Dante Alagheris The Divine Comedy

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Dante Alagheris The Divine Comedy

• World Literature

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The Divine Comedy

• Comedy
• Not humorous/slapstick/laugh-out-loud
• A form of writing that begins in fear and ends
  happily.
• Main character attains a happy ending a healing
  vision of God and receives a divine message to
  deliver.

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The Divine Comedy

• The Inferno
• Hell
• The Purgatorio
• Purgatory
• The Paradisio
• Paradise

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The Divine Comedy

• Translations
• Robert Pinsky (1994)
• Dorothy Sayers (1949-62)
• Terza rima
• John Ciardi (1954-70)
• Rhymed 1st and 3rd lines only
• H.R. Huse
• Literal prose translation
• Allen Mandlebaum
• Poetic prose
• John D. Sinclair
• Paragraph form

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The Divine Comedy

• Parable
• Political realities
• Corruption vs. honesty
• Moral realities
• The freedom that comes from accepting just laws
  vs. the self-slavery of lawlessness
• Mystical realities
• The individuals self-absorption vs. his trusting
  surrender to the divine

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The Divine Comedy

• Dante said he wanted the poem to
• Liberate people still living in the world from a
  state of misery and lead them to a state of
  happiness.
• Praise Beatrice and the saving graces he received
  through her.

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The Divine Comedy

• Dante
• The subject of the work, then, in its literal
  sense is the state of souls after death and
  this is without qualification, since the whole
  progress of the work hinges on and about this
  subject. Whereas if the work is taken
  allegorically, the subject is this man becoming
  liable to the justice which rewards and punishes,
  inasmuch as by the exercise of his freedom of
  choice he merits good or ill.
• letter to Can
  Grande

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On Dante

• Ruskin
• He is the central man of all the world, as
  representing in perfect balance the imaginative,
  moral and intellectual qualities all at their
  highest.
• Carlyle
• Called it Dantes unfathomable love song.
• Emerson
• The textbook for teaching the young the art of
  writing well.
• Trotsky
• Urged Marxist companions to study their Dante.

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Background

• Guelphs
• Anti-imperial/democratic attitude
• Desired constitutional government
• Represented indigenous peoples
• Pro-pope (looked to him for support)
• White
• Wanted to minimize all outside interference
• Black
• Wanted to enhance their papal connections
• Ghibellines
• Pro-imperial
• Represented aristocracy
• Opposed papal territorial power
• Expelled from Florence in 1289

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The Divine Comedy

• Significance of the number Three
• Reflects the mysterious reality of the Godhead
• Each of the three parts contains 33 cantos
• Basic unit of verse is the terzine
• 33 syllables
• 3 lines
• Beatrice associated with the number 9

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Dante The Inferno

• World Literature

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The Inferno Canto I

• Introduction to the entire Divine Comedy
• Dark Woods
• Good Friday, 1300
• April 8, 1300
• Catholic churchs first Holy Year
• Jubilee period stressing spiritual repentance and
  renewal.
• Dante is 35 years old

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The Inferno Canto I

• Dante
• The poet who is also the Christian sinner
• Virgil
• The poet who is also human wisdom (the best a man
  can become without divine grace)

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The Inferno Canto I

• Poet feels alienated from the world
• Poet feels fear (paura)
• First 60 lines
• reflect the theme of mans estrangement from God
• Emphasize mans dependence on the Divine
• Last 76 lines
• Emphasize the human power to discover his true
  self

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The Inferno Canto I

• 3 beasts
• 3 types of sin that will cast a soul into one of
  the three divisions of Hell
• Leopard (lonza) lust (bodily pleasure)
• Lion (leone) violence
• Wolf (lupa) cupidity (desire for power/wealth)

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The Inferno Canto I

• 3-part Journey
• I.105-119
• Hell eternal place of despair
• Purgatory place where souls are in a temporary,
  purifying fire
• Paradise (Heaven) dwelling place of the
  everlastingly blessed

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The Inferno Canto II

• Dante invokes the Muses (II.7)
• Allied with the arts as well as with religion.
• Questions his worthiness to go on this quest.
• Two others who had visited the other worlds while
  in the flesh.
• Aeneas Paul
• Dante believed the Catholic church and the Roman
  Empire were divinely willed partners in the
  worlds salvation.

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Inferno Canto II

• Three ladies
• Virgin (Mary)
• Mercy
• Prevenient grace (first impulse in a sinner to
  repent)
• Lucia
• Grace
• Operant grace (allows sinner to desire good and
  do it)
• Beatrice
• Wisdom
• Perficient grace (causes the penitent sinner to
  persist in the doing of good)

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Inferno Canto III

• Hells Gate Entrance to Hell Proper
• ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER
  HERE.
• Two sets of people at the entrance
• Morally neutral
• Continuously running around a plain just inside
  the gate.
• Lived without praise or blame (thus, never truly
  lived)
• Fallen angels who were neither for good or evil,
  only for themselves.
• Hated by both God and His enemies
• They would defile heaven
• They dont fit into Hells scheme (would give the
  wicked some element of glory)
• Souls just arrived who gather to wait to be
  ferried across a river to their proper placements
  in Hell.

