Italy in the 13th and 14th Centuries
Florence, Siena, Rome, Venice, Genoa. . . all the "big cities" of Italy were not united under a common national government in the Middle Ages, but were rival city-states with their own private armies, governments, coins and loyalties. They generally fought for their own power and prestige, but occasionally found it expedient to side with the two main powers in Europe: the Pope and the Holy Roman Emperor.
Because of Matthew 16:13ñ20 (When Christ tells Peter, the first pope, that ". . . whatever you bind on earth shall be considered bound in heaven: whatever you loose on earth shall be considered loosed in heaven. . . .") and because of the mythical "Donation of Constantine" (in which the emperor Constantine was reputed to have given control of the western Roman Empire to the pope while he remained in charge of the Eastern/Greek Empire), many popes believed they had secular as well as religious power. (This means, that they thought they were the European emperor, in charge of all laws and taxes, as well as spiritual matters.) In fact, the papacy had secular control of southern Italy for centuries, and some popes sought to expand their power by warring with the Holy Roman Emperors, who controlled most of Germany, Switzerland, parts of France and northern Italy. Generally they fought over who would control central Italy, including Florence, one of the richest banking cities in all of Europe. It boasted 80 banks, a wool guild that employed 30,000 people and a gold coin called that florin which it minted and which became the standard currency for much of Italy. Its population was roughly 100,000.
Some of these Florentines sided with the pope, others with the Holy Roman Emperor. In the mid-13th century, the parties were known as the Guelphs (on the side of the pope) and the Ghibellines (on the side of the emperor). By the end of the 13th century, the Guelphs proved the victors and exiled their Ghibelline rivals. The Guelphs, in turn, broke into two factions: the White Guelphs and the Black Guelphs. Dante belonged to the White Guelphs, made up of prosperous merchants who wanted peace with their neighboring city-states so they could increase trade and their wealth. The Black Guelphs, mainly rich banking families, wanted to become powerful and wealthy by spreading Florentine imperialism in wars with other city-states. The Whites looked to the Holy Roman Emperor to preserve the peace. The Blacks looked to Pope Boniface VIII (a scoundrel who needed Florence's banking money to finance his territorial wars) as an ally.
Dante, who served briefly as a city councilman in Florence in 1300, was asked by Boniface to come to see him at his home in Anagni, just south of Rome, along with two other White Guelph envoys. In the meantime, Boniface asked his ally, Charles of Valois (a French enemy of the Emperor) to attack Florence with his troops and secure the city for the Black Guelphs. Dante and his friends did not know of this plan and pleaded with Boniface not to interfere with Florentine politics. The pope listened and sent Dante's two associates back to Florence. He detained Dante just long enough for Charles of Valois to help the Blacks take over. The Blacks then sentenced Dante to two years of exile on trumped up charges of graft and embezzlement. They insisted he pay an enormous sum of money to return. Dante refused and after two years, the new power in Florence exiled Dante for life. If he returned to the city, they warned, they would burn him alive. Dante never saw Florence again, and until his death he blamed Pope Boniface, whom he places in a particularly nasty part of hell, stuck upside down in a pit with his bare ass showing and flames dancing on the soles of his bare feet.
Dante Alighieri
Born in Florence in 1265 into an aristocratic family, Dante was schooled by the Franciscans. Among his teachers was Guido Cavalcanti, a poet of local fame who died in 1300. (Dante later places him in hell among the heretics for his Epicurean philosophy.) Dante later began writing love poetry, especially sonnets, at an early age, and devoted much of them to a Florentine woman, Bice, whom he called Beatrice ("the bringer of blessings"). They met for the first time when he was 9 and he grew infatuated with her. She grew impatient with the attention he paid other women, and she eventually married a banker. She died at a young age in 1292.
(Incidentally, numbers play a significant role in The Divine Comedy. If you consider the first canto of The Inferno as an introduction to the entire work ó which also includes Purgatory and Paradise, then each work consists of 33 cantos, which, when added together, totals 100, a perfect square. The number 3 is important because it symbolizes the Trinity. The square of 3 is 9, which is the age of Dante when he met Beatrice, the heroine of The Divine Comedy. Throughout the work, too, numbers are significant. Cantos 5 of all three works, for instance, deal with similar themes.)
Dante and Beatrice, we assume, never were lovers in the sense that we use the word today. But after her death, Dante swore undying love for her and turned her into an ideal woman of pure virtue, much like the Virgin Mary, to whom he swore undying love.
But Dante had three other loves: philosophy, theology and literature. He read the literary heavies of his day: Thomas Aquinas, who had taught at the University of Paris, Boethius and Bonaventure, who wrote a biography of St. Francis. He was also well versed on the classical giants: St. Augustine, St. Bernard, Ovid, and Virgil. Of these, Virgil was to play the most significant role in The Divine Comedy. Virgil (79ñ19 B.C.) who lived in the time of Julius Caesar, was a poet who wrote of the fall of Troy at the hands of the Greeks. Unlike Homer, who praised the Greek hero Ulysses, Virgil took the side of the Trojans. He did so because the leader of the Trojans, Aeneas, fled to Italy and helped create the Roman Empire. Aside from being a great poet, Virgil helped inspire Dante because he wrote of Aeneas' journey into the underworld. While down under, Aeneas meets his father who tells Aeneas that he is bound for glory as the founder of the Roman Empire. In The Divine Comedy, Dante also visits hell and meets several people who make prophecies about his future. Finally, Virgil is important to us because it is this poet whom Dante chooses as his guide through the Inferno.
