Divine

Comedy
By Dante Alighieri
 Durante degli Alighieri

Born Mid-May to mid-June, c. 1265

Florence, Republic of Florence

About the Died September 13/14, 1321

(aged about 56)
Author: Ravenna, Papal States

Dante Alighieri Occupation Statesman, poet,

language
theorist, political
Nationality
theorist
Period
Italian
Literary
Late Middle Ages
movement
Dolce Stil Novo
Dante was an Italian poet and moral philosopher best known for the epic poem The Divine
Comedy, which comprises sections representing the three tiers of the Christian afterlife:
purgatory, heaven, and hell.
This poem, a great work of medieval literature and considered the greatest work of literature
composed in Italian, is a philosophical Christian vision of mankind’s eternal fate. Dante is seen
as the father of modern Italian, and his works have flourished since before his 1321 death.
 The Divine Comedy is composed of 14,233 lines that are divided into three canticas (Italian
plural cantiche) -

Stucture:
Story
Inferno Purgatorio Paradiso
(Hell) (Purgatory) (Paradise)

- each consisting of 33 cantos (Italian plural canti). An initial canto, serving as an introduction to
the poem and generally considered to be part of the first cantica, brings the total number of
cantos to 100.

Additionally, the verse scheme used, terza rima, is hendecasyllabic (lines of eleven syllables),
with the lines composing tercets according to the rhyme scheme aba, bcb, cdc, ded, ....
  Dante Pilgrim has not been a good boy. His dead love
Beatrice asks the Virgin Mary to help him see the error of
his ways.
 Mary accepts and Dante is sent on a three-day trip through
Sypnosis: Hell, and on up Mount Purgatory on the other side of the
Divine world, and finally to Heaven in the sky.
 He is spiritually lost at the beginning of the story, so he needs
Comedy
guides to help him along the path.

Virgil Beatrice Saint Bernard

(1 Guide)
st
(2 Guide)
nd (3rd Guide)

*(Virgil) – *The woman he *(Saint Bernard) Namesake

author of adored while she of the loyal dog – who takes
him to see GOD.
Aeneid lived.
Inferno
[inˈfərnō]

▬a large fire that is

dangerously out of control.
 Circle 1: Those in Limbo
Circle 2: The Lustful
The physical aspect of Circle 3: The Gluttonous
Hell is a gigantic funnel Circle 4: The Hoaders
Circle 5: The Wrathful
that leads to the very Circle 6: The Heretics
Structure: center of the Earth. Circle 7: The Violent
Ring 1:Murderers, Robberers & Plunders
Inferno According to the legend used
Ring 2:Suicides and those harmful to the world
Ring 3:Against GOD, Nature & Art
by Dante, this huge, gigantic Circle 8: The Faudulent
Trench I: Panderers & Seducers
hole in the Earth was made Trench II: Flatterers
when God threw Satan Trench III: Simoniacs
(Lucifer) and his band of Trench IV: Sorcerers
Trench V: Barrators
rebels out of Heaven with Trench VI: Hyprocrites
such force that they created Trench VII: Theives
a giant hole in the Earth. Trench VIII: Evil Counselors
Trench IX: Sowers of Discord
Trench X: Falsifiers
Circle 9: Traitors
Satan was cast all the way to Region 1: Kindred
Region 2: Country
the very center of the Earth, Region 3: Guests
has remained there since, Region 4: Lords
and will remain there
through all of eternity.
CANTO I The Dark worlds of Error

The Inferno follows the

wanderings of the poet
Dante as he strays off
the rightful and straight
path of moral truth and
gets lost in a dark wood.
And that, folks, is just
Dante
the
beginning.

At the age of thirty-five, on the night

of Good Friday in the year 1300,
Dante finds himself lost in a dark
wood and full of fear.

Dante in the savage wood

CANTO I
Just as three wild animals threaten
The Dark to attack him, Dante is rescued by
worlds of the ghost of Virgil, a celebrated
Error
Roman poet and also Dante’s idol

Virgil
Panther
Lion

She-wolf

The panther at the beginning of the ascent The lion suddently confronts Dante The she-wolf appears
He has gotten lost in a dark forest. In this forest,
Dante stands before a leopard, a lion, and a she-
wolf.

