as he is a Ghibelline
Prophecy about being exiled is also Italian politics
Explanation of ability to prophesize is evidence of the Christian culture as it is by Gods
light that sinners can see the future through far sighted eyes
 Pope Anastasius historical context of allowing the church to deny the divine paternity of Christ
Attack on the church as a pope is in Hell
Pope doesn't know what is right
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7th Circle Part 1: Violence Against Neighbors
 River of boiling blood a symbol of the blood spilt by the sinners (logical culture)(Christian
culture)
Ancient conquers are historical context as everyone knew them
 Centaurs are mythical creatures of Greek culture
Don’t let sinners raise above the water because they represent guilt preventing people
from moving on
Also show embodiment of violence
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7th Circle Part 2: Violence Against Self
 Those who kill themselves are not given a body in death (logical culture)(Christian culture)
Causing pain on accident is a metaphor for the stage of solving and recognizing a problem that is
beginning to do something and having to learn the consequences
Shows that change is not easy
 Harpies are Greek culture for destruction of all
 Trees only being to speak through blood is symbolic of people only being able to speak through
their deaths
Caused pain to others
Cost others money
 Dogs tearing apart suicides is logical punishment
in life they cast off their bodies and now their bodies are worth only the food of dogs
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7th Circle Part 1 of Part 3: Violence Against God
 Desert of file is metaphor for the barren world without God
 Rain of fire symbol of a world without the refreshing influence of God
 Blasphemers are laying on the sand so that they receive the most of the barren waste they
promoted and can enjoy the world fully

Virgil explains that the rivers come from the Old Man of Crete who lives under Crete, the rivers
are his blood coming from the different ages of man starting after the Golden Age
Logical culture because it is logical explanation of rivers but mixed with Christian and
Greek faith
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7th Circle Part 2 of Part 3: Violence Against Nature
 Sodmomites are punished because their unnatural sexual practices are crimes against nature
and nature is the Child of God
 Dante shows great respect for Brunetto Latino to demonstrate that solving problems involves
accepting that people your revere and like are part of the problem
 The fact that the sinners run while in Hell suggests that just like their sexual practices, their
punishment is also unnatural
 Running off by divine compulsion shows that in this society God controls everything
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7th Circle Part 3 of Part 3: Violence Against Art
 Last sinners against God are those who commit crimes against art, that is anything made by man
from the earth
Usury is a sin because it makes money from money and thus damages art
Attack on the wealthy of Italy and church as the sinners look at coats of arms that
correspond to Italian families
 Greyon is a symbol of logical culture as it combines many elements
Logical display of fraud as the thing has a face of an honest man but a body that betrays
that idea
Hair on arms is like a wolf’s pelt
Beaver references are historical context as people used to think that beavers fished by
putting their tails in the water
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8th Circle: Fraud Part 1: Panderers and Seducers
 Demons goading the sinners is symbolic of the sinners goading their targets in life
 Demons symbolize the guilt of the sinners
 Horns of the demons are symbols of adultery
 Venedico Cacciamico demonstrates the argument that sin is in Italy as this man is Italian
 Boniface reference in the description of how the sinners are running
 Jason and Madea sinned by seducing people for an illicit advantage
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8th Circle: Fraud Part 2: False Flatters
 Logical punishment of speaking falsely and now damned to wallow in the falsehoods
 Alessio Interminelli ans Italian in Hell reinforces argument that Italy is full of sin
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8th Circle: Fraud Part 3: Simonacs

Holes symbolize the fonts used in baptisms, thus the sinners lampooned church practices by
selling favors
Attack in the church as the source of sin
 Fire is symbolic of the water used in baptisms and the parody of church practices that the
sinners promoted
 Pope Nicholas symbolizes church corruption as he was a huge simonac in Dante’s time
Attack on the church
 Prophecy indicates that Pope Boniface VIII will be in hell in 1303 (historical context) followed by
Pope Clement V (historical context)
Attack on the church as the church is corrupt
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8th Circle: Fraud Part 4: Fortune Tellers
 The twisted body of the sinners symbolizes the distortion of God’s law as they are backward
 Eyes being blinded is logical punishment for trying to see the future
 Sinners walk backwards because of logical punishment of trying to move ahead
 Entire punishment logical because it punishes sinners with their own crime
 Italian and Greek fortune tellers show their respective cultures
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8th Circle: Fraud Part 5: Grafters
 Grafters being stuck in tar is logical punishment as they are now hidden as their sins were
hidden in life
 Sinners being attacked when out of darkness is symbolic iof the punishment they would have
