Literature 2

1. What would it be like when I die?

2. Dante’s Divine Comedy
One of the Best Poems
of European Literature

3. Type of Literature
Late Medieval Literature (Dante finished
shortly before his death in 1321 AD)
Originally written in the Italian vernacular
“Divine” indicates subject matter
“Comedy” indicates style of poem
– Starts off oppressive but ends on a happy
note
– Not written in an elevated style, such as that
of Homer’s Illiad or Virgil’s Anead

4. Dante: The Poet, Politician and
Theologian

5. Dante’s Early Life
Dante Alighieri (1265-1321)
Born in Florence on May 29, 1265
1274 - meets and falls in love with Beatrice
Portinari (source: Vita nouva)
1283 - he marries Gemma Donati and they
have four children
1280 - fights with the Guelf League and
defeats the Ghibellines of Arezzo

6. Dante Meets Beatrice

7. Dante’s Middle Life
1290 - Beatrice Dies
1292 - Dante writes the Vita nuova a collection
of sonnets and odes inspired by his love for
Beatrice.
1295 - Joins the guild of the apothecaries for
the purpose of entering public life.
1300 - Dante is prior for two months (15 June-
15 August), one of the six highest magistrates
in Florence.

8. Dante’s Late Life
1302 - The Black Guelfs seize power in
Florence. Dante is banished from the city for
two years and forever excluded from public
office.
1304 - Dante writes De vulgari eloquentia, his
path-breaking history and rhetoric of
vernacular literature.
1306 - Probably the year in which Dante
interrupts the Convivio and begins the
Comedy.

9. Dante’s Late Life Continued
1314 - Publication of Inferno.
1315 - Dante works on Purgatorio and
Paradiso, and composes the Questio de acque et
terra.
1319 - Dante moves to Ravenna, where he is
the guest of Guido Novello da Polenta, lord of
that city
1321 - Dante falls ill on return from Venice,
where he had been sent as ambassador by
Guido Da Polenta, and dies September 13 or
14.

10. Dante’s Inspiration
Dante’s love for Beatrice inspired him to write
sonnets and odes in Vita nouva.
Dante pledged when he felt he was able to write
a great piece of literature he would dedicate to
her memory. The Divine Comedy was written
for her.
Dante and Beatrice never had anything more
than an emotional relationship.

11. Dante’s Divine Comedy

12. Numbers in Medieval Society
Numbers were extremely important in
Medieval Society.
100 is the square of 10, and is therefore
considered the perfect number.
The number 3 was associated with the
Trinity and 9 was important as the
square of 3.

13. Structure of the
Divine Comedy
Contains three great divisions
– Cantica One: Hell (Inferno)
– Cantica Two: Purgatory (Purgatorio)
– Cantica Three: Paradise (Paradiso)
Each Cantica contains thirty-three cantos with
an additional canto in Inferno serving as a
prologue
33 + 33 + 33 + 1 = 100 cantos

14. Structure of the
Divine Comedy
The three greater divisions or canticas were to
represent the Trinity.
The number 9, the square of three, figures
centrally in the interior structure of each of the
three divisions.
– There are nine circles in the Inferno
– There are nine ledges in the Purgatorio
– There are nine planetary spheres in Paradiso

15. Structure of the
Divine Comedy
Dante varied the lengths of the individual
cantos for a purpose:
– The canto length in the Inferno is chaotic, this
parallels the chaos between souls and God.
– The canto length becomes more standardized in
Purgatorio, this parallels the state of the soul and
God
– The canto length in Paradiso is uniform, this
parallels the harmony between the souls and God.

16. The Nature of the
Divine Comedy

17. Allegory and Journey
Allegory is a story operating at a literal
and symbolic level, each character and
action signify the literal as well as
represent an idea.
The Divine Comedy is a narrative that
details the journey of one man, Dante,
through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven.

18. Allegory and Journey
Dante represents every human.
The journey represents rejection of sin
(Hell), redemption of the soul (Purgatory),
and finally the unification between soul
and God (Heaven).
The journey mirrors medieval Catholic
theology and philosophy.