 These three animals represent the three major sins

that are found in Hell.
- leopard represents fraud
- lion represents violence
- she-wolf represents incontinence, or
immoderation
(which is the least serious of the three sins, but is the most difficult to
overcome psychologically)
CANTO II
The Descent
When asked why he came, Virgil
answers that the head honchos of
Heaven—the Virgin Mary and Santa
Lucia—felt sorry for Dante.
Virgil and Dante begin their
journey
Virgil asked the deceased love-of-
Dante’s-life, Beatrice, to send
someone down to help him. Virgil to
the rescue! He’s an appropriate
guide because he’s very much like
Dante, a fellow writer and famous
poet.
Beatrice
Beatrice and Virgil
CANTO III
The Opportunists (Gate)
Dante passes through the gate of
Hell, which bears an inscription
ending with the famous phrase
"Lasciate ogne speranza, voi
ch'intrate", most frequently
translated as "Abandon all hope, ye
who enter here

Dante and his guide hear the

anguished screams of the
Uncommitted. These are the
souls of people who in life took
no sides; the opportunists who
were for neither good nor evil,
but merely concerned with
themselves.

Virgil and Dante at the gates of Hell

CANTO III The Opportunists
(Gate)

After passing through

the vestibule, Dante
and Virgil reach the
ferry that will take
them across the river Charon

Acheron and to Hell

proper. The ferry is
piloted by Charon,
who does not want to
let Dante enter, for
he is a living being Virgil forces Charon to
take him however,
the passage across
the
Acheron is
undescribed, since
Dante faints and does
not awaken until he
Charon on the River Acheron is on the other side.
CANTO IV
The Virtuous Pagan
Circle 1 - Limbo

The first circle of Hell (Limbo),

considered pre-Hell, just contains all of
the unbaptized and good people born
and before the coming of Christ, who
obviously couldn’t be saved by him.

The doomed souls embarking to cross the Acheron

CANTO IV
The Virtuous Pagan
The first circle of Hell
Circle 1 - Limbo (Limbo) :

Virgil resides here, along

with a bunch of other
Greek and Roman
poets.

Dante encounters the

poets Homer, Horace,
Ovid, and Lucan, who
include him in their
number and make him
"sixth in that high
company".
Homer, the poets, and heroes in Limbo
The Lustful
CANTO V
The Lustful
Circle 2
Minos
who judges all of those
Dante and Virgil leave Limbo and condemned for active,
enter the Second Circle — the deliberately willed sin to one of
the lower circles.
first of the circles of
Incontinence — where the He sentences each soul to its
torment by wrapping his tail
punishments of Hell proper around himself a corresponding
begin. It is described as "a part number of times.

where no thing gleams. They find

their way hindered by the
serpentine Minos.

Minos judges the transgressions and

dispatches the souls
CANTO V
The Lustful
Circle 2

In the second
circle, lustful
sinners are
tossed
around by
endless
storms.

The souls of the lustful in the infernal hurricane

CANTO VI
The Gluttonous
Circle 3
Dante then
awakes in
the third
circle,
where
the Gluttonous
sinners suffer
under a cold
and filthy rain.

The gluttons battered by eternal rain

CANTO VI
The Gluttonous
Circle 3

Cerberus - the monstrous Cerberus

three-headed beast of
Hell, ravenously guards
the gluttons lying in the
freezing mire, mauling
and flaying them with his
claws as they howl like
dogs.
Virgil feeds Cerberus in the third circle
CANTO VII
The Avaricious and Circle 4 –
Prodigal Guarded by Plutus.
Circle 4

Plutus
Virgil leads Dante on to the
fourth circle, where the
Avaricious (greedy people)
and Prodigal (reckless
spenders) roll heavy
weights in endless circles.
The souls of the avaricious and the
prodigal forced to roll heavy stones
CANTO VIII
The Wrathful and Sullen
Circle 5 – The River Styx

The next stop on

the tour is the fifth
circle, where the
Wrathful and Sullen
are immersed in
the muddy river
Styx. Philippo

While they are crossing

the Styx, a sinner
named Filippo Argenti
reaches out to Dante
(presumably for help),
but Dante angrily
rejects him.
The soul of the Florentine Philippo
Argenti accosts the poets on the Styx
CANTOIX-XI The Wrathful and Sullen
Circle 5 – The River Styx

Now at the gates of

a city called Dis,
Virgil takes it upon
himself to persuade
the demon guards
to let them pass.
Unexpectedly, he
fails.

Virgil and Dante disembark at the citadel of Dis

CANTOIX-XI The Wrathful and Sullen
Circle 5 – The River Styx
Demon guards

This means that instead of

The walls of Dis are continuing on with the
guarded by fallen journey, Dante and Virgil
angels. must wait for an angel to
come down and force
open the gates for them.