received if they had shown themselves and their sins in life
 Presence of the senator supports Dante’s argument that Italy is filled with sin
 Dante’s fear is historical context as he was exiled on charges of grafting
 Demons symbolize everything disgusting and coarse and embody the coarseness of the sinners
 The grafter of Navarre tricks the demons into letting him go by offering him other sinners to gain
an advantage
Demons fall in the tar as well as they were willing to give the man his life to get other
sinners
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8th Circle: Fraud Part 6: Hypocrites
 The lead clothing of the sinners is a sybol of the their own guil and the guilt of every person they
lead astray by their hypocrisy
 Caiaphas in historical context is the Jewish leader who ordered the execution of Christ
He must not only wear lead clothes and be crucified but also be walked on by other
hypocrites in a parody of absorbing of sin of Christ
 Friars being in hell is Dante’s evidence that the church is corrupt and should take a backseat to
interpreting faith
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8th Circle: Fraud Part 7: Thieves


The snakes symbolize all deceit in the world and show evidence of the Christian culture
Hands of sinners are tied because logically the weapons by which thieves steal substance is
forever denied to them
 Sinners burst into flames to show that their substance is denied to them as they stole substance
 Vanni Fucci as an Italian shows Dante’s argument that Italy is filled with sin
 Prophecy is sign of Italian politics
 The fig is an idiom that attracts the common person and the fact that the man is punished
shows that God rules Hell
 The Noble Thieves have to steal a body from other sinners as they stole substance from others
Ultimate punishment in being slave to sin
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8th Circle: Fraud Part 8: Evil Counselors
 The flames hide the sinners who used dark ways of intelligence to sin so logical punishment
 The flame is a symbol of guilt and also the lounge as it acts as one
 Ulysses and Diomede represent the Greek culture and their sin of creating the Roman line from
defeating Troy using the deceptive horse
 Guido’s punishment is a warning to Italians that they cannot wait until the end of life or repent
before they sin, they must repent and truly mean it after they sin
 Guido's punishment is against the pope as Dante shows that the Pope is evil by holding salvation
over people’
Shows that the church is full of sin
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8th Circle: Fraud Part 9: Sowers of Discord
 Vivid imagery is disturbing warning to Italians about those who area against peace
 Logical punishment of those who create divisions is to be torn apart over and over to feel the
effects of divisions
 Muhammad and Ali being in Hell is Dante’s bias from historical context of being anti-islamic
Humor because Dante says that people need to accept different interpretations of faith
 Political discord is punished by splitting a person apart because their sin was to split political
peace
 Mosca who started the war is there because he started a bloody conflict and is an idiom as well
as a direct warning to Italians
 Berntrand de Borne split a family and thus he must now be split as well from the head
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8th Circle: Fraud Part 10: Falsifiers Division 1: Alchemists
 The state of the sinners is logical punishment for falsifying thus the senses are false
Shows a life when everything is falsified
Dante’s warning to Italians
 Griffolino D’arezzo and Capooccio are known for promising people favors of alchemy but never
following through
Logical punishment because they made false claims for their own benefit and are now
punished by having their sense lie to them
Italian man serves to futher Dante’s argument that Italy is filled with sin
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8th Circle: Fraud Part 10: Falsifiers Division 2: Impersonators
 Impersonators have to continually destroy others so that they can impersonate them
Now impersonating animals
 Gianni Schicchi known for having impersonating his friend’s dead father to make a will favoring
himself
Corrupt and sinful Italian society
 Myrrha is evidence of Greek culture working in the Christian culture and the logical culture
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8th Circle: Fraud Part 10: Falsifiers Division 3: Counterfeiters
 Master Adam as an idiom and a well known figure to Italians is a warning to Italians about their
crimes in a way that they can all understand
 Counterfeiters must also suffer thirst because logically, in life they had an over abundance of
what the needed and now they are deprived of everything
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8th Circle: Fraud Part 10: Falsifiers Division 4: Liars
 Sinners are punished with fevers as logical punishment for lying so now they must suffer the lies
of hallucinations
 Potiphar’s wife is an idiom telling woman not to try to seduce men
 Sinon is evidence of Greek culture and is warning to smooth talkers who lie to people to gain an
illicit advantage
 Adam and Sinon’s fighting and Virgil’s scolding of Dante is a warning to Italians about being
petty and blaming others when there is a need to handle larger problems
 Dante’s repentance is used to show that there is always forgiveness and that when people make
mistakes, they can still find salvation by being genuinely sorry
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Giants
 Nimrod is evidence of Christian culture and is punished for having created multiple languages
and causing confusion by having his own speech garbled