Think of Dante's choice for a guide in these terms: If you were to take a trip through a dangerous area, whom would you want for your guide? Someone who has been there and who knows the place (Virgil is dead, and a resident of Limbo because he never had a chance to learn about Christ). Someone who is a master at what he does, and someone whom you know and trust implicitly. Dante loved Virgil and the Aeneid. He committed it to memory, as well as much of the bible, Ovid, Augustine and everything he read. Imagine meeting your favorite author or songwriter. For Dante, Virgil was his John Lennon, his Bob Dylan, his Neil Young, and his Shakespeare all wrapped up in one person.
Dante also gives Virgil one other title: that of prophet. Virgil died before Christ was born, but Dante took an obscure passage in the Aeneid to be a prophecy of the coming of Christ. Thus, Virgil, a pagan, was also a pre-Christian prophet for Dante, much like the Old Testament prophets. This is important because in many ways Dante sees himself as a prophet, telling us readers how to live and how not to live.
After his exile in 1302, Dante spent several years trying to negotiate his return to Florence. He sided with a group of White Guelphs who tried to fight their way in, but he never joined them in actual fighting. His hopes were raised when the Holy Roman Emperor, Henry VII of Luxembourg, who reigned from 1308ñ1313) entered Italy at the request of Boniface's successor, Clement V, to restore order to the feuding Italian city-states. But when he came into Italy, everyone, including the Pope, attacked him. Henry eventually died near Siena, and with his death, Dante's hopes of returning were dashed.
Dante began writing The Divine Comedy sometime between 1308 and 1314 and he finished it shortly before his death in 1321 in Ravenna where he lived out his last years and where he is still buried.
The Divine Comedy contains two Dante's: Dante the Poet (writing about a mythical journey) and Dante the Pilgrim (who takes the mythical trip through hell). Dante also sets the time of the journey at about 1300, shortly before his own exile. This allows him to meet all sorts of people who prophesize about his forthcoming exile. They tell him "Dante, you're at the top of the world now, but in a year or two, you will be exiled."
This prophecy is at the heart of the entire book. The Divine Comedy is the story of a man who learns to turn his exile into a pilgrimage. He learns that his exile, which he first believed was the worst thing that could happen to him, is the best thing that could happen to him. If not for the exile, he would still be involved in Florentine politics, still infatuated with his romantic notion of the dead Beatrice, and still writing simple-minded love poetry. Because of his exile, he learns that his concerns were petty and foolish. He should have followed God with a single mind and heart. The entire journey of the Comedy takes Dante through hell where he finally realizes what a sinner he has been, through Purgatory, where he is purged of his sins through a second baptism, and finally to Paradise where he meets Beatrice and God. At the end of the trilogy, he achieves a kind of apotheosis, uniting with the three-personned God in a moment of divine transformation.
Dante the Poet is telling us that he learned how to turn his exile away from his earthly home into a pilgrimage toward his heavenly home. His book is an invitation for us to do the same. Thus, Dante the Poet becomes Dante the Prophet, and his book turns into a contemporary road map for us to follow.
Geography of Hell
Upper Hell Cantos 1 & 2
Vestibule: The Indecisive Canto 3
(past the River Acheron)
Circle 1: Limbo (unbaptized & virtuous pagans) Canto 4
Circle 2: The Lustful Canto 5
Circle 3: The Gluttonous Canto 6
Circle 4: The Hoarders and the Spendthrifts Canto 7
Circle 5: The Wrathful Cantos 7 & 8
Lower Hell
(inside the Gates of Dis) Cantos 8&9
Circle 6: The Heretics Cantos 9,10,11
Circle 7:
a: The Violent Against Their Neighbors Canto 12
b: The Violent Against Themselves (wood of the suicides) Canto 13
c: The Violent Against God, Art, & Nature
(homosexuals & bankers) Cantos 14,15,16,17
(the burning sand; the great barrier & waterfall)
Circle 8: (Malabolgia -- simple fraud)
a: Panderers (pimps) & Seducers Canto 18
b: Flatterers Canto 18
c: Simoniacs (popes who buy & sell offices) Canto 19
d: Sorcerers & Soothsayers Canto 20
e: Barrators (lawyers who accept graft) Cantos 21&22
f: Hypocrites Canto 23
g: Thieves Cantos 24&25
h: deceivers Cantos 26&27
i: sowers of discourse Canto 28
j: falsifiers (counterfeiters) Cantos 29&30
(the Giants) Canto 31
Circle 9: (complex fraud)
a: Traitors to their kindred Canto 32
b: Traitors to their country Canto 32
c: Traitors to their guests Canto 33
d: Traitors to their Lord Canto 34
Satan (Lake Cocytus)
Canto 1
1. The Divine Comedy takes place over the course of three days ó Good Friday to Easter Sunday ó in the year 1300. With the resurrection comes apotheosis. All Friday day and night, Dante tries to get through hell and Saturday through Purgatory. Note: when Christ died, he is said to have entered into hell and saved the good souls who were trapped there. In the Inferno we find a similar harrowing of hell's gates.
