1. Dante Alighieri 1265-1321 The Inferno

3. The Inferno is an Allegory It is meant to be understood on two levels 1. Literal – actual progress through the story - Dante literally travels from hell through purgatory and finally heaven 2. Figurative – spiritual progress or moral development toward heaven or salvation - Dante starts off as a sinner working to improve his character so he can gain access to heaven one day.

4. Dante Alighieri’s Writing ► Broke the tradition of writing in Latin ► Dante was preoccupied with the number 3  Divine Comedy has 3 parts 1.Inferno 2.Purgatory 3.Paradise  Each stanza is only 3 lines long ► Inspired by Christian concept of the Trinity- Father, Son, Holy Ghost

5. Auguste Rodin’s The Thinker was originally called The Poet

6. The 9 Levels of Hell- According to Dante ► Vestibule (waiting room)  Reserved for those who neither chose for good or evil in life.  Punishment: Chase a banner while being stung by bees and flies, while maggots eat the pus and blood that drips from them.

7. 1 st Ring: Limbo ► Luke Warm. People who neither sinned nor believed in Christ. ► They lived before Christianity.  Virgil, Plato, Socrates ► Heaven does not claim them, Hell does not want them.

8. 2 nd Ring: Lust ► People whose passions in life controlled their actions. ► Blown about in darkness.

9. 3 rd Ring: Gluttonous ► Deprived of individuality. Each is alone, cold, and miserable.

10. 4 th Ring: Greed ► Those who wanted more money than had. ► Must roll their wealth back and forth forever.

11. 5 th Ring: Wrathful and Sullen ► “Wrathful” –anger that is expressed ► Muddy figures attack one another. ► “Sullen”- anger that is repressed. ► Sink beneath the surface in filthy slime.

12. Marsh of Styx

13. 6 th Ring: Heretics  Someone who said things against the Catholic church or the Christian God.  Denied soul’s immortality  Confined in tombs.

14. 7 th Ring: Violent AGAINST OTHERS: Immersed in a river of boiling blood. AGAINST SELF Twisted plants that cannot move AGAINST GOD Must lie facing upward toward heaven AGAINST NATURE Must run forever AGAINST ART Forced to crouch over moneybags

15. 8 th Ring: Fraudulent ► THEIVES  Snakes coil and bind these sinners ► DECIEVERS  Wrapped in fire ► FLATTERERS  Forced to wallow in a floor of excrement ► SCANDALS (separated what God had joined)  Hacked to pieces, put back together, and hacked up again.

16. 9 th Ring: Treachery (Betrayers) ► TO FAMILY, COUNTRY, AND FRIENDS ► Frozen in a sheet of ice with only their face exposed to show the pain.

17. Center of 9 th Ring: Dis (Lucifer)

18. Who is Dis? ► 3-headed monster, frozen in ice. ► As he beats his wings in an effort to escape, he keeps the ice frozen. ► In each of his mouths, he chews on a traitor  Judas  Brutus  Cassius ► Why are these 3 traitors so important?