19. The Journey
The poem begins on the night before Good Friday
in the year 1300, "halfway along our life's path.”
 Dante is thirty-five years old, half of the biblical
life expectancy of 70 (Psalms 90:10), lost in a dark
wood ), assailed by beasts (a lion, a leopard, and a
she-wolf)( the self-indulgent, the violent, and the
malicious) he cannot evade, and unable to find the
"straight way“ – also translatable as "right way" –
to salvation (symbolized by the sun behind the
mountain).

20. Dante is at last rescued by Virgil, and the two of
them begin their journey to the underworld. Each
sin's punishment in Inferno is a contrapasso, a
symbolic instance of poetic justice; for example,
fortune-tellers have to walk with their heads on
backwards, unable to see what is ahead, because
that was what they had tried to do in life:

21. Important Note:
Virgil represents
Reason, which can
take Dante only
through Hell and
Purgatory.
Beatrice, or Divine
Revelation, must
take Dante through
Heaven.

22. Dante & Virgils Journey
Dante, guided by Virgil, heads down into
the Inferno.
Hell is an inverted cone, wide at the top
and narrow at the bottom.
Dante and Virgil travel through Hell and
Dante recounts the sights of sinners
being punished in ways that symbolically
fit the sin.

23. Virgil leads Dante through the gates of Hell,
marked by the haunting inscription:
“abandon all hope, you who enter here”

24. Structure of Inferno (cross
section)

25. Structure of Inferno
There are 9
concentric circles
in Hell.
Hell is
geographically
divided into
Upper Hell and
the Lower Hell
by the Walls of
the Dis.

26. Walls of Dis

28. Four Areas of Hell,
Four Types of Sin
Hell is theologically divided into four
sections:
–Opportunism (vestibule/outside hell)
–Sin of Paganism (circle 1)
–Sins of Incontinence (circles 2-6)
–Sins of Violence (circle 7)
–Sins of Fraud (circles 8-9)

30. They enter the outlying region of
Hell, the Ante-Inferno, where the
souls who in life could not commit to
either good or evil now must run in a
futile chase after a blank banner, day
after day, while hornets bite them and
worms lap their blood.

31. Vestibule: Opportunism
Sin: choosing neither right nor wrong.
Punishment: floating around outside
Heaven, Hell and Purgatory chasing a
banner (opportunity) being stung by
bees (conscience or guilt).

32. Circle One: Limbo
Sin: Not knowing Jesus Christ
Punishment: No physical torments, only the
emotional torment of never knowing God or
experiencing Heaven (no hope).

33. Circle I – Limbo
Unbaptized and virtuous pagans who did not accept Christ. Limbo
is a somewhat pleasant place, with fields and a castle. Denied
God's presence for eternity

34. Famous Icons Trapped in Limbo
Homer
Ovid
Lucan
Horace

35. Incontinence: Circles 2-6
Sins of incontinence are irrational sins
against God. Sins in which people
give into their physical or emotional
urges without regard to rational
thought or moral consequences.

36. Circle 2: Sins of Lust
Sin: Lust or Adultery
Punishment: To have
one’s soul float
around in a
whirlwind, just as one
gave into physical
desires.

37. Circle 2 – The Carnal or Lustful
-The sinners are sentenced to their punishment by Minos

38. The Suffering of the Carnal
•The Lustful…indulged their passions
beyond reason.
•trapped forever in a violent storm, never
to touch anything again.
•Features the lovers Francesca and Paolo
Famous Lovers: (Semiramis,
Dido, Cleopatra, Helen, Achilles,
Paris, Tristan) Lancelot and
Guinevere…

39. Circle 3: Gluttony/Gluttonous
Sin: to give into
one’s physical
desires to eat
and drink
regardless of
consequences
Punishment: To
be bloated and
mired in filth,
while filth rains
down from the
sky

40. Circle 4: Avarice & Prodigality
(Hoarders & Wasters)
Sin: Hoarding
(greed) or
Wasting
(prodigality)
without thought
to consequence.
Punishment:
Souls of misers
push rocks into
the rocks pushed
by spendthrifts

41. Circle 5: Anger
Sin: Wrathfulness or great anger in life
Punishment: to be immersed in the filthy
river, Styx, and constantly tear at one
another
Sin: Sullen, those who refused to welcome
the light of God into their hearts
Punishment: To forever be buried
underneath the Styx, never seeing light.

