DIVINE COMEDY band of rebels out of Heaven with such force

that they created a giant hole in the Earth.

BY DANTE ALIGHIERI
o Satan was cast all the way to the very center
Structure of Story of the Earth, has remained there since, and
will remain there through all of eternity.
 The Divine Comedy is composed of
14,233 lines that are divided into three Circle 1: Those in Limbo
canticas (Italian plural cantiche)
Circle 2: The Lustful:
- Inferno (Hell)
- Purgatori (Purgatory) Circle 3: The Gluttonous
- Paradiso (Paradise)
Circle 4 The Hoarders
 Each consisting of 33 cantos (Italian
plural canti). An initial canto, serving as Circle 5: The Wrathful
an introduction to the poem and
Circle 6: The Heretics
generally considered to be part of the
first cantica, brings the total number of Circle 7: The Violent
cantos to 100.
 Additionally, the verse scheme used,  Ring 1: Murderers, Robberers &
terza rima, is hendecasyllabic (lines of Plunders
eleven syllables), with the lines  Ring 2: Suicides and those harmful to
composing tercets according to the the world
rhyme. scheme aba, bcb, cdc, ded,  Ring 3: Against GOD, Nature & Art

SYPNOSIS: DIVINE COMEDY Circle 8: The Fraudulent

 Trench I: Panderers & Seducers
 Dante Pilgrim has not been a good boy.
 Trench II: Flatterers
His dead love Beatrice asks the Virgin
 Trench III: Simoniacs
Mary to help him see the error of his
 Trench IV: Sorcerers
ways. Mary accepts and Dante is sent on
 Trench V: Barrators
a three-day trip through Hell, and on up
 Trench VI: Hyprocrites
Mount Purgatory on the other side of the
 Trench VII: Theives
world, and finally to Heaven in the sky.
 Trench VIII: Evil Counselors
He is spiritually lost at the beginning of
 Trench IX: Sowers of Discord
the story, so he needs guides to help him
 Trench X: Falsifiers
along the path.
 Virgil (1st Guide) - Author of Aeneid Circle 9: Traitors
 Beatrice (2nd Guide) - The woman he
adored while she lived  Region 1: Kindred
 Region 2: Country
 Saint Bernard (3rd Guide) - Namesake
 Region 3: Guests
of the loyal dog. who takes him to see
 Region 4: Lords
GOD
o The physical aspect of Hell is a gigantic Canto I: The dark world of Errors
funnel that leads to the very center of the
Earth.  The Inferno follows the wanderings of
o According to the legend used by Dante, this the poet Dante as he strays off the
huge, gigantic hole in the Earth was made rightful and straight path of moral truth
when God threw Satan (Lucifer) and his and gets lost in a dark wood.
  And that, folks, is just the beginning. At
the age of thirty-five, on the night of
Good Friday in the year 1300, Dante
finds himself lost in a dark wood and Canto IV: The virtuous Pagan (Circle 1-
full of fear. limbo)
 Just as three wild animals threaten to
attack him. Dante is rescued by ghost of  The first circle of Hell (Limbo),
Virgil, a celebrated roman poet and also considered pre-Hell, just contains all of
Dante’s idol the unbaptized and good people born
and before the coming of Christ, who
Canto II: The descent obviously couldn't be saved by him.
 When asked why he came, Virgil The first circle of Hell (Limbo): Virgil resides
answers that the head honchos of here, along with a bunch of other Greek and
Heaven-the Virgin Mary and Santa Roman poets.
Lucia-felt sorry for Dante.
Dante encounters the poets Homer, Horace,
 Virgil asked the deceased love-of
Ovid, and Lucan, who include him in their
Dante's-life, Beatrice, to send someone
number and make him "sixth in that high
down to help him. Virgil to the rescue!
company".
He's an appropriate guide because he's
very much like Dante, a fellow writer Canto V: The lustful Circle 2
and famous poet.
 Dante and Virgil leave Limbo and enter
Canto III: The opportunist’s (gate) the Second Circle the
-first of the circles of Incontinence -
 Dante passes through the gate of Hell,
where the punishments of Hell proper
which bears an inscription ending with
begin. It is described as "a part where
the famous phrase Lasciate ogne
nothing gleams. They find their way
speranza, vor ch'intrate", most
hindered by the serpentine
frequently translated as "Abandon all
hope ye who enter here’’  Minos. - who judges all of those
condemned for active. deliberately
 Dante and his guide hear the anguished
willed sin to one of the lower circles. He
screams of the Uncommitted. These are
sentences each soul to its torment by
the souls of people who in life took no
wrapping his tall around himself a
sides; the opportunists who were for
corresponding number of times.
neither good nor evil, but merely
concerned with themselves.  In the second circle, lustful sinners are
tossed around by endless storms.
 After passing through the vestibule,
Dante and Virgil reach the ferry that will  Dante speaks to the soul of Francesca da
take them across the river Acheron and Rimini, a woman who was stuck in a
to Hell proper. The ferry is piloted by loveless, arranged marriage and
Charon, who does not want to let Dante committed adultery when she fell in
enter, for he is a living being love with a dashing youth named Paolo.
 Virgil forces Charon to take him Canto VI – The Gluttonous Circle 3
however, the passage across the
Acheron is undescribed, since Dante  Cerberus - the monstrous three-headed
faints and does not awaken until he is on beast of Hell, ravenously guards the
the other side. gluttons lying in the freezing mire,
 mauling and flaying them with his claws Canto XII: The violent against neighbors
as they howl like dogs. (circle 7)
 Dante then awakes in the third circle,
 The circle houses the violent. Its entry is
where the Gluttonous sinners suffer
guarded by Minotaur.
under a cold and filthy rain.
 Divided into 3 rings
Canto VII: The avaricious and Prodigal Outer – Violent against their
(Circle 4) neighbors
Middle ring – Violent against
 Virgil leads Dante on to the fourth
themselves
circle, where the Avaricious (greedy
Inner ring – Violent against their
people) and Prodigal (reckless spenders)
God
roll heavy weights in endless circles.
 Guarded by Plutus As they cross from the 6th circle, where the
violent are punished, Virgil finally begins
Canto VIII: The wrath and Sullen (Circle5 – explaining the layout of Hell.
The river styx)
Canto XII: The violent against their
 The next stop on the tour is the fifth neighbors (Circle 7) Outer ring
circle, where the Wrathful and Sullen
are immersed in the muddy river Styx.  Outer ring housing the violent against
 While they are crossing the Styx, a people and property, who are immersed
sinner named Filippo Argenti reaches in Phlegethon-a River of boiling blood,
out to Dante (presumably for help). but to a level commensurate with their sins.
Dante angrily rejects him.
Canto XIII: The violent against their
Canto IX-XI The wrath and Sullen (Circle 5 themselves (Circle 7) Middle ring
Gate of Dios)
Middle ring - In this ring are the suicides, who
 Now at the gates of a city called Dis, are transformed into gnarled thorny bushes and
Virgil takes it upon himself to persuade trees.
the demon guards to let them pass. *The trees are a metaphor; In life the only way
Unexpectedly, he fails. of the relief of suffering was through pain
 The walls of Dios are guarded by fallen (suicide)
angels
 This means that instead of continuing on Canto XIV-XVII: The violent against GOD,
with the Journey, Dante and Virgil must NATURE AND ART neighbors (Circle 7)
wait for an angel to come down and Inner ring
force open the gates for them.
Inner ring - All reside in a desert of flaming
Canto IX-XI The heretic (Circle 6) sand with fiery flakes raining from the sky.
Violent against:
 After passing the city of Dis, our
dynamic duo, enters the sixth circle, GOD-blasphemers,
where the Heretics lay in flery tombs. Nature -Sodomites;
 Dante talks to Farinata degli Uberti, who
predicts that Dante will have difficulty Art - Usurers
returning to Florence from exile.