2. Typology: As we read this work, we will constantly find points of comparison between and among all the books with which Dante was familiar and between and among the different cantos. Cantos 5 and 33, for instance, serve as bookends to the journey with many parallel events linking Dante's entry into and exit from hell.
3. Throughout the Inferno, Dante has no idea that he is a sinner. He feels sorry for the people who suffer and he doesn't understand that he, in some ways, is guilty of their sins. Virgil's job is to teach Dante to realize that he is a sinner. That self-awareness is the first step toward conversion. Dante constantly blows it in the Inferno.
4. Punishment: Notice throughout how the punishment fits the crime. The lustful are blown about by strong winds just as they, when alive, let themselves be tossed around by their own passions. The hypocrites wear heavy cloaks of gold lined with lead to show their two-faced nature.
5. Stanza 1: Dante was 35 years old in 1300. The Bible tells us that 70 is the natural span of a man's life. Notice the shift from "our" to "I", linking the universal to the individual. Dante is telling us that his story is our story.
6. Lack of specifics. Throughout the Inferno Dante is specific about the geography. Here, he's intentionally vague. Why?
7. Stanza 2: Immediately we see the distinction between Dante the poet and Dante the pilgrim. How?
8. Dante tries to escape up the hillside through a pass but is blocked by three animals. Which ones and what do they represent?
9. (Line 62) Virgil's coming to Dante's rescue is typologically related to (typifies) many Biblical rescue stories: Joseph being raised from the pit, Moses rescuing the Israelites. Joseph Campbell, in his book Hero with a Thousand Faces, writes that every hero must be aided by a guide ó an Obi-wan for every Luke Skywalker.
10. (Line 63) Why has Virgil "grown faint. . . from too much silence"?
11. (Line 64-66) Why is it significant that Dante doesn't recognize Virgil?
12. Why is it significant that he chooses Virgil for his guide?
Because of Aeneas:
Because Virgil wrote in Latin:
Because of the kind of poetry Virgil wrote:
Because of Virgil's nationality:
Because of Virgil's role as a prophet:
Because of Aeneas and Dido:
13. line 77: Why does Virgil ask Dante this question?
14. Line 91: Why must Dante "journey down another road" to leave the wilderness? Why must we pass through hell to get to heaven?
15. Who is the greyhound?
16. How is Canto 1 of the Inferno representative of the entire Divine Comedy? Which part of this canto represents the Inferno? Which part Purgatory (purgation, cleansing, repenting)? Which part Paradise?
Canto 2
Why is the figure of St. Paul important here? Dante doesn't mention him anywhere else in the work.
How can the statement "I'm not worthy" not be one of humility?
3. Line 53: Who is the lady who summoned Virgil to help Dante? What two figures does she typify?
Line 107: What threatens Dante unless he changes?
Line 124: Why is the number three significant? Who are they?
Canto 3
Preface: People aren't' in hell because they sinned. Everyone sins. People in hell are there because they didn't repent.
Who wrote the message on the gates of hell? OK. Now who really wrote the message on the gates of hell? Why is it significant that Dante calls these cruel words?
15: What is Dante's first sin that Virgil shows him?
18: What does this line mean? What does it tell us about the trustworthiness of those in hell?
34: What is so wrong with living a life "with no blame and with no praise"?
60: The coward who made the great refusal according to some critics is Celestine V, a hermit-monk who was elected Pope. After six months as Pope, he told the College of Cardinals that he didn't like the job and quit. Boniface VIII was then elected. Some people questioned whether Boniface could really be Pope because they believed a Pope couldn't voluntarily quit. Why would Dante put him here?
How does the punishment fit the crime?
67: What do the "blood and tears" allude to?
Canto 5
First look at this excerpt from Augustine's Confessions:
"For I had heard the story of Antony, and I remembered how he had happened to go into a church while the Gospel was being read and had taken it as a counsel addressed to himself when he heard the words Go home and sell all that belongs to you. Give it to the poor, and so the treasure you have shall be in heaven; then come back and follow me. By this divine pronouncement he had at once been converted to you. So I hurried back to the place where Alypius was sitting, for when I stood up to move away I had put down the book containing Paul's Epistles. I seized it and opened it, and in silence I read the first passage on which my eyes fell: Not in reveling and drunkenness, not in lust and wantonness, not in quarrels and rivalries. Rather, arm yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ; spend no more thought on nature and nature's appetites. I had no wish to read more and no need to do so. For in an instant, as I came to the end of the sentence, it was as though the light of confidence flooded into my heart and all the darkness of doubt was dispelled."
