The Inferno

By: Dante Alighieri

1265-1321

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 Dante
•  Born in Florence, Italy
•  1295 member of the “People’s
Council”
•  1300 served as one of 6 priors
(magistrates)

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 Dante
•  1285 married a woman chosen by his family for
political/economic reasons

•  First love Beatrice Dortinari-- unrequited

–  She dies in 1290 (25 yrs old), becomes his model of
heavenly virtues.

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 Italian Politics
•  Italy a series of city states
•  Conflict between Pope and Holy Roman
Emperor
•  Florence especially not peaceful
–  Guelfs: supported Pope
–  Ghibellines: supported Holy Roman Emperor

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 Florence Politics
•  1289 Battle of Campaldino
–  Guelfs take over
•  Guelfs split by 1290 into two factions

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 Florence Politics
White Guelfs Black Guelfs
•  Dante’s party •  Supported Pope
•  Independence for Boniface VIII
Florence •  1301 Blacks gain
•  Opposed to Papal controls with help from
power/influence the Pope’s and
French forces

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 Dante and Florence
•  1302 exiled from Florence
•  Accused of misuse of funds (grafting)
•  Blacks threaten to burn him if he ever returns
•  20 years spent in exile, never returns home.

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 Dante in Exile
•  Writes The Commedia
–  Reflects the political upheaval of Italian politics
–  Pope Boniface VIII and other political enemies
placed within the realms of hell.

•  Continues to travel Italy preaching politics

until his sudden death in 1321 from illness.

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 The “Divine” Comedy
•  Written between 1308-1314
•  Follows Dante’s trip through Hell,
Purgatory, and Paradise.

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 The “Divine” Comedy
•  Setting: Easter weekend 1300AD
–  Dawn of Good Friday to Easter Sunday in the
footsteps of Christ (hell to heaven)
–  When Dante was 35 years old not yet exiled
–  As a result he has the ability to “predict” future
events

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 “Midway
upon the
journey of
“For the
our life/ I
straightforward
found
path had been
myself
lost.”
within a
forest
dark.”

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reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written
permission of the publisher.
 The “Divine” Comedy
•  Greatest medieval poem written
•  First major work written in the language of
the Tuscan dialect
•  Showed that “common” language could be
beautiful too (not just Latin).
•  Led to a unified Italian language.

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 The Divine Comedy
•  Allegory
–  “the apparent meaning of the characters and
events is used to symbolize a deeper moral or
spiritual meaning”
–  i.e. Dante himself isn’t just the main character
but represents “everyman” who struggles with
sin.

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 Comedy
•  Low style
•  Grotesque caricatures
•  Plot flows from an unhappy beginning
(hell) to a happy ending (paradise)
•  Use “common” language

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 hell
•  Funnel shaped in the earth
•  Arranged from least to greatest sins
–  Penalties symbolize the sin (allegory)

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 hell
•  3 groups of souls-- 9 circles
–  Upper Hell-- self-indulgent sins (first 5
circles)
–  Middle Hell-- violent sins (circles 6 & 7)
–  Lower Hell-- malicious sins (circles 8 & 9)

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“Where thou
shalt hear the
desperate
lamentations,/
Shalt see the
ancient spirits
disconsolate…

…Who cry
out each
one for the
second
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death”
reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written
permission of the publisher.
 Virgil
•  Ancient Roman author of the Aeneid
•  70BC -19 BC
•  Guides Dante through hell and portions of
purgatory
•  Titles Dante gives him:
–  Poet, Master, Guide, Conductor, Leader, Sage

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 “Thou art my master,
and my author thou,/
Thou art alone the
one from whom I
took/ The beautiful
style that had done
honour to me.”

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All rights reserved. These materials or any portion thereof may not be
reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written
permission of the publisher.