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The Structure of Dantes Hell

• Vestibule of Hell The Uncommitted
• Circle 1 Limbo
• Circle 2 The Lustful
• Circle 3 The Gluttons
• Circle 4 The Avaricious and the Prodigal
• Circle 5 The Wrathful and the Sullen
• Circle 6 Heretics
• Circle 7 The Violent
• Circle 8 The Fraudulent
• Circle 9 The Treacherous

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Outer Circle

• VESTIBULE
• Outer Rim of Hell
• GROUP I
• Passionless people who lived without place or
  blame
• Neither for good or evil
• Hateful to both God and his enemies (wont fit
  into either Heaven or Hell)
• GROUP II
• Newly deceased who lived without reverence to God
  and who died unrepentant.

• Punishment (Group I)
• Endless running around a plain just inside the
  gate
• Tormented by hornets, wasps, worms
• Significant people
• Fallen angels
• Celestine V
• Ponitus Pilate

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Circle 1

• LIMBO
• Outskirts of Hell Proper
• Neutral, lifeless place
• Souls of unbaptized infants
• Virtuous pagans or honorable men who lived before
  Christ

• PunishmentNone
• Suspended (sospesi) between the states of
  condemnation and salvation.
• Significant people
• Virgil, the guide
• Homer
• Aristotle
• Saladin
• Euclid

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Circle 2

• Minos Judge of Hell
• Each sinner confesses to him
• Uses his tail to indicate the position of Hell
  the sinner is to occupy
• Warns Dante not to go any further

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Circle 2

• The Carnal Sinners
• LUSTFUL, SENSUAL

• Punishment
• Exist in an eternal storm, blown about by the
  winds of a hurricane
• Reflects sexual sin and punishes it
• Significant people
• Helen of Troy
• Achilles
• Cleopatra
• Paris
• Tristan
• Francesca and Paolo
• Murdered lovers

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Circle 3

• The Carnal Sinners
• The GLUTTONOUS
• Sensual gratification
• Ate and drank unrepentantly to excess

• Punishment
• Plagued with filthy rain, sleet, snow
• Wallow in mud and filth
• Cerberus, 3-headed dog, guard and punishment
• Claws the sinners
• Howls, making the souls howl
• Significant people
• Ciacco

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Circle 4

• The Carnal Sinners
• The AVARICIOUS (HOARDERS)
• The PRODIGAL (SPENDERS)

• Punishment
• Deadlocked in a battle of opposites
• Push heavy stones in opposite direction
• why do you hold?
• why do you spend?
• Plutus (Greek god of wealth) demon-guard
• Significant people

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Circle 5

• The River STYX
• WRATHFUL
• SULLEN

• Punishment
• Wrathful
• Float in Styx
• Snarl and rend themselves
• Sullen
• Submerged in Styx
• Plutus (Greek god of wealth) demon-guard
• Significant people
• Filippo

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• Dante and Virgil
• Leave the circles of outer Hell
• cross the Styx
• Ferried by Phlegyas
• Reach gate of inner Hell
• City of Dis
• Fallen angels hover above gates
• Within gates are punished sins
• VIOLENCE
• FRAUD

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• Dante and Virgil
• Met by furies
• Messenger of grace opens gates for them
• Enter gates of lower Hell

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Circle 6

• HERETICS
• Deniers of immortality

• Punishment
• Flaming tombs
• Significant people
• Cavalcanti
• Father of Dantes friend
• Epicurus
• Emperor Frederick II
• The Cardinal
• Farinata degli Uberti
• Ghibilline leader

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• Dante and Virgil pause
• Virgil explains the classification of the
  upcoming sins
• 3 remaining circles to visit
• 7th (Violence)
• Injury to ones neighbor or property
• murder
• Injury to ones self or property
• suicide
• Injury done to Gods sovereignty
• blasphemy
• Injury to Gods child, nature
• homosexual behavior
• Injury to Gods grandchild, human industry
• usury

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Circle 7 (outer round)

• VIOLENT
• Those who harmed others (MURDER)

• Punishment
• Submerged in boiling river of blood
• Centaurs shoot arrows at any who come up for
  relief
• Chiron is leader
• Significant people
• Alexander the Great
• Attila the Hun
• Ezzelino

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Circle 7 (middle round)

• VIOLENT
• Those who harmed self (SUICIDE)
• Self-destructive

• Punishment
• Gloomy wood
• Damned are trees
• Harpies nest in trees
• Those self-destructive
• Chased by devil dogs and torn to pieces
• Significant people
• Pier della Vigne

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Circle 7 (outer round)

