2. The Inferno Part 1 of Dante’s Masterpiece: The Divine Comedy

3. Arguments  Church is source of Sin  Reduce church control of faith  Interpret the divine with both logic and faith  Independent thought can be positive  Italy is consumed by sin that needs correcting  Pursue solutions to problems

4. HISTORICAL CONTEXT The framework of arguments

5. Author Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) Philosopher, politician, poet Lived in Florence, Italy White Guelph = reduction of church power Exiled by Pope Boniface VIII Wrote The Divine Comedy in 1315 Dante Alighieri

6. PROPERTIES OF THE POEM Literary Devices and Themes

7. ATTRIBUTES OF THE POEM  Satire  Irony  Written In Italian  Vivid Imagery  Idioms  Similes/Metaphors  Allegory  Symbolism  Beatrice

8. THEMES  Animal nature of sin  Justice  Guilt  Italian politics  Logic v. Faith

9. Culture 3 Cultures in One Poem

10. 2 “Real” Cultures Christianity  Biblical References  The culture of the Italy  Readers know the culture Pagan  Mythical creatures  Myths

11. Manufactured Culture: Logic  Belief in a logical order of the divine  Contradicts the church  Individual interaction with faith

12. We The People of Hell

13. Absolute rule of God Law of Hell Management by guilt Hell

14. Plot and Literary Devices Evidence Supporting Dante

15. Start of the Journey  Lost in woods half way through life  Stopped on way to eternal happiness  Symbols of sin: she-wolf, lion, leopard  Symbol of logic: Virgil  Reassurance  Simile Pattern Lost in the woods

16. River Acheron  Opportunists  Idiom: Fallen Angles  Idiom: Pope Celestine V  Law of Hell  Symbol: Charon  Metaphor: Fainting

17. 1 st Circle: Limbo  Unbaptized good pagans  Eternity without hope  Famous ancients brighter than others  Some ascended into heaven

18. 2 nd Circle: Carnal Sin  Minos  People swept by passion forever caught in the wind  Simile pattern  Lovers tale  Metaphor: Fainting

19. 3 rd Circle: Gluttons  Dirty snow  Cerberus  Swollen and fat souls  Ciacco’s prophecy

20. 4 th Circle: Hoarders and Wasters  Idiom: Plutus  Symbol: souls pushing rocks  Clergy  Symbol: Dame Fortune

21. 5 th Circle: Wrathful and Sullen  Marsh of Styx  Sullen entombed bellow mud  Wrathful tear each other apart  Phlegyas  Metaphor: FilIippo Argenti

22. 6 th Circle: Heretics  Symbol: Gates of Dis  Symbol: Mosques  Symbol: Medusa  Symbol: Heavenly Messenger  Heretics  Farinata Degli Uberti  Pope Anastasius

23. 7 th Circle: Violence Part 1: Violence Against Neighbors  Symbol: River of boiling blood  Ancient conquers  Centaurs

24. 7 th Circle: Violence Part 2: Violence Against Self  Forest of suicides  Metaphor: Accidental pain  Harpies  Metaphor: speaking through blood  Dogs

25. 7 th Circle: Violence Part 3: Violence Against God Part 1: Blasphemy  Symbol: desert of fire  Symbol: rain of fire  Blasphemers  Symbol: Old Man of Crete

26. 7 th Circle Part 3: Violence Against God Part 2: Violence Against Nature  Sodomites  Symbol: Brunetto Latino  Running Off

27. 7 th Circle Part 3: Violence Against God Part 3: Violence Against Art  Usury  Coat of Arms  Geryon

28. 8 th Circle: Fraud Part 1: Panderers and Seducers  Goaded by demons to run in endless circle  Symbol: demons  Symbol: horns  Venedico Cacciamico  Jason

29. 8 th Circle: Fraud Part 2: False Flatters  False flatters forever domed to wallow in boiling human excrement  Alessio Interminelli  Thais

30. 8 th Circle: Fraud Part 3: Simonacs  Symbol: Simonacs upside down in holes  Symbol: fire burns the soles of the sinners  Symbol: Pope Nicholas III  Prophecy

31. 8 th Circle: Fraud Part 4: Fortune Tellers  Symbol: twisted bodies of sinners  Eyes blinded with tears  Walking backwards  Italian and Greek fortune tellers

32. 8 th Circle: Fraud Part 5: Grafters  Grafters stuck in tar  Demons attack sinners who show themselves  Senator of Lucca  Dante's fear  Symbol: demons  Navarrese man

33. 8 th Circle: Fraud Part 6: Hypocrites  Symbol: lead clothing of the sinners  Idiom: Caiaphas  Jovial friars

