The wanderings of the poet Dante as he strays off the rightful and

straight path of moral truth at

Dante Alighieri’s

Inferno
MEET THE
Author
 DANTE (1265–1321)
Alighieri
Alighieri
•
Vocabulary
 sEcular
secular
/ˈsekyələr/
•

•
patron
patron
/ˈpātrən/
vernacular
/vərˈnakyələr/
utopia
/yo͞oˈtōpēə/
fraudulent
fraudulEnT
/ˈfrôjələnt/
infernal
/inˈfərnl/
scHisM
/ˈs(k)izəm/
HYPOCRISY
HYPOCRISY
/həˈpäkrəsē/
 danTE’s
danTE’s
The Divine Comedy
Divided into three major sections
•infErno
•PurgaTorio
•Paradiso
characters
 Dante
• The author and protagonist of Inferno; the focus of all action
and interaction with other characters.
• Dante the character is at all representative of Dante the poet,
he is a very simplified version: sympathetic, somewhat
fearful of danger, and confused both morally and
intellectually by his experience in Hell.
 Virgil
• Dante’s guide through the depths of Hell.
• received orders to lead Dante through Hell on his spiritual journey.
Virgil proves a wise, resourceful, and commanding presence, but he
often seems helpless to protect Dante from the true dangers of Hell.
• Critics generally consider Virgil an allegorical representation of
human reason—both in its immense power and in its inferiority to
faith in God.
The Divine Comedy
circles
of HELL
LEVEL 1:LIMBO
limbo
WHaT TyPE of PEoPlE go
THErE?
• The unbaptized
• Virtous non-believers
Dante saw:
• Virgil
• Ovid
• Horace
• Socrates
• Plato homer
lEVEl 2:
lusT

DANTE SAW:
•
•
•
•
Level 3: gluttony
Gluttony: Where those who over-
indulge exist. Dante encounters
ordinary people (i.e. not characters
from the epic poems or gods from
mythology) here. Boccaccio takes one of
these characters, Ciacco, and later
incorporates him into The
Decameron (14thC).
LEVEL 4: GREED
Dante encounters more ordinary people,
but also the guardian of the
circle, Pluto. Virgil discusses the nation of
“Fortune” but they do not directly interact
with any inhabitants of this circle (the first
time they pass through a circle without
speaking to anyone – a comment on Dante’s
opinion of Greed as a higher sin).
lEVEl 5: angEr
Dante and Virgil are threatened
by the Furies when they try to
enter through the walls of Dis
(Satan). This is a further
progression in Dante’s evaluation
of the nature of sin; he also
begins to question himself and
his own life, realizing his
actions/nature could lead him to
this permanent torture.
lEVEl 6: HErEsy
Rejection of religious and/or
political “norms.” Dante
encounters
Farinata degli Uberti, a military
leader and an aristocrat tried to
win the Italian throne,
convicted of heresy in 1283.
Dante also meets Epicurus,
Pope Anastasius II, and
Emperor Frederick II.
LEVEL 7 : VIOLENCE
Violence: This is the first circle to be further segmented
into sub-circles or rings each ring houses different types
of violent criminals.
• The first are those who were violent against people
and property, such as Attila the Hun.
• The Middle Ring consists of those who commit
violence against themselves (suicide). These sinners
are perpetually eaten by Harpies.
• The Inner Ring is made up of the blasphemers, or
those who are violent against God and nature. One of
these sinners is Brunetto Latini, a sodomite, who was
Dante’s own mentor (note that Dante speaks kindly to
him). The usurers are also here, as are those who
blasphemed not just against “God” but also the gods,
such as Capaneus, who blasphemed against Zeus.
LEVEL 8: FRAUD
• This circle is distinguished from its
predecessors by its being made up of
those who consciously and willingly
commit fraud. Within the 8th circle,
there is another called
the Malebolge (“Evil Pockets”) which
houses 10
separate Bolgias (“ditches”). Each of
these Bolgias is guarded by different
demons, and the inhabitants suffer
different punishments
 lEVEl 9 : TrEacHEry
• Treachery: The deepest circle of Hell, where Satan resides.
 CAINA
• named after the Biblical Cain who murdered his own brother
• This round is for traitors to kindred (family).
ATENORA
• comes from Antenor of Troy who betrayed the Greeks.
• This round is reserved for political/national traitors.
Ptolomaea
• (for Ptolemy son of Abubus) who is known for inviting Simon Maccabaeus and his sons
to dinner and then murdering them. This round is for hosts who betray their guests;

Judecca
• after Judas Iscariot who betrayed Christ. This is the round reserved for traitors to their
lords/benefactors/masters. As in the previous circle, the subdivisions each have their
own demons and punishments.
purgatorio
The Divine Comedy
BEaTricE
One of the blessed in Heaven, Beatrice aids Dante’s
journey by asking an angel to find Virgil and bid him
guide Dante through Hell. Dante fell passionately in
love with her as a young man and never fell out of
it.Dante’s entire imaginary journey throughout the
afterlife aims, in part, to find Beatrice, whom he has
lost on Earth because of her early death. an
allegorical representation of spiritual love.
Purgatory is represented in the poem as a mountain in the
Southern Hemisphere which has Ante-Purgatory at the
bottom, then seven levels of suffering that are connected
to the seven deadly sins.
 The
Nine
Levels of
Purgatory
First Stage (Stubbornness)
The two poets encounter the souls
of those who delayed their
Christian life because of their
stubbornness to obey God’s laws.
They are to remain in here for a
time period that is thirty times
longer than the period which they
exhibited stubbornness.
Second Stage (Repentant)
This is the last part of Ante-Purgatory.