• VIOLENT
• Those who were guilty of BLASPHEMY

• Punishment
• Scorching desert
• Flakes of flame falling
• Lie down
• Significant people
• Capaneus

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Description of Giant

• Old Man of Crete
• Head gold
• Split by fissure
• Endless tears flow down to frozen lake of Hell
• Breast Arms silver
• Torso brass
• Waist down iron
• Right foot terra cotta
• Rests most weight upon

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Circle 7 (outer round)

• VIOLENT
• Those who were guilty of SODOMY

• Punishment
• Scorching desert
• Flakes of flame falling
• Continuously running
• Significant people
• Brunetto Latini

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Circle 7 (outer round)

• VIOLENT
• Those who were guilty of USURERY
• Lending money at any price

• Punishment
• Scorching desert
• Flakes of flame falling
• Sit, bent over
• Eyes fixed on money pouches around their necks
• Significant people
• Jacopo Rusticucci
• Guido Guerra
• Teggahiaio Aldobrandi

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• Geryon lowers Dante and Virgil to the next circle

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Circle 8 (Malebolge) Pouch 1

• FRAUD
• PANDERERS
• Sell people for sexual favors
• pimps
• SEDUCERS
• Gain sexual favors for self

• Punishment
• Whipped by horned demons
• Significant people
• Venedico
• Jason

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Circle 8 (Malebolge) Pouch 2

• FRAUD
• FLATTERERS

• Punishment
• Immersed in excrement
• Significant people
• Thais

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Circle 8 (Malebolge) Pouch 3

• FRAUD
• SIMONIACS
• Those who corrupt the things of God

• Punishment
• Immersed headfirst in holes
• Feet are burning
• Significant people
• Pope Nicholas III
• Other popes

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Circle 8 (Malebolge) Pouch 4

• FRAUD
• SOOTHSAYERS
• MAGICIANS
• AUGERS
• Those who tried to make the mind of God subject
  to their will.

• Punishment
• Heads on backwards
• Significant people
• Manto

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Circle 8 (Malebolge) Pouch 5

• FRAUD
• GRAFTERS
• Political corruption

• Punishment
• Boiling pitch
• Deceiving demons (Malebranche) poke anyone who
  tries to rise with pitchforks
• Significant people
• Senator of Lucca
• Ciampolo of Navarre

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Circle 8 (Malebolge) Pouch 6

• FRAUD
• HYPOCRITES

• Punishment
• Leaden cloaks
• Walk around narrow track
• Significant people
• Caiaphas
• Annas
• monks

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Circle 8 (Malebolge) Pouch 7

• FRAUD
• THIEVES

• Punishment
• Fiery serpents
• Wrapped around souls
• Hands bound behind them
• Bite souls who then burst into flames
• Significant people
• Vanni Fucci
• Agnello
• Buoso
• Puccio
• Francesco de Cavalcanti

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Circle 8 (Malebolge) Pouch 8

• FRAUD
• EVIL ADVISERS
• Steal counsel of God for low purposes

• Punishment
• Enflamed souls
• Significant people
• Ulysses
• Diomedes
• Guido da Montefeltro

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Circle 8 (Malebolge) Pouch 9

• FRAUD
• DIVIDERS
• Tear apart what God has meant to be united
• SOWERS OF DISCORD
• Religious discord
• Political discord
• Family Discord

• Punishment
• Mutilated
• Wounds are healed after making the full circult
• Wounds reopened by devil with sword
• Significant people
• Muhammad
• Mosca
• Bertran de Born

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Circle 8 (Malebolge) Pouch 10

• FRAUD
• FALSIFIERS
• ALCHEMISTS
• IMPERSONATORS
• COUNTERFEITERS
• LIARS

• Punishment
• Madness
• Ills of mind and body
• Significant people
• Gainni Schicchi
• Capocchio
• Master Adam
• Potiphers wife
• Sinon

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• Giant, Antaeus, lowers Dante and Virgil into the
  pit
• Cocytus
• frozen

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Circle 9 Caina

• TRAITORS
• To KIN

• Punishment
• Encased in ice up to neck
• Heads bent down
• Significant people
• Camicion de Pazzi
• Two brothers

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Circle 9 Antenora

• TRAITORS
• To CITY

• Punishment
• Encased in ice up to neck
• Heads turned upward
• Significant people
• Bocca
• Sassol
• Ugolino
• Archbishop Ruggieri

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Circle 9 Tolomea

• TRAITORS
• To GUESTS

• Punishment
• Frozen in ice
• On backs, heads up
• Tears freeze in eye sockets
• Significant people
• Friar Alberigo
• Branca DOria

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Circle 9 Judecca

• TRAITORS
• To BENEFACTORS

• Punishment
• Completely sealed under ice
• Satan fixed in the middle, waist deep in ice,
  continuously chews up three with his mouths
• Significant people
• Judas
• Brutus
• Cassius