Keep this passage in mind as we review Canto V.
19: Be careful whom you trust. Why?
Note how throughout the Inferno Dante is incautious, too trusting, believing too easily what is told to him. What is the contrapasso here? How are the lustful punished?
39: this is a good definition of lust. Note: Birds were considered horny animals in the Middle Ages.
62: This is Dido, Aeneas' love. She killed herself after Aeneas left her. She stands in contrast to Beatrice, Dante's love.
82-84: Lust happens when _____________ corrupts the _________.
87: Does Dante overestimate his abilities? See how easily Francesca agrees to tell her story. She's just a girl who can't say no.
88: A little background: Francesca da Rimini was given in a political marriage to Gianciotto da Verrucchio who was deformed. She had an affair with his brother, Paolo, and when Gianciotto discovered them together, killed them both.
What does Francesca assume?
100: Francesca claims ________ led to her downfall. What was it really? This is another example of not taking responsibility for one's sins.
101: Whose name is not mentioned? Why? How do you read line 105?
107: What gives her joy? Other's pain.
113: What is Dante's mistake?
119: What is Dante's mistake here?
127-9: Here they are, alone, reading a story of an adulterous affair. How innocent are they?
127: Why do they read? Dante believes this is not a good reason. Why should one read or write?
130-132: Whom does Francesca blame now?
135: Why repeat this line?
138: Where have you heard this line before? How is it an inversion?
In the story of Lancelot, Guennevere does the seducing. She claims it is Lancelot.
Perverting the story of Augustine. He writes of his conversion. She of her damnation.
Review the passage that led to Augustine's conversion. What does it warn against?
How is this, again, an avoidance of responsibility?
Augustine reads a letter of St. Paul's. Francesca has the wrong Paul in mind.
Francesca is an antitype to Beatrice.
141: How would you like to be attached to a weeping person throughout eternity? Notice the contrapasso. Does Dante understand this?
Canto 10
Canto 10 is the circle of the heretics. Heresy is the sin of believing and preaching that which is incorrect about things religious. Epicureans are heretics because they believe that the soul dies with the body, that there is no afterlife, and that one should pursue pleasure while on earth. Farinata, the first heretic Dante meets, is an Epicurean and, as a Ghibelline, opposed Dante's Guelph party while he was alive in Florence.
19-21: Notice how poorly Dante heeds his own advice in this canto.
25-27: Farinata recognizes Dante by Dante's accent.
Note: this canto is about language. Language creates community; heresy destroys community. Notice how language is perverted in this canto.
31-33: In medieval art, Christ's resurrection is portrayed by having Christ step out of or stand beside an empty tomb. How is this an inversion?
34-36: What is another one of Farinata's sins?
39: Again, notice the focus on using language correctly. Watch to see if Dante listens to this advice.
42: How is this sinful?
43-45: What are Dante's two mistakes here?
46-47: Farinata is interested in what three things? Translation: My old man can beat up your old man.
49-50: In short, Dante is saying: "Your ancestors may have defeated my ancestors, but my ancestors knew how to come back from defeat." Because the dead can see into the future, Farinata knows Dante's fate. Thus, Dante is falling into Farinata's trap and not heeding Virgil's advice.
52-54: Notice the position of Cavalcante as he rises: as one worshipping Farinata (inversion of angels worshipping Christ)
Heresy divides things that are whole. Cavalcante is a Guelph. Farinata is a Ghibelline. How have they divided something that is whole? How is this particular sin applicable to Dante?
58-60: Cavalcante's son and Dante were friends. What does Cavalcante assume here and how is this a sin?
67-69: What is Cavalcante's mistake? Why is this a significant mistake?
71-72: What mistake does he make here?
73-75: What is ironic about what has transpired between Cavalcante and Farinata? How is this a fitting contrapasso?
77: What "art" is Farinata referring to?
79-81: Here Farinata sticks it to Dante. This is the second time Dante hears he will be exiled.
82-93: Farinata here asks why the party that backs the Holy Roman Emperor is so harsh to the party that backs the Pope. Notice Farinata shifts the blame from himself. In reality, his forces and the Sienese attacked Florence; he asked that it be spared so that he could rule it.
106-108: The damned can only see the future and the past, not the present; thus, at the end of time, when no future events will transpire, their minds will be blank. This is a special kind of hell ó an inability to know or to learn.
112-114: Dante asks Farinata to communicate with Cavalcante. He won't. This canto is about the evil of factions. How is corruption of language a kind of factionalism?
127-129: If Dante doesn't watch out, thenÖ
Canto 13
This is the circle of the suicides. Notice that suicide violates the prime commandment: love others as you love yourself (suicide is not self love). Notice, too, all the puns Dante makes on Pier Della Vigne's name.
Background: Pier Della Vigne was an advisor to Frederick II (a Holy Roman Emperor whom Dante detested). Pier was known for his highly complex, florid literary style and for writing a book advising others how to reach the political top through illegitimate means. Pier eventually fell from Frederick's grace and was imprisoned. He committed suicide while in prison. Why would Dante be tempted to commit this sin?