they encounter deceased kings who

were negligible during their rule,
people who never repented while
alive, and people who suffered
violent deaths but managed to repent
at the last minute.
THird sTagE (PridE)
This terrace that the poets enter first is full
of those that were prideful during their
earthly lives. The walls of the terrace have
sculptures with examples of humility,
which is the opposite of pride. This terrace
that the poets enter first is full of those that
were prideful during their earthly lives. The
walls of the terrace have sculptures with
examples of humility, which is the opposite of
pride.
Fourth Stage (Envy)
This terrace is filled with the souls of
envious penitents. Their earthly lives
were spent desiring what made other
people happy to the point they would
even harm them in order to deprive
them of this. Soon as they enter the
terrace, they hear voices that speak
examples of generosity, which is the
opposite of envy, and later on, they also
hear the voices speak examples of envy.
Fifth Stage (Wrath)
Next, the poets enter the third
terrace, which is filled with
souls of wrathful penitents.
Dante begins to have visions of
gentleness, which is an
example of the opposite virtue
of wrath.
sixTH sTagE (sloTH)
The next terrace contains the souls of those
who were slothful in their earthly lives.
Virgil explains Purgatory’s structure to
Dante and how it is determined by love.
The wrathful are forever preoccupied with
running around the terrace without rest,
since they never had zeal (the opposite of
sloth) in their earthly lives, especially when
it came to acting out of love
sEVEnTH sTagE (aVaricE)
Dante and Vergil enter the terrace of
the Avaricious and Prodigal.

The souls are being punished and purged

for desiring material goods with
extravagance, greed, or ambition.
Eighth Stage (Gluttony)

the poets witness their painful

punishment: they experience
excruciating hunger and thirst while
there are plenty of trees with fruit
around them.
Ninth Stage (Lust)
In the terrace of the lustful, the
penitent souls must run through a
great wall of flames. As they run
through it, they call out examples of
chastity, which is the opposite of
lust.
Paradiso
heaven
characters
 Justinian
•

•
 Cacciaguida
• In the sphere of Mars, Dante encounters the soul of
Cacciaguida, a distant ancestor of his. This encounter lasts for
three cantos, and is notable for being the point where Dante is
given the task of writing the Comedy itself when he returns to
earth - a good example of Dante's self-referentiality.
 the Italian poet describes his journey through Heaven, the
things he sees and people he encounters on the way to the so-
called Empyrean, the true home of God, saints, angels and the
souls of the faithful.
 The
Nine
Levels of paradiso
First Sphere (The Moon)
Here, they see the souls of those who failed
to keep their vows including the sister of
Dante’s friend Forese Donati, Piccarda
Donati and Queen Constance of Sicily, both
of whom were forced from their convents.
sEcond sPHErE (MErcury)
In the Second Sphere of Heaven or
Mercury, Dante and his guide Beatrice meet
the souls of those who were just and
righteous during their earthly lives but
were primarily driven by ambition. The
poet speaks to the Byzantine Emperor
Justinian
THird sPHErE (VEnus)
The Third Sphere of Heaven or Venus is
home to the souls of lovers who “earned”
their place in heaven with their love for
God and humanity.
Fourth Sphere (The Sun)
When reaching the Fourth Sphere of
Heaven or the Sun, Dante and Beatrice are
surrounded by a crown consisting of St.
Thomas Aquinas and eleven other souls of
wise men who also include Boethius, King
Solomon, Peter Lombard and the Venerable
Bede, to mention some of the most famous
ones. Then a second crown of twelve wise
men appears with St. Bonaventure as their
main spokesman.
Fifth Sphere (Mars)

The Fifth Sphere of Heaven or Mars is

home to holy warriors, whose souls are
forming the shape of a cross. Here, Dante is
approached by the soul of his great-great-
grandfather Cacciaguida who was killed
during the Second Crusade.
sixTH sPHErE (JuPiTEr)
The Sixth Sphere of Heaven or Jupiter is
“inhabited” by the souls of just rulers. They
spell out the Latin phrase “diligite iustitiam
qui iudicatis terram” (English: “cherish
justice, you who judge the earth”) and then
form a giant eagle that speaks to Dante
about divine justice and inscrutability.
sEVEnTH sPHErE (saTurn)
In the Seventh Sphere of Heaven or Saturn,
Dante encounters the spirits of people who
dedicated their lives to prayer, climbing up
and down a golden ladder. In this sphere,
the poet speaks to St. Peter Damian who
points out to the corruption of the Church
but he also meets St. Benedict who is
infuriated with the Church’s moral decline
as well.
Eighth Sphere (Fixed Stars)

Dante and Beatrice enter the Eighth Sphere

of Heaven or Fixed Stars in the
constellation of Gemini. Here, the poet and
his guide see the Virgin Mary and other
Biblical saints including the apostles of
Peter, John and James who test Dante on
faith, love and hope.
Ninth Sphere (Primum Mobile)
The last of the 9 Spheres of Heaven or the Primum
Mobile is also the last stop before the Empyrean and
the last of the physical Heavens as the Empyrean is
beyond space and time. After a brief discussion with
Beatrice on the place they’ve come to, Dante sees an
intensely bright light surrounded by nine circles
which, as he soon learns, are the nine orders of
angels surrounding God in the center. As they are
slowly ascending to the Empyrean, Beatrice tells
Dante the story of creation and history of the angels.
suMMary
The Divine Comedy
Moral lEsson
 Learn as much from
experience as you do from
books.
 Accept the
consequences of
your own moral
vision.
At the end of the day,
a man lives the life he
chooses.
The End