The hideous Erinyes: Megaera, Tisiphone, Alecto The angel opens the gates
CANTOIX-XI
The Heretics
Circle 6

After
passing the
city of Dis, our
dynamic duo,
enters the
sixth circle,
where the Farinata degli Uberti
Dante talks to
Farinata degli
Heretics lay in Uberti, who predicts
fiery tombs. that Dante will have
difficulty returning
to Florence from
exile.
Farinata degli Uberti addresses Dante
CANTO XII The Violent against Neighbors
Circle 7

This circle houses

the violent. Its entry
is guarded by
Minotaur Minotaur.

Divided into 3 rings:

Outer ring
Middle ring
Inner ring

The Minotaur on the shattered cliff

CANTO XII
The Violent
Circle 7 Outer ring
Violent against their neighbors

Middle ring
Violent against themselves

Inner ring
As they cross from
Violent against GOD
the sixth to the
seventh circle, where
the Violent are Circle 7
punished, Virgil
finally begins
explaining the
layout
of Hell.

*The seventh circle will

show all the violent
sinners.
CANTO XII The Violent against their
neighbors Circle 7 – Outer Ring

Outer
ring – housing
the violent
against people
and property,
who are
immersed in
Phlegethon – a
river of boiling
blood, to a level
commensurate
with their sins.

The centaurs attack the souls in boiling blood

CANTO XIII The Violent against themselves
Circle 7 – Middle Ring

Middle
ring – In this
ring are the
suicides, who
are
transformed
into gnarled
thorny bushes
and trees.

*The trees are a metaphor;

In life the only way of the
relief of suffering was
through pain (suicide)
The suicides in the forest
CANTO XIV-XVII The Violent against GOD,
Nature and Art Circle 7 –
Inner Ring

Inner ring
– All reside in a
desert of flaming
Latini
sand with fiery
flakes raining
from the sky.

Violent against:

GOD – blasphemers,
Nature –Sodomites;
Art – Usurers

Brunetto Latini accosts Dante

CANTO XVIII The Fraudulent
Circle 8 –
Finally, Dante and Virgil
ready themselves to
cross to the eighth
circle. Dante, at Virgil’s
command, summons the
beast Geryon from the
depths with a cord
wrapped around his
waist.

Virgil stays to talk with the

beast while urging Dante to
look at the last of the Violent
Geryon sinners. When Dante comes
back, they mount Geryon and
ride the beast during the
Geryon, symbol of deceit descent into the eighth circle.

The descent into the abyss on Geryon’s back

CANTO XVIII The Fraudulent Dante’s Inferno
Circle 8 –

Circle 1: Those in Limbo

Circle 2: The Lustful
Circle 3: The Gluttonous
Circle 4: The Hoaders
Circle 5: The Wrathful
Circle 6: The Heretics
Circle 7: The Violent
Ring 1:Murderers, Robberers & Plunders
Ring 2:Suicides and those harmful to the world
Ring 3:Against GOD, Nature & Art
Circle 8: The Faudulent
Trench I: Panderers & Seducers
Trench II: Flatterers
The eighth circle Trench III: Simoniacs
contains ten Trench IV: Sorcerers
Trench V: Barrators
pouches, each Trench VI: Hyprocrites
containing different Trench VII: Theives
types of Trench VIII: Evil Counselors
Trench IX: Sowers of Discord
sinners. Trench X: Falsifiers
Circle 9: Traitors
Region 1: Kindred
Region 2: Country
Region 3: Guests
Region 4: Lords
CANTO XVIII The Fraudulent
Circle 8 –

Flatterers are steeped in

human excrement.
Panderers and Seducers walk
in separate line in opposite
direction, whipped by demons.

Bolgia I : Devils and seducers Bolgia II: Paramours and flatterers in the eighth
circle
 Simoniacs -Those who
committed simony are place
head first in holes in the rock,
with flames burning on the
soles of their feet.
Bolgia V Dante rebukes Pope Nicholas III i
Sorcerers and false prophets-
they have their heads twisted
around on their bodies
backward, so they can only see
what is behind them and not in
the future.
Bolgia VI: Sorcerers and false prophets
 Corrupt politicians( barrators) Hypocrites listlessly walking
are immersed in a lake of along wearing gold-gilded lead
boiling pitch, guarded by cloaks.
devils, the Malebranche

lol

Bolgia V : Devils torment the barrators Bolgia VI: Hypocrites

CANTO XXIV-XXVII The Fraudulent
Circle 8 –

Thieves are bitten by snakes.

Snakes bites make them
undergo various
transformations and some
resurrected after being
turned
to ashes.