42. Crossing the River Styx
Phlegyas
-The Slothful are eternally trapped beneath the swampy water
of the River
-They reach out and try to pull you into the swamp…
Dante glimpses
Filippo Argenti, a
former political
enemy of his, and
watches in delight
as other souls tear
the man to pieces.

43. Virgil and Dante next proceed to the walls of
the city of Dis, a city contained within the
larger region of Hell. The demons who guard
the gates refuse to open them for Virgil, and
an angelic messenger arrives from Heaven to
force the gates open before Dante.

44. Circle 6: Heretics
Sin: Heretics who denied the idea of
immortality (they thought the soul
died with the body)
Punishment: To exist eternally in
graves in the fiery morgue of God’s
wrath

45. Circle 6
The Heretics
-The heretics denied
immortality, and
therefore denied God.
- They are entombed in
flaming graves for
eternity (since they
believed the soul dies
with the body, they will
suffer that fate in Hell).
Dante encounters a rival
political leader named
Farinata

46. A deep valley leads into the First Ring of the
Seventh Circle of Hell, where those who
were violent toward others spend eternity in a
river of boiling blood. Virgil and Dante meet
a group of Centaurs, creatures who are half
man, half horse.

47. Circle 7: Violence
(The Violent & Bestial)
Circle 7 is an area divided into three separate
rounds, each round is an area in which
specific groups of sinners are punished.
Round One: The Violent Against Neighbors
Round Two: The Violent Against
Themselves
Round Three: The Violent Against God,
Nature and Art

48. Circle 7
The Violent and the Bestial

49. Circle VII - Outer Ring
The Violent Against Neighbors
-Murderers and
Warmakers are immersed
in boiling blood (symbolic
of the blood of those they
killed).
-Centaurs guard the
banks and shoot arrows at
anyone who tries to
escape
Virgil and Dante meet a group of Centaurs, creatures who are
half man, half horse. One of them, Nessus, takes them into the
Second Ring of the Seventh Circle of Hell, where they
encounter those who were violent toward themselves (the
Suicides)

50. Still on Circle 7– Middle Ring
The Violence Against Self
-The Wood of the
Suicides
-Their souls are encased
in thorny trees.
- The harpies feed upon
their leaves.
These souls must endure eternity in the
form of trees. Dante there speaks with
Pier della Vigna.

51. Image of a Harpy

52. Circle VII – Middle Ring
The Violent Against God
-The blasphemers, sodomites,
and usurers all committed a
profane act against God
-They are lain over burning
sand or forced to ceaselessly
run around in circles
-The sky rains fire symbolic of
God’s wrath
Dante meets his old patron, Brunetto Latini, walking
among the souls of those who were violent toward Nature
(the Sodomites) on a desert of burning sand.

53. The monster Geryon
transports Virgil and
Dante across a great
abyss to the Eighth
Circle of Hell, known
as Malebolge, or “evil
pockets” (or
“pouches”); the term
refers to the circle’s
division into various
pockets separated by
great folds of earth.

54. Circle 8: The Fraudulent and
Malicious
Circle 8 consists of 10
bolgias or pockets.
They are often referred
to as malebolges, or
‘pockets of evil.’
Each pocket or bolgia
is where a group of
specific sinners is
punished.

