Parallel Journey

Physical Metaphysical
8.7
Start
Dante and Virgil cross the
Dante first feels that
bridge of Seventh Bolgia.
thievery is reptilian in
They find a pit of reptiles.
its secrecy; therefore
they should be
They travel along and find punished by reptiles.
Vanni Fucci. Vanni rises from
his ashes and tells his story
to Dante. He then tells Dante
a dark prophecy.
Vanni hurls an
obscenity at God. In the sinners life they took
Serpents then swarm others things and transformed it
him. into theirs. So, in hell the only
Dante then meets 5 nobles. thing that they have, their body
Dante then sees Agnello merge is taken from them. They then
with Cianfa into a reptile. Then have to steal others bodies for
sees Buoso and Francesco eternity.
transform into reptiles.
8.8
Start
Dante leaves 8.7 and
heads toward 8.8 where
he has a vision of his Dante has a vision of his
past. past which reminds him how
Dante begins to
see flames which evil counselors betrayed
are the souls of him. He starts to not have
the sinners. any sorrow for the sinners.
Virgil notices a two headed flame. Dante
comes over and address the flame its
Ulysses and Diomede. Ulysses tells the
story of their death.
Dante then discovers in
While Ulysses is telling his story another
himself that this is all just
flame hears Virgil speaking Italian. The soul
a path of life and that he
asks Virgil how Italy is doing. Dante tells
is choosing not to go down
him the bad news and then asks how he
the road of deception.
ended up here. The soul replies that
Boniface VIII persuaded him to sin.
 In the Inferno now, Dante is starting to not feel sorrow for all of the sinners.
He is starting to feel that they deserve the punishments. For the thieves he is
starting to think that they deserve this for taking other peoples things, so they
should have their only thing taken from them. In the whole book Dante is getting
towards the end of moral redemption. In Bolgia 8.8 Dante has a vision that reminds
him of his past. This vision helps him see that the sinners deserve the punishment.
He doesn’t feel sorrow for them not showing the full potential they had in their life.