Canto XVIII: The fraudulent (Cicle 8)

  Finally, Dante and Virgil ready Trench IX Sowers of Discord
themselves to cross to the eighth circle.
Trench X Falsifiers
Dante, at Virgil's command, summons
the beast Geryon from the depths with a Circle 9: Traitors
cord wrapped around his waist.
 Geryon, symbol of deceit Region 1: Kindred
 Virgil stays to talk with the beast while Region 2 Country
urging Dante to look at the last of the
Violent sinners. When Dante comes Region 3. Guests
back, they mount Geryon and ride the Region 4: Lords
beast during the descent into the eighth
circle. Canto XVIII The fraudulent Circle 8
 The eighth circle contains ten pouches,
Trench I panderers and Seducers
each containing different types of
sinners. Trench II: Flatterers
Dante's Inferno  Panderers and Seducers walks in
separate line in oppositive direction,
Circle 1: Those in Limbo
whipped by demons.
Circle 2: The Lustful  Latteres are steeped in human excrement

Circle 3: The Gluttonous Canto XIX-XX The fraudulent – Circle 8

Trench III: Simoniacs Trench IV: Sorcerers
Circle 4: The Hoarders
Simoniacs – Those who committed simony are
Circle 5: The Wrathful place head first in holes in the rock with flames
Circle 6: The Heretics burning on the soles of their feet

Circle 7: The Violent Sorcerers and False prophets – they have their
head twisted around their bodies backwards, so
- Ring 1 Murderers, Robbers & Plunders they can only see what is behind them and not
- Ring 2 Suicides and those harmful to the the future
world
- Ring 3 Against GOD, Nature & Art Canto XXI-XXIII The fraudulent (Circle8)
Trench VI: Hypocrites Trench VII: Thieves
Circle 8: The Faudulent
Corrupt politicians (barrotors) are immersing
Trench 1: Panderors & Soducers in a lake of boiling pitch, guarded by devils, the
Malebranche.
Trench II: Flotterers
Hypocrites listlessly walking along wearing
Trench III: Simonas
gold-glided leak cloaks.
Trench IV Sorcerers
Trench V Barrators
Trench VI Hyprocrites
Trench VII Thieves
Trench Vlll: Evil Counselors