1-9: What words are repeated here & why? What do suicides become?
10-12: What are the Harpies doing?
25: This florid style is a parody of Pier's style. Note: just as language was the subject of Canto X, so, too, is corruption of words the subject of this canto.
33: People who commit suicide feel picked on by society. Here Pier __________ and asks for _________.
44: What two things are connected?
53: What are the two reasons that this is ironic?
58-72: Pier says he carried the keys to the kingdom. Here begins a long comparison with himself and another Pier (the Apostle Peter). Note the following points:
About Frederick and God worship.
About his service to Frederick vs. Peter's service to Christ.
About Peter's denial.
Who is Peter contrasted with in the Gospel accounts?
What is ironic about the way Pier lost his position of power?
78: Whom does Pier blame for his downfall>
82-84: Make two observations about Dante here.
97-99: What is significant about this?
106-108: What is this an image of?
Vines have thorns. (Christ is the vine, we are the branches.) Why is this significant? Why are suicides further down in hell than murderers?
Notice also that those who distort words are punished more severely than those who distort the body. Della Vigne distorted words. Those who blaspheme (those who do violence to God) are punished more severely than those who murder (those who do violence to the body). Liars are in the very pit of hell.
Canto 14
There are two kinds of violence against God: direct and indirect. Blasphemers directly do violence against God and we find them here.
line 51: "What I was once, alive, I still am, dead!"
Notice: This line, spoken by a minor figure (Capaneus--a blasphemer) is true for all the denizens of hell. In fact, it is not only their condition, it is their punishment: to be prevented from changing, thus from growing. Remember also Farinata's remark that all knowledge stops at the last judgement: another facet of their punishment will be the end of all they know.
Canto 15
Two kinds of people do indirect violence against God: usurers and sodomites. We find Sodomites here. Suicide is a kind of act of self-sterilization (you can be no longer fruitful). How can sodomy be seen in the same light?
Brunetto Latini was a teacher of Dante's who was exiled during the battle of Montepurti (between the Guelphs and the Ghibellines). He went to France where he learned classical humanist philosophy and literature, which he brought back to Florence. From that point on, he wrote in French. He wants Dante to be famous so he, too, can be famous. What's wrong with this?
How is this a sin that Dante might one day face?
lines 1-12:
lines 16-19:
line 21: What image does the "needle's eye" bring to mind? (think dirty)
line 24: What gospel story is being perverted (twisted, inverted) here?
line 30: What tone does this line have?
line 31: What relationship does Latini claim to have with Dante? Note: In Paradiso 15, Dante meets his grandfather.
lines 37-39: Just as in life, so too in death/ unnecessary motion & no promise of peace or fulfillment.
lines 38-45: What is the reversal of roles occurring here?
What is the perversion of "family" occurring here?
line 46: What does Latini imply by this?
line 51: Who else is lost in a valley?
lines 52-54: What is implied about Virgil?
lines 55-60: Latini's speech reveals several corruptions
--follow your constellations
--seeing how favorable Heaven was to you
--port of glory
--If I had not died just when I did
Why might it not be healthy for Dante to hear Latini's compliments?
line 63: How is this an insult?
line 66: Translation -- Dante is the "sweet fig" and it's impossible for him to bloom among the bitter berries of the Florentines who hate him. What image is evoked by "sweet fig" and how is it ironic?
line 70: Why should Dante continue writing, according to Latini, and why is this the wrong reason?
line 76: what is the literal meaning of "holy seed"? What is connoted by the image?
lines 79-87: What is Dante's response and how is Dante revealing his own weakness?
lines 91-93: Again, how is he wrong here?
lines 97-99: How does Virgil respond? Note: remember quotation from the gospels -- "He who has ears, let him hear."
lines 100-102:
line 108: why "befouled"?
line 114: what are "sinfully erected nerves"?
line 118-120: What are the ironies here?
Why doesn't he want to "mingle" with the other group?
Canto 18
We leave the middle level of hell (the violent) and enter into the bottom third -- the realm of the fraudulent. Notice what beast carries them down into this region: The Geryon.
How does he symbolize fraud?
In this first level, we find pimps and panderers (those who act as go-betweens for illicit sex), seducers and flatterers. Why put pimps here? Why not in the first level of the concupiscent (the lustful)?
Note: Dante again links the actions (body) and words. Pimps and panderers (abusers of the body) are grouped with seducers and flatterers (abusers of words).
What is the danger in flattery?
Why would a ruler especially be susceptible to flattery?
Why would he be especially hurt by flattery?
How does the punishment here fit the crime?
Notice: Liars are among those in the pit of hell. Their words are uncreative. Words should be used to bear fruit, to create (In the beginning, God created the Word). Fraud, like adultery, like heresy, fractionalizes by breaking the bonds that exist between people that allow communities to form and thrive.
