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Dante’s Inferno

Dante’s Inferno. Dante Alighieri :1265-1321. Born in Florence; died exiled in Bologna Involved in politics in People’s Council of the Commune Resisted Pope Boniface’s attempt to secure control over Florence Ends up exiled in March, 1302; never returns to Florence

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Dante’s Inferno

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  1. Dante’s Inferno

  2. Dante Alighieri:1265-1321 • Born in Florence; died exiled in Bologna • Involved in politics in People’s Council of the Commune • Resisted Pope Boniface’s attempt to secure control over Florence • Ends up exiled in March, 1302; never returns to Florence • Writes The Divine Comedy while exiled in his early 40s (in a metaphorical dark wood)

  3. The Divine Comedy (1308-21) • Dante began writing while exiled • Reflects Dante’s readings of Virgil’s Aeneidand the Bible • Dante also read Ovid • Virgil leads Dante the Pilgrim through Hell and Purgatory • Virgil is a pagan poet – able to lead Dante out of the darkness; Virgil is good and honorable, but is denied salvation as born before the coming of Christ • Beatrice, the love of Dante’s life who died at 25, picks up the journey in Heaven • Beatrice, to Dante, is the embodiment of his understanding love and the love of God

  4. Sin in the world of Dante • Sin = what it means to fail totally as a person • Dante believed people have free agency in committing sin • Sins of incontinence vs. sins of malice • Sins of human nature vs. sins of the failure of human intellect • Contrapasso • Suffering either a continuation or a consequence of sin in life • Way people suffer in Hell, reflects Florentine legal system as well as their actual actions • Sin does not just affect the immortal soul, also social problem

  5. Structure of the poem • Three (the Holy Trinity, Confession/Contrition/Satisfaction • Inferno (Hell), Purgatorio (Purgatory), Paradiso (Heaven) • Thirty-three cantos per book; each canto written in tercets (three lines) • Nine circles of Hell (3x3) • Lucifer has three heads, three sets of wings • Seven (seven days of creation/seven deadly sins) • Seven marks on Dante’s forehead in Purgatory • Seven terraces in Purgatory • Ten (10 Commandments) • 100 cantos – perfect number and 10x10 • 10 parts to Heaven

  6. Inferno : Part one • Begins the night before Good Friday • Dante prevented from leaving wood by three creatures: lion, leopard, and she-wolf • Three parts of hell: sins of excessive love, deficient love, and malicious love • Paired with the transcendent love of God in Heaven • Virgil guides Dante through the woods into the circles of Hell

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