Goals:
 Understand social and historical values
as reflected and embodied in a literary
work.
 Make connections between the historical
and cultural events of the 14th century,
and Dante’s inspiration for The Inferno.
The Inferno
By Dante Alighieri
Dante Alighieri Biography
• Born May of 1265 in Florence,
Italy
• Received early education in
Florence
• Attended the University of Bologna
• Experiences included a tour in the
Florence Army
Dante Alighieri Biography
• His great love seems to have been Beatrice
Portinari.
• They met when they were children; Dante
worshipped her his entire life.
• Beatrice was Dante’s inspiration for The
Divine Comedy.
• After her death in 1290, he dedicated a
memorial “The New Life” (La Vita Nuova) to
her.
Dante Alighieri Biography
• Dante entered an arranged
marriage in 1291 with Gemma
Donati, a noblewoman.
• They had two sons and either one
or two daughters.
Dante Alighieri Biography
• By 1302, Dante was a political
exile from Florence.
• Most likely began The Divine
Comedy after this exile.
Dante Alighieri Biography
• Dante finished The Divine Comedy just
before his death on September 14, 1321.
• He was still in exile
• Perhaps still bitter about his expulsion
from Florence, Dante wrote on the title
page of The Divine Comedy that he was
“a Florentine by birth, but not in
manner” (Bergin 444).
Dante’s Inferno: Historical
Background
• End of the Middle Ages: Godcentered; lived on earth to get into
Heaven
• Beginning of Renaissance: Mancentered; rebirth of learning
Dante’s Inferno: Historical
Background
• The Renaissance influenced all of western
civilization.
• Trade flourished and prosperity thrived
throughout much of the country.
• Florence became the richest of the Italian
city-states.
• Italy had a wealth of conflicts during
this time.
Dante’s Inferno: Historical
Background
• Multiple political units existed as a result
of internal struggles for power and
European states vying for influence.
• The Guelph Political party (which
favored independence & the Popes) and
the Ghibelline Political party (which
favored control by the Holy Roman
Empire) were two such rival factions.
Dante’s Inferno: Historical
Background
• The French Kings supported the Popes
• The Holy Roman Empire was
controlled by the Germans; the French
Kings were afraid of the Germans
becoming too powerful so they
supported the Popes.
• Basically, Holy Roman Empire
(Germans) vs. Independent city-states
(Pope).
Dante’s Inferno: Historical
Background
• Dante’s birth in 1265 came at a time when the Guelph
party (Independence) was in control of Florence.
• Dante turned away from his Guelph heritage to embrace
the imperial philosophy of the Ghibellines (H.R.E.)
• His change in politics is best summed up in his
treatise De Monarchia in which Dante states his belief
in the separation of church and state.
• The Ghibellines, however, were pushed from power
by the Guelphs during Dante’s adulthood and
confined to northern Tuscany.
Dante’s Inferno: Historical
Background
• The Guelph political party eventually
divided into two groups:
• The Whites (led by the Cerchi family)
• The Blacks (led by the Donati family and
later by Pope Boniface VIII).
• Dante became a member of the Whites and
served as an ambassador to talk with the
Pope in Rome about conditions in Florence.
Dante’s Inferno: Historical
Background
• While Dante was out of town, the Blacks took over
Florence.
• The Blacks sentenced Dante to banishment from
the city.
• His punishment for return would be death.
• His wanderings gave him time to write and to
study the Scriptures.
• This banishment also gave Dante his
perspective on corruption of the fourteenth
century papacy, a view that he would clearly
describe in The Inferno.
Dante’s Inferno: Historical
Background
• In the year 1310, Henry VII became Holy Roman
Emperor.
• Dante believed that this German Prince would
bring peace.
• Henry VII died in 1313 and his Italian campaign
collapsed.
• Dante became disillusioned and left the political
life
• He ceased work on other materials he had
begun and concentrated on The Divine Comedy.
Dante’s Inferno: Introduction
• The Divine Comedy was not titled as such
by Dante; his title for the work was simply
Commedia or Comedy.
• Dante’s use of the word “comedy” is
medieval by definition and meant ‘a tale
with a happy ending,’ not a funny story as
the word has since come to mean.
Dante’s Inferno: Introduction
• The work was a major departure
from the literature of the day since
it was written in Italian, not the
Latin of most other important
writing.
• Political beliefs = Unity
• He felt a universal language
would help unify the country
Dante’s Inferno: Introduction
• Dante felt the church of his time was no
longer serving God
• Allegory of the process of the individual’s
search for God
• Politics, history, mythology, religious
leaders, and prominent people of the time,
of literature, of the past, and of Dante’s
personal life –including Beatrice – appear
throughout The Divine Comedy.
Dante’s Inferno: Introduction
• The Divine Comedy is made up of three
parts, corresponding with Dante’s three
journeys: Inferno (or Hell); Purgatorio (or
Purgatory); and Paridisio (or Paradise).
• Each part consists of a prologue and
approximately 33 cantos.
• Since the narrative poem is in an exalted
form with a hero as its subject, it is an epic
poem.
Dante’s Inferno: Introduction
• The Divine Comedy describes Dante’s imaginary
journey.
• Midway on his journey through life, Dante realizes
he has taken the wrong path.
• The Roman poet Virgil searches for the lost Dante
at the request of Beatrice.
• He finds Dante in the woods on the evening of
Good Friday in the year 1300 and serves as a
guide as Dante begins his religious pilgrimage to
find God.
• To reach his goal, Dante passes through Hell,
Purgatory, and Paradise.
Dante’s Inferno
• Dante and Virgil enter the wide
gates of Hell and descend through
the nine circles of Hell.
• In each circle they see sinners being
punished for their sins on Earth;
Dante sees the torture as Divine
justice.
Dante’s Inferno
• The sinners in the circles include:
• Circle One – Those in limbo
• Circle Two – The lustful
• Circle Three – The gluttonous
• Circle Four – The hoarders
• Circle Five – The wrathful
• Circle Six – The heretics
• Circle Seven – The violent
• Ring 1: Murderers, robbers, and plunderers
• Ring 2: Suicides and those harmful to the world
• Ring 3: Those harmful against God, nature, art, as
well as usurers
Dante’s Inferno: Introduction
• On Easter Sunday, Dante
emerges from Hell.
• Through his travels, he has
found his way to God and is
able, once more, to look upon
the stars.
The Inferno: Themes
• Primitivity
• Man and the
Natural World
• Lies and Deceit
• Justice
• Language and
Communication
• Wisdom and
Knowledge
• Compassion and
Forgiveness
• Love
• Time
• Respect and
Reputation
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