The Inferno

The Punishment of Sin

 Hell
• Represents Dante’s ideas concerning sin
• It is divided into 9 parts (or levels)
• Satan is not a ruler of Hell, but a prisoner!
• Shows that man is scarred when he sins
(some physically- literally)
• Hell is not always a place of punishment,
but also of justice and love
1)Hell is within Earth (prison) after they enter
Hell they lose the power of choice
2)Literally underneath our feet- symbolic of
how close we are to the dangers of Hell
3)Hollow- like a funnel into the Earth
4)Diminishing- the further down he goes, the
more people, the less space; the deeper
the sin, the smaller the space
 Beginning the Journey

“At the midpoint in the journey of life, I found

myself is a dark forest where a clear path
was lost.”

Dante is middle-aged, and not sure of

what he needs to do in his life.
• While searching for a “straight path” (the
path to salvation), Dante climbs up a
mountain where he is attacked by three
beasts.
• A Lion
• A Leopard
• A She-Wolf
• Lion = Sins of Violence
• Leopard = Sins of Malice and Fraud
• She-Wolf = Sins of Incontinence
(Lack of Self-Control)
• Dante returns in despair to the dark valley.
• In the forest, Dante meets the ancient
Roman poet Virgil (whom Dante admires).
• Virgil tells Dante that that path is blocked
and that another way must be taken to
reach the mountain’s peak, and offers to
be his guide.
• Virgil warns Dante that he must journey
through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven.
 Vestibule
• Neutrals and Opportunists, indecisive, no
real beliefs, those who don’t choose sides.
• They must constantly chase a blank
banner and are stung by wasps and
hornets, while worms consume their blood
and tears.
• They are in Hell, yet technically not part of
it.
 Acheron
• They reach the river
Acheron.
• Charon is told by
Virgil that God set
them on this
pilgrimage.
• Charon agrees to
take them across.
 1 Circle: Limbo
st

• Here resided the virtuous pagans and the

un-baptized.
• They are without sin, but they never
accepted Christ.
• There is no punishment, just no hope.
• A very dark place.
• Famous people who reside here:
Socrates, Plato, Homer, and Virgil.
Gates of Hell
• At then end of the first
circle, they approach
a gate where the
doors are flung open.
• Above the door is
inscribed the words
“Abandon All Hope
Ye Who Enter Here.”
 2 Circle: The Lustful/Carnal
nd

• First circle of Hell Proper.

• Each circle gets smaller
in size but greater in
punishment.
• As they enter the 2nd
circle they come face to
face with Minos, the
judge of the dead.
• Souls confess their sins
to Minos and he wraps
his tail around the sinner
to determine the level of
Hell they will occupy.
• The souls of the
lustful are blow about
by a violent wind to
and fro without hope
of rest.
• This symbolizes the
power of lust to blow
one about needlessly
and aimlessly.
• Famous people here:
Achilles, Paris, Helen
of Troy, and
Cleopatra.
 3 Circle: Gluttony
rd

• After leaving the 2nd

circle, Dante comes face
to face with Cerberus
who guards the 3rd circle
of Hell.
• Virgil pacifies the beast
and they continue.
• The gluttons lie in mud
and muck while filth rains
down upon them from the
sky.
• Some are even ripped
apart by Cerberus.
4th Circle: The Avarice and Prodigal

• In this circle the greedy and the wasteful are punished.

• They are watched over by Plutus, god of fortune.
• Both sets of sinners joust each other with great boulders
that they must push toward each other and then apart
again.
5th Circle: The Wrathful and Sullen
• Through this level runs
the river Styx, a murky
marsh-like river.
• The wrathful fight each
other on the surface of
the water while the sullen
are held beneath the
water.
• Dante and Virgil have to
call on the boatman
Phlegyas to take the
across the river to the city
of Dis and the 6th circle.
 The City of Dis
• The city of Dis divides upper Hell from
lower Hell.
• The wall is guarded by Medusa, the Furies
and fallen angels.
• Dante and Virgil can find no one to pass
until and angel from Heaven comes down
and throws open the gates of Dis that the
two can continue on to the 6th circle.
 6 Circle: Heresy
th

• Here the heretics are

burned and buried in
fiery tombs.
• Dante stops and talks
to a soul. The soul
reveals that they
know the future but
are ignorant to what is
occurring on Earth at
present time.
 7 Circle: Violence
th

• Upon entering the 7th

circle Virgil and Dante
encounter this circles
guardian, the Minotaur.
• Violence is broken into
three separate rings with
three sets of separate
punishments.
• Outer Ring: Violent
Against Neighbor
• Middle Ring: Violent
Against Self
• Inner Ring: Violent
Against God
 Outer Ring: Violent Against
Neighbor
• Here are the violent who did violence against other people.
• They are immersed in the Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood.
• According to their degree of violence is how deep they are in
the water.
• These people are tortured by centaurs who shoot arrows into
the sinners who try to escape from the waters.
• Famous People Here: Alexander the Great and Attila the Hun
 Middle Ring: Violent Against Self