Canto 19
Background: According to apocryphal texts (stories about Christ that aren't accepted by the Church as true, but have a kind of folklore status), Simon Magus (the magician) having seen the spirit descend on John and Peter, asked to buy their power. Simon Peter severely rebuked him for trying to buy God's gifts. According to legend, Simon Magus then followed Peter to Rome trying to learn his secrets. There, he learned to make himself fly. When Simon Peter saw this, he prayed and Simon Magus came a-tumblin' down. The sin of simony (Hey Pope, here's 4 million lira. Make me a bishop) is named not for Simon Peter but for Simon Magus, and as present day popes are successors of Simon Peter, Dante suggests that those who abuse their office are successors of Simon Magus.
lines 1-12: What distinction is being made here?
lines 10-19: Who is pronouncing judgement here, according to Dante? Why does Dante stress this?
Because of seriousness of crime:
Because of personal injury to Dante:
Because he believes his work is prophetic:
Notice: In this Canto you will find a perversion of each of the seven sacraments:
lines 13-21:
The holes in this canto are like baptismal fonts. Why?
What picture of Dante do you get when you imagine him smashing a baptismal font in which a child is drowning?
What is implied by this episode? (Who isn't where he should be?)
This episode never happened. Why would Dante accuse himself of an "innocent" crime he didn't commit?
line 22-24: Notice the position of Nicholas, a simonaic Pope. How is he positioned like Simon Magus?
lines 25-27: What sacrament is being parodied here? Why?
lines 37-39: What is Dante's attitude toward Virgil?
lines 49-51: The punishment for assassins was to be buried alive. Why would an assassin want a lengthy confession?
What reversal of roles is happening here?
lines 52-54: What is being satirized here?
lines 55-57: Translate: What sacrament is inverted here?
Notice: The gift of prophecy was bestowed to the apostles during Pentecost. How is it inverted here?
Dante is cast in the role of priest. What new role must he assume?
How can he take on this job?
lines 58-60: How could this be sarcastic?
line 61-63: How is Virgil contrasted to the Simonaic Popes?
Notice: THIS IS THE MAJOR TURNING POINT IN THE INFERNO. How?
67-69: How does the Pope claim the title of Pope?
70-72: What's the pun?
79-87: What is the significance of naming three Simonaic Popes (Nicholas, Boniface, and Clement)?
How is this linked to Simon Magus?
84: Clement V's "simony" was to sell the papal seat to Avignon.
85: How is he like Jason?
89-99: Notice: This is righteous indignation, not wrath for the sinner.
101-108: Revelations
109-111: Revelations
115-117: Donation of Constantine:
123: Notice: These words are truly spoken
132: Sheep and Goats: Apocalyptic vision.
Canto 20
Contrapasso: (against the way -- countermove) Punishment that fits the crime. The soothsayers here have their heads turned around 180 degrees so they can only look behind them. How is this fitting contrapasso?
lines 27-30: pietas in Italian means both "piety" and "pity"
Piety involves duty and obligation -- having the right disposition to proper relationships. (Aeneas)
Dante feels pity. He needs to feel piety.
Canto 21
This canto deals with bribery, which is the sin Dante was accused of. And, for the first time in the book, Dante and Virgil become the prey, just as Dante was the prey in real life. Also the first time Devils are subjected to trickery. There is comedy in this canto; the devils seem like keystone cops. The message behind this is:
Notice: Some critics have compared the structure of The Divine Comedy to a cathedral. If this canto is a part of the cathedral, then it would be the:
Notice: The grafters (the unscrupulous use of public position for private profit) are sunk in pitch, flatterers in shit. The punishment fits the crime.
line 139: "And he blew back with his bugle of an asshole."
--image of animals:
--cacophony:
Virgil is fooled by the devils here.
Canto 22
line 97-99: What is the Navaresse sinner doing here?
line 138-141: Notice the comparison between the sin of simony and the sin of graft:
147-151: The devils and sinners can't be told apart because they're covered with pitch:
Pitch sticks to everything, like:
Canto 23
The hypocrite distorts truth and also does this for his own good, not for the common good.
line 58: "painted people"
lines 63-66: outward appearances should be (and in this case are) an outward sign of what is inward.
lines 103-108: The Jovial Friars had as their mission the job of keeping peace between towns. These two didn't. Why is hypocrisy more of a danger to a priest or friar?
lines 115-126: Notice how Virgil is surprised when he sees the body of Caiaphas crucified on the ground.
Why is Caiaphas crucified this way & whom does it remind you of?
Why is Virgil surprised?
Why is Dante a "better guide" down here?
lines 142-144: Why can we trust the Friar here?
lines 145-148: Again, what about Virgil?
Canto 24
Ovid, a Roman who wrote around the time of Virgil, is the author of the Metamorphoses, which recounts the myths of men and women who turn into various objects and animals. In this canto we see Dante's use of Ovid where men and snakes turn into one another.
Notice: The men turn into what they are already in the process of becoming.
How does the punishment fit the crime?
line 144: How can Florence also be considered a sinner using this argument?
Canto 25
Raising his fists into the shape of a fig is a sign of what's about to happen in lines 55-57. How?
