EPICS

Inferno
Objectives:
Establish the author’s life.
Demonstrate how the context shaped the content.
Define an allegory.
Analyze the literal and figurative levels of allegory.
Explain striking lines.
Determine how modern perceptions affect the concepts
of sin and punishment.

D
Behind the
Text:
ante Alighieri was born in 1265 and
his early years were formed with the
stories of the Italy’s then current
ruling party’s victory. After the long
conflict between the factions of the
Ghibellines (favoring the “old
Imperial aristorcracy) and the Guelfs
(favoring the Pope), the Guelfs (the
party to which Dante’s family
belongs to) emerged victorious.
Other notions about his youth were
gleaned from his book of poems, La
Vita Nouva (The New Life) which he
dedicated to his “inspiration”—Beatrice Portinari. They were said to have met at a
May Day Party at the Portinari home when Dante was nine years old—here Dante is
said to have been awakened into love. They meet again nine years later but
misunderstandings drove them apart so Beatrice married another man. Her sudden
death in 1290 left the man heartbroken. Although he married Gemma, the sister of his
friend, his life continued on under the shadow of Beatrice’s spirit. But side by side
this tragic romantic figure of Dante is his life as an active political figure. During his
time as a family man, the conflicting parties of the “Blacks” and the “Whites” split
Florence. Here is the peak of his political career as he is elected as one of the six
supreme magistrates, the priors. But with the intervention of Pope Boniface VIII, the
Blacks eventually purged the Whites luckily Dante who belonged to the Whites was
not in Florence at that moment. Here began Dante’s life in self-exile, he could not
return to his home nor his family or he’ll be persecuted. During these years of living
from patron to patron, Dante composed what would be
his masterpiece The Divine Comedy before his death in
1321. Extreme
Introduction
Close-Up
Allegory
The Divine Comedy deals with
the journey of the character An allegory is a
“Dante” through the various narrative that takes
realms of the afterworld place on both literal
beginning with Hell (“The and figurative levels.
Recognition of Sin”), then ‘Settings, objects, and
through Purgatory (“The events are only
Renunciation of Sin”) before representational.
finally reaching Heaven or Characters are
Paradise (“Pinnacle of Joy”). incarnations of abstract
For the first two realms, he is ideas, for example,
guided by Virgil (Dante Alighieri’s idol) but in heaven faith, hope, or desire.’
he is guided by none other than Beatrice.

In the Inferno, Dante traverses the various dimensions

and levels of Hell itself and here the sins and
punishments are vividly manifested. Three main groups
of sins emerged: the sins of incontinence, violence,
and fraud.

The Inferno
Summary
REGIONS OF HELL SINNERS PUNISHMENTS
VESTIBULE OPPORTUNISTS Chasing Banners, Stung by Insects,
Fed on by Worms and Maggots
CIRCLE 1: Limbo UNBAPTIZED, VIRTUOUS PAGANS Hopelessness
SINS OF INCONTINENCE
CIRCLE 2 LUSTFUL Blown forever by storm winds
CIRCLE 3 GLUTTONS Huge hailstones, dirty rain, black
snow, immersion in a huge garbage
dump
CIRCLE 4 HOARDERS & WASTERS Pushing rocks and heavy weights =
 useless labor
CIRCLE 5 WRATHFUL AND SULLEN
I had not thought death had undone so many
Constant fights while trapped in
as passed before me in that
slime; mournful
Entombed train.
in mud

CIRCLE 6 HERETICS Burning Tombs

SINS OF VIOLENCE
CIRCLE 7: ROUND VIOLENCE AGAINST NEIGHBORS Immersed in boiling blood
1 (Tyrants & Murderers) For when we read how her fond smile was
Midway in our life’s journey, I went astray
CIRCLE 7: ROUND VIOLENCE AGAINST SELF kissedEncased by such in
a lover, he who
trees and is by
fed on oneharpies
with me is
from the straight
2 road and woke to find myself
(Suicide & Squanderer)
alive and dead breathed on my lips the tremor
alone in a dark
CIRCLE wood. HowVIOLENCE
7: ROUND shall I sayAGAINST
what GOD, ART, & Lying on the plain of burning sand while
3 NATURE of his kiss. That book,
there is a and
rain he wrote it, was a
of fire
wood that was! I never saw(Blasphemers,
so drear, so rank,
Usurers, & Perverts) pander. That day we read no further.
so arduous a wilderness! Its very memory SINS OF FRAUD (TREACHERY)
CIRCLE
gives shape 8 Death could
to fear. AGAINST
scarceTHOSE
be WITH NO
SPECIAL TRUST
more bitter than that
BOLGIA 1 place! But since it came
SEDUCERS & PANDERERS Endless march while being whipped by
to good, I will recount all that I found revealed demons
BOLGIA 2 FLATTERERS Covered in filth
there3by God’s grace.
BOLGIA SIMONIACS Hanging upside down in a hole with the
feet on fire
BOLGIA 4 SOOTHSAYERS Heads twisted backwards while walking
BOLGIA 5 GRAFTERS Covered in boiling pitch
BOLGIA 6 HYPOCRITES Wearing mantles of lead
BOLGIA 7 THIEVES Snake pit and constant transformation
‘Sullen were8we in the air made
BOLGIA EVILsweet by the
COUNSELORS Concealed in flames
BOLGIA 9 SOWERS OF DISCORD Constant Wounding and Mutilation
Sun; in the glory of his shining FALSIFIERS
our hearts
BOLGIA 10 All kinds of diseases ( leprosy, madness,
poured bitter smoke. Sullen were we Impersonators,
(Alchemists, begun; fever, dropsy, etc.)
Counterfeiters, &
sullen we lie forever in this ditch.’ False Witnesses)
CIRCLE 9 AGAINST THOSE WITH SPECIAL
TRUST
CAINA Against Kin Covered in ice from feet to neck with
head bent forward
ANTENORA Against Country Covered in ice from feet to neck
PTOLEMEA Against Guests and Hosts Covered in ice from feet to neck with
head bent backward
JUDAICA Against Lords and Benefactors Completely covered in ice