34. 8 th Circle: Fraud Part 7: Thieves  Thieves in the dark bitten by snakes  Symbol: snake  Hands tied  Sinners bursting into flames  Vanni Fucci  Prophecy  Figs  Noble Thieves of Florence

35. 8 th Circle: Fraud Part 8: Evil Counselors  Flames hiding sinners  Symbol: flame  Ulysses and Diomede  Count Guido

36. ReligiousPolitical and Kin 8 th Circle: Fraud Part 9: Sowers of Discord  Vivid Imagery  Those who broke things apart are ripped apart  Muhammad and Ali  Historical politicians  Man who started the Guelph-Ghibelline war  Berntrand de Borne

37. 8 th Circle: Fraud Part 10: Falsifiers Division 1: Alchemists  Diseased, immobile, and blind  Idiom: Griffolino D’arezzo  Idiom: Capocchio

38. 8 th Circle: Fraud Part 10: Falsifiers Division 2: Impersonators  Impersonators running around attacking other sinners  Idiom: Gianni Schicchi  Idiom: Myrrha

39. 8 th Circle: Fraud Part 10: Falsifiers Division 3: Counterfeiters  Idiom: Master Adam  Thirst

40. 8 th Circle: Fraud Part 10: Falsifiers Division 4: Liars  Fevers  Idiom: Potiphar’s Wife  Idiom: Sinon  Adam v. Sinon  Dante’s repentance

41. Giants  Idiom: Nimrod  Idioms: Ephilaties, Briareus, Tityos, Typhon  Antaeus

42. 9th Circle: Serious Fraud Part 1: Family  Ice  Caina  Punishment  Alessandro and Napoleone Degli Alberti

43. 9th Circle: Serious Fraud Part 2: Country  Antenora  Idiom: Bocca Delgi Abbati  Metaphor: beating Bocca Delgi Abbati  Count Ugolino and Archbishop Ruggieri

44. 9th Circle: Serious Fraud Part 3: Guests  Ptolomea  Idiom: Friar Alberigo  Idiom: Branca D’oria  Severity of sin

45. 9th Circle: Serious Fraud Part 4: Masters  Judecca  Not visible

46. Satan  Three ugly heads  Trapped in ice  Generates cold winds  Idiom: Judas  Idiom: Brutus  Idiom: Cassius  Metaphor: Embracing Satan

47. REPETITION Beating a Dead Horse in a Creative Way

48. REPETITION OF PATTERNS Division of hell (Christian culture)  monster/sinner (Greek culture)  punishment (logic culture) Clergy Politics Shock the most people

49. STRUCTURE Great Meaning Applied Subtlety

50. Solving Problems Fainting in the first third circles of hell (sins of the she-wolf) Wishing a soul greater punishment Accidentally hurting a soul in the second third of Hell (sins of the lion) Purposefully harming a soul in the finally third of Hell (sins of the leopard) Climbing Lucifer The more thought involved, the greater the sin Relates to the progression of humanity

51. Making Progress Understanding the severity of sin Understanding the source of sin Identifying the people who sin Correcting sin Better Future Hell = Italy, Sin = Problems Inferno Purgatory Paradise

52. It’s Funny it Really is!

53. Comedy in Context  The church holds to keys to heaven, yet many sinners are the clergy  Church says to not interpret the divine, yet the church is mortal and interprets the divine  If Christianity is so original then why do older cultures have the same ideas?

54. Comedy Today  Dante’s contradictions  Humanity’s contradictions

55. Reading Recommendation And reasons for it

56. READ THIS POEM  Insightful investigation of humanity  Funny  Ideas are seen everywhere

57. Academy of American Poets. Dante Alighieri. n.d. HTML Document. 5 November 2011.. Alighieri, Dante. The Inferno. Trans. John Ciardi. Dante Alighieri, 1308. Book. 24 October 2011. Ciardi, John. The Inferno. Trans. John Ciardi. New York: Signet Classics, 1954. Book. 24 October 2010. LibriVox. The Divine Comedy. 20 January 2010. Sound. 6 November 2011.. Meyers, Rick. E-Sword. Franklin, 2012. Program. 6 November 2011. Microsoft Corporation. Dante Alighieri. Redmond, 2009. DVD. 5 November 2011. Paine, Thomas. The Age of Reason; Being an Investigation of True and Fabulous Theology. Thomas Paine, 1794. Pamphlet. 12 November 2011.. Wetherbee, Winthrop. Dante Alighieri. Ed. Edward N. Zalta. 18 December 2009. Stanford University. Web Encyclopedia. 5 November 2011..