Canto 26
In this and the next canto we meet three deceivers: Ulysses, Diomed and Guido da Montefeltro. Remember: Dante hadn't read the Iliad or the Odyssey. He only heard of them. And because Ulysses was Aeneid's enemy, and because Aenied was the father of the Romans, Dante felt Ulysses and Diomed were bad guys. What great deception are Ulysses and Diomed guilty of?
The sins of these three are so great that they have become tongues of fire (see note on Metamorphoses). What do tongues of fire remind you of?
How are these perverted? (see line 87)
line 22: Ulysses was considered the archetypal voyager. But how does his voyage differ from Dante's?
line 43-45: Why does Dante lean so far over?
line 93: Aeneas shows true pietas:
lines 97-99: What author does this refer to?
lines 100-111: What mistakes does Ulysses make?
Notice: Ulysses doesn't respond to a calling. He goes because he wants to go. He follows his own will, not God's.
Where does Ulysses put the blame for drowning?
What is wrong in going to an unpeopled land?
Ulysses thinks he can do it alone, and that he doesn't need God's help. This is the same debate Augustine had with himself over Neoplatonism and Christianity.
Neoplatonism:
Christianity:
What does Dante learn in this pit of hell? That you can't take shortcuts. If you want to get to heaven, you've got to go through hell.
Inferno Worksheet: Cantos 27-34
Canto 27
7-15: The Sicilian Bull:
Cantos 26 & 27 are about distorted speech. What is the sin in this canto and how is it "distorted speech"?
61-66: What is the change regarding fame?
Why?
67-72: What is Guido da Montefeltro's sin? (vs. the sin of Boniface?)
79-81: Whom is Montefeltro referring to here?
82-84: Why is Montefeltro sorry?
85-111
Who was Boniface warring against?
What is the reference to the "cord" all about?
In lines 99-105, how are Boniface's words distorted?
a) physically
b) theologically
c) regarding purpose
106-107: Where is Montefeltro wrong?
112: What was Francis' position regarding war?
114-120: Notice the devil's logic:
Canto 28
Notice the fitting contrapasso: The sowers of discord are themselves torn apart, just as they themselves caused schism and division among communities when they lived.
Canto 29
This deals with counterfeiters. How does counterfeiting destroy community?
How is a counterfeit coin like a lie?
Canto 31
line 36: This is a metaphor for...
Why? Line 67-81: What new boundary have we crossed?
How is the story of the Tower of Babel an inversion of the story of Pentecost?
Canto 32
lines 1-6: Again, language is the subject: How is the experience of hell like the experience of heaven?
97-102:
Note: Bocca degli Abati betrayed Florence in the battle of Montepurti in which the Siennese (aided by the Ghibbelines) beat the Florentines. Bocca proved instrumental in the defeat for at a crucial moment in battle, he cut off the arm of the Florentine standard-bearer.
What is Bocca's fear and why?
106: What happens to Bocca here?
114: What is Bocca's response?
126: Ugolino & Ruggieri
Note the pun on "cap":
Note: This is one of the more important scenes in The Inferno for many reasons. But first some history. Pisa, about 50 miles from Florence, was having trouble with the fighting between the Guelphs and the Ghibbelines, so the town asked for an outsider to come in, make peace, and rule it. Count Ugolino so obliged and he and the bishop of Pisa, Ruggieri, formed an alliance. During his tenure as ruler, Ugolino wanted to make some quick bucks. He bought much of the grain and stored it until the price rose. Then he sold it at a huge profit. Unfortunately, many people starved to death. During this period of starvation, rumors swept throughout Italy of cannibalism in Pisa. Ugolino still wanted absolute power, so he cut a deal with Ruggieri along these lines: "If you help me by killing my grandchildren, (who are also vying for power,) I'll cut you in on the loot." Ruggieri agreed, but on the side, he conspired with the grandchildren, and together they imprisoned Ugolino and Ugolino's children in a tower where they starved to death.
Canto 33
lines 7-9: What tastes sweet?
What is impossible here in this cold climate?
29: What animals should a bishop be with?
But Ugolino dreams Ruggieri is with these animals?
Who do these animals represent?
48: This begins the references to the Eucharist. Look for the numerous ways the Eucharist is perverted.
Here, Ugolino looks to...
61-63: How is this a perversion of the Eucharist?
69: What scripture does this parody?
75: What do you think happens here?
78: Why does Ugolino attack Ruggieri at this point?
Notice all the omissions in Ugolino's story. They include:
Does Dante feel inappropriate pity here?
How are cannibalism and the Eucharist similar? How opposite?
How is Judas connected to all this?
a) betrayed the Eucharist
b) missed the Last Supper
c) He will be eaten in the next Canto
What is the effect of political fighting and betrayal? Who suffers?
Note: Here we find many parallels between Paolo and Francesca in Canto 5 and Ugolino and Ruggieri in Canto 33:
1) All Francesca talks about is... while all Ugolino talks about is...
2) The first and last...
3) One of the partners.... while the other is....
4) Both Ugolino and Francesca blame...
5) reference to weeping (line 42) Why all these parallels?
