1. The Divine Comedy A Classical Quest through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise

2. Dante’s Structure: The Quest For Salvation Purgatorio Paradiso Inferno

3. POINTS TO REMEMBER THE INFERNO IS PART OF A WORK CALLED THE DIVINE COMEDY. IN THE MIDDLE AGES COMEDY MEANT SOME HUMAN EXPERIENCE THAT BEGAN IN TRAGEDY AND ENDED IN HAPPINESS. IT IS ALSO AN ALLEGORY.

4. Allegory In an allegory the characters, setting and plot have a hidden or symbolic meaning beyond their literal meaning. An Allegory teaches a moral lesson TO POINT OUT TO THOSE STILL LIVING THE ERROR OF THEIR WAYS AND TO PUT THEM ON THE PATH OF SALVATION.

5. DANTE ALIGHIERI Born in Florence, May, 1265. His family was old and of noble origin, but no longer wealthy. Excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. Exiled from his home, Florence, Italy.

6. As customary, Dante had an arranged marriage in his youth to Gemma Donati, daughter of Manetto Donati. But Dante’s greatest love, and the greatest single influence on his work, was a woman named Beatrice. Dante met Beatrice when he was nine and she eight, at his father’s home, most likely for a May Day festival. Beatrice married another man about 1287, and died in 1290 at the age of 25. After her death in 1290, he dedicated a memorial “ The New Life ” (La Vita Nuova) to her. BEATRICE

7. Beatrice was Dante’s angel. He could not touch her, because this was the age of Courtly love. Dante’s life and work were dedicated to her. Dante’s muse and inspiration— the female aspect behind the genius. She is the divine light of love.

8. Virgil Roman author of The Aeneid, the national epic of Rome. Virgil is Dante’s guide through Hell. “forbids me to come there…” Virgil lived and died before the establishment of Christ’s teachings in Rome and cannot therefore enter Heaven.

9. VIRGIL 70 B.C.E. 19 B.C.E He was the greatest of the Roman poets. His Aeneid provided the pattern for the structure of Dante’s Hell. Virgil was chosen as Dante’s guide through Hell, because Dante saw him as his master and inspiration for his poetic style. Virgil is also revered as the poet of the Roman Empire. The Aeneid tells of the Empire’s founding. Virgil also wrote in his fourth ecologue of the coming of a Wonder Child who will bring the Golden Age. This was interpreted in the Middle Ages as the coming of Christ.

10. THREE SECTIONS OF THE DIVINE COMEDY INFERNO, PURGATORIO, AND PARADISO 3 was a holy number to Dante— suggesting the Holy Trinity.

11. STRUCTURE OF THE DIVINE COMEDY DANTE’S WORLD WAS ONE THAT BELIEVED IN MYSTICAL CORRESPONDENCES AND THE POWER OF NUMBERS, STARS, AND STONES EVENTS OF HISTORY—CONTAINED A MYSTICAL SIGNIFICANCE. DANTE’S NUMERICAL SYMBOLISM: 3 A SYMBOL OF THE HOLY TRINITY 9 THREE TIMES THREE. 33 A MULTIPLE OF 3 THE 7 DAYS OF CREATION 10 CONSIDERED IN THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD A PERFECT NUMBER 100, THE MULTIPLE OF 10.

12. STRUCTURE OF THE DIVINE COMEDY Each section has 33 cantos (small division of poetry; canto means “song.”) The Inferno includes an introductory canto, which makes 100 cantos total (1oo representing the idea of perfection or spiritual enlightenment achieved after the journey). Three major divisions of sin: Incontinence Violence Fraudulence Three-line poetric structure: Terza Rima

13. The Form of the Poem Epic poem in the tradition of Homer (The Odyssey, The Iliad) and Virgil (The Aeneid) Employs terza rima : - three-line stanzas( tercet ) - chain rhyme : A-B-A, B-C-B, C-D-C, D-E-D - no limit to the number of lines No set rhythm for terza rima

14. Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita mi ritrovai per una selva oscura, ché la diritta via era smarrita. Ahi quanto a dir qual era è cosa dura esta selva selvaggia e aspra e forte che nel pensier rinova la paura! Tant’ è amara che poco è più morte; ma per trattar del ben ch’i’ vi trovai, dirò de l’altre cose ch’i’ v’ho scorte. Io non so ben ridir com’ i’ v’intrai, 10 tant’ era pien di sonno a quel punto che la verace via abbandonai. Ma poi ch’i’ fui al piè d’un colle giunto, là dove terminava quella valle che m’avea di paura il cor compunto, guardai in alto e vidi le sue spalle vestite già de’ raggi del pianeta che mena dritto altrui per ogne calle. Midway upon the journey of our life I found myself within a forest dark, For the straightforward pathway had been lost. Ah me! how hard a thing it is to say What was this forest savage, rough, and stern, Which in the very thought renews the fear. So bitter is it, death is little more; But of the good to treat, which there I found, Speak will I of the other things I saw there. I cannot well repeat how there I entered, 10 So full was I of slumber at the moment In which I had abandoned the true way. But after I had reached a mountain's foot, At that point where the valley terminated, Which had with consternation pierced my heart, Upward I looked, and I beheld its shoulders, Vested already with that planet's rays Which leadeth others right by every road. Dante’s Use of Terza Rima

15. The Inferno Dante is the main character in The Divine Comedy. The Inferno is a telling of Dante’s journey through the nine circles of Hell. Dante begins his journey through Hell on Good Friday and ends on Easter Sunday. This symbolizes the journey of Jesus, crucified on Good Friday, descended into Hell and was resurrected to live again on Easter Sunday.

16. THE SPIRALING INFERNO DANTE’S HELL IS A HUGE FUNNEL SHAPED PIT. THE CENTER IS LOCATED BENEATH JERUSALEM. THE NINE REGIONS ARE DESIGNATED FOR A PARTICULAR SIN. ITS REGIONS ARE ARRANGED IN A SERIES OF DESCENDING CIRCULAR STAIRCASES THAT DIMINISH IN CIRCUMFERENCE THE DEEPER THAT VIRGIL AND DANTE TRAVEL. THE HIGHER UP A SINNER, THE LIGHTER THE SIN, THE DEEPER THE SINNER, THE DARKER AND MORE TERRIBLE THE SIN.

17. The Nine Circles of Hell Circle 1- LIMBO Circle 2- The Lustful Circle 3- The Gluttonous Circle 4- Misers and Spendthrifts Circle 5- Wrathful and Sullen Circle 6- Heretics Circle 7- The Violent (Murder & Suicide) Circle 8- The Fraudulent Circle 9- Traitors Circles 2-5 are Sins without Malice. They do not hurt others.

19. Cantos 1-2 The Dark Wood Three Beasts: Leopard Lion She-wolf Virgil as Guide Three Blessed Women: Virgin Mary St. Lucia Beatrice

20. The Three Beasts by Priamo della Quercia (1444-1452) Symbols: The three beasts (leopard, lion, and she-wolf) are symbols that represent the three divisions of sin (fraud, violence, and incontinence). These are the sins that were believed to have caused the downfall of humankind, and since Dante is at a crossroads in his life, this journey is intended to make him question his life and what punishment might await him for the sins he has committed.

21. Symbolism and Allusion: The three beasts might also symbolize the politics of the day. Because of the conflict between the Pope and the Emperor, leadership was continually in question. The Greyhound was believed to be an allusion to the hope for a future leader who would come to save Italy. She-Wolf by Gustave Dore Lion by Gustave Dore

22. Canto 3 Gates of Hell Vestibule “Abandon all hope ye who enter here.” Cowards The Indecisive Angels Punishment: They are stung by insects and endlessly chase banners. Acheron River Charon

23. Canto 5 Circle 2 Lust Punishment: The lustful souls are blown about in a violent storm, without hope of rest. Minos Francesca da Rimini and her lover Paolo

24. Cantos 31-34 Circle 9 Betrayal Caïna—Traitors to kindred: They are immersed in ice up to their faces. Antenora—Traitors to country/political entities: They are immersed in ice and forced to eat out the skull of another sinner or have their skulls eaten by another sinner. Ptolomaea—Traitors to their guests: They lie supine in the ice, which covers them, except for their faces. Their bodies on Earth are immediately possessed by a demon, so what seems to be a walking man has reached the stage of being incapable of repentance. Judecca—Traitors to their lords and benefactors: They are completely encapsulated in ice, distorted in all conceivable positions. Satan appears upside down with three faces, and in each mouth eternally being eaten are Brutus, Cassius, and Judas Iscariot.