 Ephilaties, Briareus, Tityos, Typhon giants who in roman culture rose against the Gods, thus they
must be chained to prevent them from rising against God
 Anataus reveals that the giants are in Hell because they lack any and all love in life and this is
Dante’s argument for trying to solve problems by acknowledgement
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9th Circle: Serious Fraud Part 1: Family
 Sinners being bound in ice is logical punishment for those who would deny the warmth of God
and love
 Frist round being named Caina is evidence of the Christian culture for the Able and Cain story

The level at which the sinner is submerged and ability to move head corresponds to Dante’s idea
of what the greatest sin is
 Alessandro and Napoleone Degli Alberti are evidence of the historical context of the wars and
show the in of Italy
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9th Circle: Serious Fraud Part 2: Country
 Named for Antenor the man believed to have betrayed the Trojans to the Greeks, demonstrates
elements of Greek culture
 Bocca Delgi Abbati is historical context and supports the Italy is full of sin argument
 Beating the man is part of Dante’s structure as it serves as a metaphor for accepting a problem
and beginning to do something about
 Story of the two traitors is first an attack on the church as an archbishop was able to commit
great atrocities and secondly evidence for Dante’s Italy is full of sin argument
Logical punishment for starvation is to be eaten
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9th Circle: Serious Fraud Part 3: Guests
 Ring of Hell named for Ptolomaeus of Maccabees who killed his father at a banquet
 Friar Alberigo is historical context for the state of Italy, statement against the Church, and
argument that Italy is full of sin
Proverb for Alberigo
 Branca D’oria is historical context
 Sin so severe that the sinners are denied tears and so severe that their souls are cast into Hell
before they die
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9th Circle: Serious Fraud Part 4: Masters
People who betray their masters are so evil that they are denied every bit of God’s light
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Satan
 Satan is a parody of the trinity, with each face representing the three beasts of sin
The fact that he is ugly is because he is the opposite of God and therefore has no beauty
 Being trapped in ice powerless to do anything shows that God rules not Satan
 Cold winds are the opposite of Gods warmth
 Three sinners are well known and are arguably evil
Embracing lucifer shows embracing sin altogether and accepting the issue then rising above it
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Repetition
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Repetition of Patterns
The repeating and logical structure of The Inferno reinforces Dante’s argument for a logical
interpretation of faith. In Canto VI Dante writes of the 3rd circle of hell in which dirty snow forms a dirty
slush that punishes the “swollen logs” of gluttons, who are devoured and tortured by the Greek
mythological creature Cerberus. The pattern observed here and repeated throughout the poem is that
of an introduction to a sin of Christian culture, punished according to the logical culture, with the
elements of Greek culture. Dante uses this harmony in hell as a demonstration of the harmony of logic
in bringing multiple contradictory cultures together under the similar theme of justice for evil acts. The
repetition of this pattern further serves Dante’s purpose in making a poem that promotes his ideas to
the common person of Italy. Repeating this same idea throughout the compelling story ensures that
readers will not miss the point of Dante’s work.
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Structure
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Solving Problems
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Making Progress
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Comedy
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Comedy in Context
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Comedy Today
Humanity is contradictory because we want everyone to be equal in theory but don’t practice equality
Dante knew that humanity can’t just accept things and that it takes time
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Reading Recommendation
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READ THIS BOOK
"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than
human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." Thomas
Paine
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Sources
Academy of American Poets. Dante Alighieri. n.d. HTML Document. 5 November 2011.
<http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/1664>.
Alighieri, Dante. The Inferno. Trans. John Ciardi. Dante Alighieri, 1308. Book. 24 October 2011.
Ciardi, John. The Inferno. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: Signet Classics, 1954. Book. 24 October 2010.
LibriVox. The Divine Comedy. 20 January 2010. Sound. 6 November 2011. <http://librivox.org/the-divinecomedy-by-dante-alighieri/>.
Meyers, Rick. E-Sword. Franklin, 2012. Program. 6 November 2011.
Microsoft Corporation. Dante Alighieri. Redmond, 2009. DVD. 5 November 2011.
Paine, Thomas. The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology. Thomas Paine,
1794. Pamphlet. 12 November 2011. <http://www.ushistory.org/paine/reason/reason1.htm>.
Wetherbee, Winthrop. Dante Alighieri. Ed. Edward N. Zalta. 18 December 2009. Stanford University.
Web Encyclopedia. 5 November 2011. <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/dante/>.