Canto 34
What is left when you remove the spiritual aspect of the Eucharist?
The Inferno is the place where you have the letter of the law without the spirit of the law. You have the eating of body and blood, but only literally, not spiritually.
How else is Satan a perversion of God?
Trinity:
Silence:
Inversion of Natural Laws:
If God is Omnipotent, then Satan is:
How is he pictured so that this quality is revealed?
line 54: How is Satan a perversion of Christ?
Why Judas, Brutus & Cassius?
They do universally what Ugolino and Ruggieri do locally. Explain:
61-63: Much is important in the way Judas is punished.
His position is like...
We recall Ugolino because of....
We think of Farinata because of...
We think of Simon Magus because of...
line 96: First reference to:
line 139: This word ends each of the three works.
Final Note:
Dante's journey has just begun. Soon in Purgatory he will realize that the sinners he has seen in the Inferno are shadows of himself and who he might become. On his journey up the seven story mountain of Purgatory he will do penance for his sins and become cleansed. He will leave Virgil halfway up the mountain, for Virgil will no longer prove an appropriate guide. He takes two new guides until he meets Beatrice who leads him to the Trinity. There Dante will experience apotheosis as he is lifted out of himself and into the divine nature of the trinity.
Dante's journey follows the classic journey of a mystic in prayer.
Stage 1: Awakening
Stage 2: Purgation
Stage 3: Illumination
Stage 4: Dark Night of the Soul (the desert experience)
Stage 5: Apotheosis
In the Inferno, Dante has awoken to his nature as a sinner. It's only one of five steps, but it is the first step he needed to take in order to turn his exile into a pilgrimage and to turn his work from a temporal work of poetry into a universal work of prophecy.
Essay Assignment
Choose any one canto from the Inferno. A) Show what stage of Dante's journey through hell it represents. B) Discuss the particular sin, showing how it is destructive to both the individual and to the community, and how it applies to Dante. C) Discuss all the poetic & dramatic devices Dante to uses to drive his point home.
A: In your introduction, offer a synopsis of Dante's journey through hell. Discuss his growth during this journey. Then address your canto, using it to provide the thesis for your essay. The thesis you will set out to prove will be something like this:
"Canto 19 proves the turning point for the Inferno because for the first time in the work, Dante shows righteous indignation rather than anger."
OR
"In Canto 15, Dante (the pilgrim) shows he still has much to learn in that he fails the challenge put before him by his teacher, Brunetto Latini. In this Canto he believes the purpose of writing is to achieve fame, not to be a prophet of God."
OR
"In Canto 13, Dante sees a possible future picture of himself: a man who commits suicide because fortune turned against him. Instead of rebuking the man's sin as unjust, he pities him. It is not pity Dante must feel, but piety, the sense of duty and obligation. Thus, Dante is still on the early part of his journey, barely beginning to realize how much he, himself, is a sinner."
B: In this part of your essay you will discuss the particular sin of the particular canto. When you show how destructive it is to the sinner and his community, make sure you reveal all the subtleties of speech and description Dante uses.
€ How is the sinner betraying himself in his description of the sin?
€ whom does he blame it on?
€ how does the sinner reveal his egocentrism?
€ how does Dante use inversion to show the sinner's perversion of God's love?
€ what outside sources does Dante use that enlarges our understanding of the sin & sinner? (Francesca's "quoting" from Augustine "That day we read no further.")
€ what information does the sinner twist or leave out?
€ how does the sinner attempt to and/or succeed in snaring Dante?
€ How is this a "personal" sin for Dante? Why does he have to particularly fear committing this sin?
C: Here you want to discuss all the
€ poetic devices (the puns, figurative language tricks, metaphors, playing on names),
€ & dramatic devices (body positions, use of dialogue, tension between Dante the Poet and Dante the Pilgrim, tension between Dante & Virgil, tension between Dante & the sinner).
Then show how these poetic & dramatic devices further the development of the plot & the theme. Notice there is much overlap between B&C. You can merge these or treat these as separate issues. If you do merge them, don't forget to show how they separately further the development of plot & theme.
This will lead you to your conclusion in which you briefly summarize then come up with a new point relating to your canto. After this, I recommend you once again show how your canto ties in with the central theme of the book: that of Dante awakening awareness of himself as sinner, of his need to turn his exile into pilgrimage, and of the need for his writing to become prophetic.
Creative Project: Visualizing Hell.
Working in groups of 2-3, write one canto of your own private Inferno, putting whomever you wish in hell. Create an effective contrapasso for your sinner(s), where the punishment fits the crime. Write yourself in having an extended encounter with the sinner, and cast yourself as either someone who feels inappropriate pity or righteous indignation. Then create an artistic depiction of this circle (or several circles) of hell. Consider creating a 3-D model, a collage of original photos (avoid printed magazine photos), oil paintings, videos or musical interpretations. Feel free to be particularly graphic and gory. Be inventive regarding your medium ó you don't have to stick to papier machÈ as long as whatever you use doesn't stink up the room.
Return to Great Non-American Authors Page