• Suicides are turned into twisted bushes and

trees and are feed on by Harpies.
• The trees will maintain this form even after the
Final Judgment.
• The only way these sinners can talk to Dante is
to have a branch broken (causing them pain).
 Inner Ring: Violent Against
God/Nature
• Here reside the
sodomites and the
blasphemers.
• In this ring, the
sinners must lay in a
desert of flaming
sands.
• Fire rains down upon
them from the sky,
ripping away their
flesh.
Geryon
• There is a large drop
between the seventh
and eighth circle.
• Virgil convinces the
monster Geryon to
take them to the eight
circle.
• They ride down on
Geryon’s back.
8 Circle: Fraud
th

• This circle punishes

conscious fraud.
• There are many types of
fraud, so this circle is
broken into what Dante
calls Malebolges (“Evil
Ditches”).
• Each Malebolge is
specific to the type of
fraud that is being
punished.
 Malebolge 1: Panderers (Pimps)
and Seducers
• The sinners must march in separate lines while being
whipped by demons.
• Just as the panderers and seducers used the passions
of others to drive them to do their bidding, they are
themselves driven by demons to march for all eternity.
Malebolge 2: Flatterers
• The sinners here are
steeped in human
excrement.
• This represents the
words they used to
falsely lead others.
 Malebolge 3: Simony
• Simony: the crime of
selling sacraments
and holy offices for
profit.
• Here the simoniacs
are place head first in
holes in the rocks
(resembling baptismal
fonts) with their feet
on fire.
 Malebolge 4: Fortune Tellers and
Diviners
• These sinners tried to look into the future by
forbidden means.
• Because of this, their heads are turn around
backwards on their body.
 Malebolge 5: Corrupt Politicians
(The Grafters)
• These sinners are
immersed in a lake of
boiling tar, which
represents the sticky
fingers and dark secrets
of their corrupt deals.
• They are guarded over by
a group of demons called
the Malebranche (“Evil
Claws”).
• The Malebranche stab
and hook the sinners in
the boiling tar.
 Malebolge 6: The Hypocrites
• The sinners here must walk around wearing
cloaks lined with lead, while trudging around in a
great circle.
• The cloaks represent the falsity of their actions
with the true nature of their intentions.
 Malebolge 7: The Thieves
• This Malebolge is guarded by the centaur Cacus, who carries a
fire-breathing dragon on his shoulders.
• The thieves are pursued and bitten by snakes and lizards.
• If they are bitten, the thieves undergo a transformation to turn
them into snakes and lizards.
• The only way to revert back to human form is to bite someone
else.
 Malebolge 8: Evil Counselors
• These are not people who gave false
advice, but people who used their position
to advise others to engage in fraud.
• These sinners are blinded and encased in
their own individual flames.
 Malebolge 9: Sowers of Discord
(Religious and Political)
• Demons hack at
these sinners with
a bloody sword.
• The hacking
divides their body
as they divided
others in life.
 Malebolge 10: Falsifiers
(Alchemists and Counterfeiters)
• Dante considers these people to be a
disease on society.
• These sinners are afflict with specific
diseases, depending on what type of
falsifying they did.
• Alchemists are covered in scabs, perjurers
have a fever that slowly cooks their body,
counterfeiters are plagued with eternal
thirst and cracked tongues.
 The Giants
• On their journey,
Dante sees that the
ninth circle is
surrounded by biblical
and mythical giants.
• The giant Antaeus
lowers Dante and
Virgil into the ninth
circle.
 9 Circle: Treachery
th

• The central circle in Hell.

• Lake Cocytus, a frozen lake of the devils tears.
• Consists of four individual rounds.
• Round 1: Caina (Cain who killed his brother).
• Round 2: Antenora (Antenor of Troy who
betrayed city to the Greeks).
• Round 3: Ptolomaea (Ptolemy who killed his
guest and ate them).
• Round 4: Judecca (Judas Iscariot who betrayed
Jesus).
Round 1: Treacherous to Family
• Sinners here are immersed in the ice
up to their faces.
 Round 2: Treacherous to Country
• These sinners are frozen in the ice with their
heads above the ice.
• Unlike the first round, there sinners are frozen
close enough together that they gnaw on each
other’s heads.
 Round 3: Treacherous to Guests
and Hosts
• Only half of the sinners face is above the
ice.
• The tears of the sinners freeze their eyes
shut.
 Round 4: Treacherous to Masters
• Here the sinners are completely frozen.
• Their bodies are distorted and twisted
within the ice.
 Satan
• At the very center of Hell,
there is Lucifer.
• He has three heads (an
unholy trinity) and wings.
• He is frozen at the waist and
tears come from his six eyes.
• The wings of Satan freeze
his tears forming Lake
Cocytus.
• Satan chews on the three
greatest traitors (Cassius
and Brutus who betrayed
Julius Caesar, and Judas
Iscariot who betrayed Jesus).
 Escaping Hell
• The two poets escape Hell by climbing
down Satan’s ragged fur.
• They emerge on Easter Sunday (they
started the journey on Good Friday) to a
sky studded with stars.
 Dante in Popular Culture
• Dante’s Inferno had a profound impact on
the literary world even today.
• The impact is so large, that there has even
be a video game made about the poem.