Questions to ponder:

1. What is your own concept of death? of sin?

2. If you were to reward yourself of your good deeds,

what would that be?

3. What is the most grievous sin for you? Why?

 The Divine Comedy, Italian La divina commedia, original name La
commedia, long narrative poem written in Italian circa 1308–21 by Dante.

 It is considered by most to be the greatest Italian piece of literature

ever written.

 It is one of the greatest monuments of human genius. It is the Christian

epic. The story is related as a vision; it is the story of human itself.
 Is the Divine Comedy the same as Dante's Inferno?

The Divine Comedy is three books, and Dante's Inferno (Hell) is the first one.
The other two books follow his progression through the purgatory and his
ascension to heaven respectively.

The Divine Comedy is an allegory of human life presented as a visionary trip

through the Christian afterlife, written as a warning to a corrupt society to steer
itself to the path of righteousness: "to remove those living in this life from the state
of misery, and lead them to the state of felicity."

The poem is written in the first person (from the poet’s perspective) and
follows Dante's journey through the three Christian realms of the dead: hell,
purgatory and finally heaven.
 THE DIVINE COMEDY is divided into three parts:

Inferno Purgatorio
Paradiso
(Hell) (Purgatory)
(Paradise/Heaven)
 describes Dante’s  The climb of Dante
journey through Hell up the Mount of  Dante’s journey
guided by the Roman Purgatory guided by through Heaven
poet, Virgil. Virgil guided by Beatrice

 talks about the  It represents the  It represents the soul’s

recognition and penitent Christian ascent to God
rejection of sin life
In Dante's work, the pilgrim Dante is accompanied
by three guides:
1. Virgil (who represents human reason),

2. Beatrice (who represents divine revelation, theology, faith, and

grace),

3. Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (who represents contemplative

mysticism and devotion to Mary the Mother).
 Structure of the INFERNO

presented as an overturned cone, with its base lying

underneath the hemisphere of the land surface and its
tip reaching to the center of the earth. It is divided into
ten zones: the Ante-Inferno and nine circles in which
the souls are punished for their sins, moving from the
least to the most grievous. After the first six circles, the
seventh is divided into three sub-circles or rounds, the
eighth into ten pits, and the ninth into four zones:
Caina, Antenora, Ptolomea, and Judecca.
DANTE’S CIRCLE OF HELL IN INFERNO

Find out what circle of hell is waiting for you!

CIRCLES OF HELL IN DANTE’S
INFERNO
First circle:
(LIMBO)

 are the least offensive souls, such as unbaptized but well-meaning

heathens.

 they suffer no torment ,however, they cannot move on to

Purgatory or Heaven because they died before Christ brought
redemption.
 Second Circle:
LUST

 those who could not control their desires for sex, food, money,
or false religion (heresy)

 they are punished by being blown violently back and forth by

strong winds, preventing them from finding peace and rest

 strong winds symbolize the restlessness of a person who is led

by the desire for fleshly pleasures
 Third Circle:
GLUTTONY

 Sinners in this circle of Hell are punished by being forced

to lie in a vile slush that is produced by never-ending icy
rain.

 The vile slush symbolizes personal degradation of one who

overindulges in food, drink, and other worldly pleasures,
while the inability to see others lying nearby represents the
gluttons’ selfishness and coldness.
 Fourth Circle:
GREED/ AVARICE

 They are divided into two groups – those who hoarded

possessions and those who lavishly spent it

 They use great weights as a weapon, pushing it with their

chests which symbolizes their selfish drive for fortune
during their lifetime.
 Fifth Circle:
ANGER/WRATH

 the Fifth Circle of Hell is where the wrathful and sullen are
punished for their sins.

 Dante and Virgil see the furious fighting each other on the
surface of the river Styx and the sullen gurgling beneath the
surface of the water

 the punishment reflects the type of the sin committed during

their lifetime
 6th Circle:
HERESY

Dante and Virgil see heretics who are condemned to

eternity in flaming tombs.
 7th Circle:
VIOLENCE

The Seventh Circle of Hell is divided into three rings:

a. The Outer Ring houses murderers and others who were violent
to other people and property

b. Middle Ring, the poet sees suicides who have been turned into
trees and bushes which are fed upon by harpies.

c. Inner Ring are blasphemers and sodomites, residing in a desert

of burning sand and burning rain falling from the sky.
 8th Circle:
FRAUD

 The Eight Circle of Hell is resided by the fraudulent.

