Canto 5 Mrs. Luckey

Circle 2: The Carnal Hell proper is said to begin here Encounter Minos Sinners approach Minos and confess their guilt By twisting his tail around them a certain number of times, he sends the sinner to that circle Gustave Dore

(Sometimes Minos’ tail does the sending) Minos too challenges Dante, but like before Dante silences him and they’re on their way Circle 2 is void of all light, but we can assume the two can still see Here a hellish storm rages “No hope of less pain, not to say to repose, ever comforts” the sinners here

The Sinners Sinners of carnal pleasures: lust Those who betrayed reason to their appetites They find themselves on a dark ledge swept by a great whirlwind that spins with it the sinners’ souls. They abandoned themselves to their passions, so they are forever swept in the tempest (storm) of Hell, denied light and reason of God

Vellutello Minos/Lustful “And this I learned, was the never ending flight / of those who sinned in flesh, the carnal and lusty, who betrayed reason to their appetite.” (l. 37-39) Vellutello Minos/Lustful

Dante’s reaction To Dante the thin line between love and lust is drawn when one acts on misguided desire First circle where an unrepented sin is punished Marks it as the least serious sin (???WHY??) Could also mark reference to the first original sin

Famous people Dido Cleopatra Helen of Troy Achilles Paris Tristan A man and woman clinging tightly to each other: Paolo and Francesca

The Story of the Two Lovers Only Francesca speaks to Dante She is Francesca da Rimini and her lover is Paolo Love brought them death Francesca had an affair with Paolo, her husband’s brother. Her husband found out and killed them both.

Francesca was married to Giovanni Malatesta of Rimini– a brave a powerful warrior Political marriage Paolo was also married and had children Giovanni surprised them in the bedroom and killed them She assumes when her husband dies, he will be sent further in Hell for murder

The souls here are marked so blindly by their guilt that none can feel sympathy for the other or find pleasure in the presence of another They simply add to each other’s anguish as reminders of their sin and as “shades” of their bodies for which they originally felt great passion

“As she said this, / the other spirit, who stood by her, wept / so piteously, I felt my senses reel / and faint away with anguish. I was swept/ by such a swoon as death is, and I fell, / as a corpse might fall, to the dead floor of Hell.” (5.136-140) William Blake

“Love led us to one death.” (l.103) Paolo and Francesca “Love led us to one death.” (l.103) “The double grief of a lost bliss / is to recall its happy hour in pain.”(l.118-119) Gustave Dore

Minos Legendary king of Crete Creature of half-human and half-beast Appropriate symbol for the dehumanizing effects of sin Supreme god of the Underworld- a judge of sorts Gustave Dore

References to Lancelot- popularly read during this time period (Galeotto was a go-between for Lancelot and Guinevere…urged them on to love) Semiramis- queen of Assyria who assumed power at the death of her husband Ninus

Dido Aeneas tells Dido the misfortunes of the Trojan city Pierre-Narcisse Guérin. 1815 Queen of Carthage- Married to Sichaeus, but fell in love with Aeneas. Aeneas abandoned her and she stabbed herself on the funeral pyre she prepared

Cleopatra Beautiful Queen of Egypt Took her own life to avoid capture by Octavian (the future emperor Augustus) Octavian had defeated Mark Antony, who was Cleopatra's lover She had previously been the lover of Julius Caesar Anthony and Cleopatra Sir Lawrence Alma-Tadema (Dutch, 1836-1912)

Helen of Troy & Tristan and Iseult Evelyn de Morgan. Helen of Troy. 1898. Waterhouse, J. W. Tristram and Isolde 1916.

Helen, wife of Menalaus was believed to be the cause of the Trojan war: acclaimed as the most beautiful mortal woman, she was abducted by Paris and brought to Troy as his mistress. Achilles was the most dreaded Greek hero in the war against the Trojans. He was killed by Paris, according to medieval accounts after being tricked into entering the temple of Apollo to meet the Trojan princess Polyxena. Tristan, nephew of King Mark of Cornwall, and Iseult (Mark's fiancée) became lovers after they mistakenly drank the magic potion intended for Mark and Iseult. Mark shoots Tristan with a poisoned arrow, according to one version of the story popular in Dante's day, and the wounded man then clenches his lover so tightly that they die in one another's arms.

Study Questions   Why is Dante moved to tears after Francesca's description of love (5.100-7) and why does he finally fall "as a dead body falls" after her personal account of her intimate relationship with Paolo (5.127-38)?  

The episode of Francesca and Paolo, the first in which Dante encounters someone punished in hell for their sins, presents a challenge: Dante’s character is overcome by compassion for the lovers even as Dante-poet has damned them to hell in the first place. What are possible consequences of this apparent gap between the perspectives of the character and the poet who are both "Dante"?

  From Dante's presentation of Francesca and Paolo, we are encouraged to consider the place of moral responsibility in depictions of love, sex, and violence in our own day. We can certainly discuss music, television, movies, and advertising (as well as literature) in these terms. Who is more (or less) responsible and therefore accountable for unacceptable attitudes and behavior in society: the creators and vehicles of such messages or the consumers and audiences?