Evil counsellors are

encased in individual
flames

Bolgia VII : The thieves tormented by serpents Bolgia VIII: Evil Counsellors
CANTO XXVII-XXXI The Fraudulent
Circle 8 – Groups of various sort of
falsifiers are afflicted with
The severed
head of
different types of
Bertrand de
Born speaks
diseases.
to Dante

A sword-wielded
devil hacks at the
sowers of discord.
As their wounds heal,
the devil will tear their
bodies again.

Bolgia IX : Sowers of Dicord Bolgia X: The falsifiers and forgers tormented with itching
CANTO XXVII-XXXI The Fraudulent
Circle 8 –

As they leave,
Virgil points out
the sinning giants
who are
immobilized
around them in
punishment.

Ephialtes in manacles among the giants

CANTO XXVII-XXXI The Fraudulent Virgil requests that one
Circle 8 –
of the unbound giants,
Antaneus, transport
Nimrod—who was them in the palm of his
responsible for building hand down to the last
the Tower of Babel—has circle of Hell. He
lost the ability to speak complies.
coherently. His words
are gibberish. Antaneus

Nimrod

Nimrod of the giants The giant Antaeus lowers Dante and Virgil into the last circle
CANTO XXXIII The Traitors
Circle 9 – Dante’s Inferno

Circle 1: Those in Limbo

Circle 2: The Lustful
Circle 3: The Gluttonous
Circle 4: The Hoaders
Circle 5: The Wrathful
Circle 6: The Heretics
Circle 7: The Violent
Ring 1:Murderers, Robberers & Plunders
Ring 2:Suicides and those harmful to the world
Ring 3:Against GOD, Nature & Art
Circle 8: The Faudulent
Trench I: Panderers & Seducers
Trench II: Flatterers
Trench III: Simoniacs
Trench IV: Sorcerers
Trench V: Barrators
Trench VI: Hyprocrites
Trench VII: Theives
Trench VIII: Evil Counselors
Trench IX: Sowers of Discord
Trench X: Falsifiers
The ninth circle of Hell, Circle 9: Traitors
where traitors are Region 1: Kindred
Region 2: Country
punished, contains four Region 3: Guests
different zones. Region 4: Lords
CANTO XXXIII The Traitors
Circle 9

Traitors, distinguished
from the “merely”
fraudulent in that their
acts involve betraying
one in a special
relationship to the
betrayer, are frozen in a
lake of ice known as
Cocytus.

The traitors frozen in the ice of Cocytus

CANTO XXXIII The Traitors
Circle 9 – The Four Concentric Zones of 9th Circle

Traitors to their Kindred Traitors to their Country Traitors to their Guests Traitors to their Lords

REGION 3: REGION 4:
REGION 1: REGION 2: Ptolomæa Judecca
Caïna Antenora Is probably named
for Ptolemy, the
Is named for Judas
the Iscariot, Biblical
Is name for Antenor captain of Jericho , betrayer of Christ, is
Named for Cain, is of troy,who betrayed He killed Simon for traitor to their
home to his city to the Greeks. Maccabaeus and his Lords.
traitors to their
sons.
kindered.
CANTO XXXIII The Traitors
Circle 9 – REGION 1:Caïna

REGION 1:Caïna

The souls here are

immersed in the ice up
to their necks.

Bocca degli Abati

Dante addresses the traitor Bocca degli Abati

CANTO XXXIII The Traitors
Circle 9 – REGION 2:Antenora

REGION 2: Antenora

The souls here are

immersed the same Ugolino

level as those in Caïna, Archbishop Ruggierir

except they are
unable to bend their
necks.

Ugolino gnaws upon the head of Archbishop Ruggieri

CANTO XXXIII The Traitors
Circle 9 – REGION 3:Ptolomæa

REGION 3:Ptolomæa

Where traitors against

their guests suffer,
immobilized in ice and
their tears frozen
against their eyes.

As they cry, their tears freeze and seal their eyes shut – they are denied even comfort of tears.
CANTO XXXIII The Traitors
Circle 9 – REGION 4:Judecca

REGION 4:Judecca

In the fourth the final

zone, Judecca, where
traitors against their
benefactors are
punished, Dante
witnesses the king of
Hell, the three-headed
Lucifer, giant and frozen
at the core. In his three
mouths, Lucifer
mechanically chews on
the most evil mortal
sinners—Judas, Brutus,
and Cassius.
Lucifer, king of Hell, frozen in the ice
 INFERNO SUMMARY
References http://www.shmoop.com/inferno/summary.html

The Divine Comedy: Illustrations by Gustave Doré

http://www.danshort.com/dc/page1.php?p=75

DIVINE COMEDY
http://www.slideshare.net/arlene5162/divine-comedy-
presentation