(Panderers, seducers, flatterers, false prophets, hypocrites,

thieves, falsifiers, liars)
 9th Circle:
TREACHERY

Betrayers of special relationship are

frozen in an icy lake
(Satan, Cain who killed his brother Abel, Judas
who betrayed Jesus with a kiss)
Structure of the Purgatorio
The second reign of the afterlife is depicted as a
mountain emerging from the hemisphere opposite
the land surface. It is divided into three parts:
Ante-Purgatory, Purgatory properly speaking,
which is in turn divided into second terraces, and
finally, at the top of the mountain, the Earthly
Paradise.
Dante and Virgil next arrive at the Mount of
Purgatory, which is surrounded by an ocean.

souls purging themselves of venial (less serious) sins

such as negligence, pride, envy, sloth, or political
intrigue

At the entrance to Purgatory, Dante and Virgil meet Cato,

an ancient Roman who, as censor in 184 BC, attempted to
root out immorality and corruption in Roman life.

symbolizes the four cardinal virtues of Roman

CATO Catholicism: prudence, justice, fortitude and
temperance.
Virgil cleanses Dante's face of the grime of hell and girdles his
waist with a reed, symbolizing humility.

An angel writes seven P's across Dante's forehead, each

representing one of the seven deadly sins. (The Italian word
for sin begins with a P.) The angel then tells Dante he must
wash away the P's—that is, purge himself of sin—while in
Purgatory.
THE 7 TERRACES IN
PURGATORY

1. TERRACE OF
PRIDE
> Penitents carry heavy weight up the mountain of
humility to cure them of their pride
 2. TERRACE OF ENVY
> Penitents are treated by having their
eyelids sewn shut up with iron wire.

> Voices shout out examples of punished

envy to intensify the effects
3. TERRACE OF
WRATH
> Penitents are treated with black smoke that
gets into their eyes and make them blind
4. TERRACE OF
SLOTHFUL
> They are punished by running without
stopping or any rest
5. TERRACE OF
GREED/AVARICE
> They are punished by tying their feet and
arms, face down on the ground

> In order to rid themselves of the sin, they

shout examples of poverty and generosity
6. TERRACE OF GLUTTONY

> Penitents clean their souls by experiencing

extreme hunger and thirst
7. TERRACE OF LUST

> Penitents walk in flames and shout out

examples of chastity
Structure of the Paradiso

The last kingdom of the poem reflects the Ptolemaic

conception of the universe: it consists of ten heavens,
each of which corresponds to a precise discipline.
Starting from the planetary sphere closest to Earth,
we find: the heavens of the Moon (Grammar),
Mercury (Dialectic), Venus (Rhetoric), the Sun
(Arithmetic), Mars (Music), Jupiter (Geometry) and
finally Saturn (Astrology). Beyond the heavens of the
seven planets is the heaven of the fixed stars
(Metaphysics) and the crystalline heaven (Ethics), or
the Primum Mobile, the ‘first moved’ that transfers
its movement to all the spheres below it. Beyond the
crystalline sphere is the unmoving heaven of the
Empyrean (Theology).
Sources:
https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/d/the-divine-comedy-inferno/dante-alighieri-
biography (Links to an external site.)
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Divine-Comedy (Links to an external site.)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Divine_Comedy
 The Seven Terraces of PURGATORY

The first terrace is of Pride. There, Dante and Virgil see penitents carry heavy weights up the mountain of humility
to cure them of their pride.

The second terrace is dedicated to Envy. The envious penitents there are treated by having their eyelids sewn shut
with iron wire. Voices shout examples of punished envy to intensify the effect.

The third terrace has to do with Wrath. The penitents here are treated with black smoke that gets into their eyes
and makes them blind.

The fourth terrace is of the Slothful. They are punished by running without stopping, or any rest.