55. Ten Malebolgias of Circle 8
1. Seducers and Panderers
Run forever in opposite
directions and are whipped
by demons

56. 2. Flaterers
Lie up to their necks in
human feces
3. Simoniacs
Those who mocked the
church are placed head-
first in flaming holes

57. 4. Sorcerers
(Astrologers or
Diviners)
Their heads are put on
their bodies
backwards.
5. Grafters
Trapped in a lake of
burning ditch

58. 6. Hypocrites
~ Made to wear brightly painted
lead cloaks
~ Caiaphas, the priest who confirmed
Jesus’ death sentence, lies crucified
on the ground
7. Thieves
~ Chased by venomous snakes and who,
after being bitten by the venomous
snakes, turn into snakes themselves and
chase the other thieves in turn

59. 8. Evil Counselors
Eternally trapped in flames
~ Dante speaks to Ulysses, the great hero of
Homer’s epics, now doomed to an eternity
among those guilty of Spiritual Theft (the
False Counselors) for his role in executing
the ruse of the Trojan Horse.
9. Sowers of Discord/ Sowers of
Scandal and Schism
~ Their bodies are ripped apart, healed, and
they destroyed again

60. 10. Falsifier
Alchemists, counterfeiters,
and perjureres are cursed
with disease

61. Thieves
Sowers of
Discord
Simoniacs
Falsifiers

62. Virgil and Dante proceed to the Ninth
Circle of Hell through the Giants’ Well,
which leads to a massive drop to Cocytus, a
great frozen lake. The giant Antaeus picks
Virgil and Dante up and sets them down at
the bottom of the well, in the lowest region
of Hell.

63. The Path to the Ninth Circle...
You must be lowered into the pit by the
Giants Antaeus and Nimrod…

64. Circle 9: Treachery
Circle 9 includes four areas called rounds:
Round 1: Treacherous to Kin
Round 2: Treacherous to Country
Round 3: Treacherous to Guests & Hosts
Round 4: Treacherous to Their Masters
The Center: Satan

65. Circle 9 – Treachery
(Compound Fraud)

66. Circle 9 - Caina
You travel across
the frozen lake of
the 9th
circle of
Hell…
Caina features
those who
betrayed their
family…
They are frozen
up to their necks
in ice…
They cry eternally
for those they
betrayed…

67. Circle 9 - Antenora
Antenora holds
those who
betrayed their
country…
Your fear rises
as you travel
closer to the lair
of the Devil…
Dante meets Count Ugolino, who spends
eternity gnawing on the head of the man
who imprisoned him in life.

68. Circle 9- Ptolomea
Ptolomea holds
those who
betryaed their
guests…
Their tears
freeze instantly
and pierce
their eyes…

69. Circle 9 - Judecca
The Lair of Lucifer
Traitors to their Lords…
Lucifer’s three faces eternally consume the bodies of Brutus
and Cassius for betraying Caesar, and Judas Iscariot for
betraying Christ…
There is only one path for you to take now…

70. A huge, mist-shrouded form lurks ahead, and
Dante approaches it. It is the three-headed
giant Lucifer, plunged waist-deep into the
ice. His body pierces the center of the Earth,
where he fell when God hurled him down
from Heaven.
Each of Lucifer’s mouths chews one of
history’s three greatest sinners: Judas, the
betrayer of Christ, and Cassius and Brutus,
the betrayers of Julius Caesar.

71. Escape from Hell
Virgil leads Dante on a climb down Lucifer’s
massive form, holding on to his frozen tufts of
hair.

72. Dante Emerges from Hell
Eventually, the poets reach the Lethe, the river
of forgetfulness, and travel from there out of
Hell and back onto Earth. They emerge from
Hell on Easter morning, just before sunrise.

73. Would you like to spend eternity
in hell?


74. Questions for Understanding
Why does the poet start the epic with
“midway in our life’s journey”? What
can that phrase signify if we consider
other phrases like “straight road” and
“alone in a dark wood”?

75. What relevance does the lion, leopard,
and she-wolf have for the narrative?
What could they stand for?

76. Why does the poet make the character
travel on the season of
commemoration? Would the story
have a different effect if Dante
traveled at a different time?

77. In what ways does Dante represent a
person living in the late 13th
century?
 In what ways does he represent all
people?