Goals:

1. Goals: Understand social and historical values as reflected and embodied in a literary work. Make connections between the historical and cultural events of the 14th century, and Dante’s inspiration for The Inferno.

2. The Inferno By Dante Alighieri

3. Dante Alighieri Biography • Born May of 1265 in Florence, Italy • Received early education in Florence • Attended the University of Bologna • Experiences included a tour in the Florence Army

4. Dante Alighieri Biography • His great love seems to have been Beatrice Portinari. • They met when they were children; Dante worshipped her his entire life. • Beatrice was Dante’s inspiration for The Divine Comedy. • After her death in 1290, he dedicated a memorial “The New Life” (La Vita Nuova) to her.

5. Dante Alighieri Biography • Dante entered an arranged marriage in 1291 with Gemma Donati, a noblewoman. • They had two sons and either one or two daughters.

6. Dante Alighieri Biography • By 1302, Dante was a political exile from Florence. • Most likely began The Divine Comedy after this exile.

7. Dante Alighieri Biography • Dante finished The Divine Comedy just before his death on September 14, 1321. • He was still in exile • Perhaps still bitter about his expulsion from Florence, Dante wrote on the title page of The Divine Comedy that he was “a Florentine by birth, but not in manner” (Bergin 444).

8. Dante’s Inferno: Historical Background End of the Middle Ages: God-centered; lived on earth to get into Heaven Beginning of Renaissance: Man-centered; rebirth of learning

9. Dante’s Inferno: Historical Background • The Renaissance influenced all of western civilization. • Trade flourished and prosperity thrived throughout much of the country. • Florence became the richest of the Italian city-states. • Italy had a wealth of conflicts during this time.

10. Dante’s Inferno: Historical Background • Multiple political units existed as a result of internal struggles for power and European states vying for influence. • The Guelph Political party (which favored independence & the Popes) and the Ghibelline Political party (which favored control by the Holy Roman Empire) were two such rival factions.

11. Dante’s Inferno: Historical Background • The French Kings supported the Popes • The Holy Roman Empire was controlled by the Germans; the French Kings were afraid of the Germans becoming too powerful so they supported the Popes. • Basically, Holy Roman Empire (Germans) vs. Independent city-states (Pope).

12. Dante’s Inferno: Historical Background • Dante’s birth in 1265 came at a time when the Guelph party (Independence) was in control of Florence. • Dante turned away from his Guelph heritage to embrace the imperial philosophy of the Ghibellines (H.R.E.) • His change in politics is best summed up in his treatise De Monarchia in which Dante states his belief in the separation of church and state. • The Ghibellines, however, were pushed from power by the Guelphs during Dante’s adulthood and confined to northern Tuscany.

13. Dante’s Inferno: Historical Background • The Guelph political party eventually divided into two groups: • The Whites (led by the Cerchi family) • The Blacks (led by the Donati family and later by Pope Boniface VIII). • Dante became a member of the Whites and served as an ambassador to talk with the Pope in Rome about conditions in Florence.

14. Dante’s Inferno: Historical Background • While Dante was out of town, the Blacks took over Florence. • The Blacks sentenced Dante to banishment from the city. • His punishment for return would be death. • His wanderings gave him time to write and to study the Scriptures. • This banishment also gave Dante his perspective on corruption of the fourteenth century papacy, a view that he would clearly describe in The Inferno.

15. Dante’s Inferno: Historical Background • In the year 1310, Henry VII became Holy Roman Emperor. • Dante believed that this German Prince would bring peace. • Henry VII died in 1313 and his Italian campaign collapsed. • Dante became disillusioned and left the political life • He ceased work on other materials he had begun and concentrated on The Divine Comedy.

16. Dante’s Inferno: Introduction • The Divine Comedy was not titled as such by Dante; his title for the work was simply Commedia or Comedy. • Dante’s use of the word “comedy” is medieval by definition and meant ‘a tale with a happy ending,’ not a funny story as the word has since come to mean.

17. Dante’s Inferno: Introduction • The work was a major departure from the literature of the day since it was written in Italian, not the Latin of most other important writing. • Political beliefs = Unity • He felt a universal language would help unify the country

18. Dante’s Inferno: Introduction • Dante felt the church of his time was no longer serving God • Allegory of the process of the individual’s search for God • Politics, history, mythology, religious leaders, and prominent people of the time, of literature, of the past, and of Dante’s personal life –including Beatrice – appear throughout The Divine Comedy.

19. Dante’s Inferno: Introduction • The Divine Comedy is made up of three parts, corresponding with Dante’s three journeys: Inferno (or Hell); Purgatorio (or Purgatory); and Paridisio (or Paradise). • Each part consists of a prologue and approximately 33 cantos. • Since the narrative poem is in an exalted form with a hero as its subject, it is an epic poem.

20. Dante’s Inferno: Introduction • The Divine Comedy describes Dante’s imaginary journey. • Midway on his journey through life, Dante realizes he has taken the wrong path. • The Roman poet Virgil searches for the lost Dante at the request of Beatrice. • He finds Dante in the woods on the evening of Good Friday in the year 1300 and serves as a guide as Dante begins his religious pilgrimage to find God. • To reach his goal, Dante passes through Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise.

21. Dante’s Inferno • Dante and Virgil enter the wide gates of Hell and descend through the nine circles of Hell. • In each circle they see sinners being punished for their sins on Earth; Dante sees the torture as Divine justice.

22. Dante’s Inferno • The sinners in the circles include: • Circle One – Those in limbo • Circle Two – The lustful • Circle Three – The gluttonous • Circle Four – The hoarders • Circle Five – The wrathful • Circle Six – The heretics • Circle Seven – The violent • Ring 1: Murderers, robbers, and plunderers • Ring 2: Suicides and those harmful to the world • Ring 3: Those harmful against God, nature, art, as well as usurers

23. Dante’s Inferno: Introduction • On Easter Sunday, Dante emerges from Hell. • Through his travels, he has found his way to God and is able, once more, to look upon the stars.

24. Primitivity Man and the Natural World Lies and Deceit Justice Language and Communication Wisdom and Knowledge Compassion and Forgiveness Love Time Respect and Reputation The Inferno: Themes

27. http://vimeo.com/13785406