CENTER OF HELL Satan & The Three Greatest Traitors Satan’s Eternal Dinner

Quotable Quotes:
 My Guide and I crossed over and began to
mount that little known and lightless road
to ascend into the shining world again. He
first, I second, without thought of rest we
climbed the dark until we reached the point
where a round opening brought in sight the
blest and beauteous shining of the Heavenly
cars. And we walked out once more
Memorable Characters in the beneathInferno:the Stars.

Pope Celestine V Attila the Hun

Charon Dido
I AM THE WAY INT0 THE CITY OF WOE.
Cleopatra Geryon
I AM THE WAY TO A FORSAKEN PEOPLE.
Paris Pope Nicholas III
I AM THE WAY INTO ETERNAL SORROW.
Helen Caiaphas
SACRED JUSTICE MOVED MY ARCHITECT.
Achilles Ulysses
I WAS RAISED HERE BY DIVINE OMNIPOTENCE,
Cerberus PRIMORDIAL LOVE AND ULTIMATE INTELLECT. Diomede
Paolo & Francesca Potiphar’s Wife
ONLY THOSE ELEMENTS TIME CANNOT WEAR
Ciacco the Hog Sinon the Greek
WERE MADE BEFORE ME, AND BEYOND TIME I STAND.
Phlegyas ABANDON ALL HOPE YE WHO ENTER Titans & Giants
HERE.
Pope Anastasius Brutus
Chiron Cassius
Alexander the Great Judas Iscariot
Questions to Ponder:
1. Based on your understanding of the text, what is incontinence? What is
violence? What is fraud?

2. Why is Virgil the one tasked to guide Dante?

3. Who are the heavenly ladies that are involved in Dante’s quest?

4. What are the origins of the specified sinners and creatures that Dante
encounters in his journey through hell?

5. How will you describe the relationship between the sins and their punishments?

6. What sins do not belong to the three main groups of sins? Why do you think is
this so?

7. How will you describe the ranking of the sins in the Inferno (remember the
lower you go into hell the greater the sin supposedly)?

8. What context do you think contributed to Dante’s vision of Hell?

Sources:

Ciardi, J., trans. (2001). The Inferno. Dante Alighieri. New York, New York: Signet
Classic.

DiYanni, R. (2000). Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Singapore:

McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Gillespie, S., Fonseca, T., and Pipolo, T. (2005). World Literature: Connecting Nations
and Cultures. 4th ed. New York: Pearson Education, Inc.

“The Inferno: Top Ten Quotes.” Available:

<http://www.novelguide.com/TheInferno/toptenquotes.html > Retrieved on 28 May
2012.

(1998). World Literature. Annotated Teacher’s Edition. Orlando, Florida: Holt,

Rinehart, and Winston, Inc.
Images:

<http://students.cis.uab.edu>

<http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Gustave_Doré_-
_Dante_Alighieri_-_Inferno_>

<http://visually.visually.netdna-cdn.com/>

<http://29.media.tumblr.com/>

<http://images2.bridgemanart.com>

Pre-Activities
A. Show a clip of Jigoku Shoujo (Hell Girl). Ask the question:
What is the basis here for deciding to send
someone to hell?

B.
Name: ________________________________________ Date: ___________
Section: ___________________ Score:
Activity: Do you remember?
A. Look at the following pictures. Identify which sin is being depicted in each.

1. ___________
2. __________

3. ___________
4. ___________

5. ___________

B. Choose one of the quotable quotes. Explain it in 3-5 sentences.

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Name: ________________________________________ Date: ___________
Section: ___________________ Score:
Activity:
Analyze some of the various allegories of the INFERNO. What is their literal meaning?
What is their figurative meaning?

ALLEGORIES LITERAL MEANING FIGURATIVE MEANING

WOOD OF ERROR

SULLENS
ENTOMBED IN
MUD

DISEASE-LADENED
FALSIFIERS

SINON THE
GREEK

MANTLES OF LEAD

SATAN

Name: ________________________________________ Date: ___________

Section: ___________________ Score:
Post-Activity:
RESEARCH THE MODERN DEPICTIONS OF HELL. Choose the one which you think suits
your concept of hell the most. Draw a picture of it or paste a picture of it (if you
find one). Write a short explanation on how different your hell is from Dante’s
Hell.

________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________

Name: ________________________________________ Date: ___________

Section: ___________________ Score:

QUIZ
 Look at the indicated fictional characters. Based on what you know about them,
identify what sin they are guilty of in the context of Dante’s Hell. Justify your
answer.

CHARACTERS SIN JUSTIFICATION

1. DR. JEKYLL/MR. HYDE

2. ROBIN HOOD

3. SASUKE UCHIHA
(Naruto)

4. ROMEO & JULIET

5. LEX LUTHOR
(Superman)

6. DARTH VADER
(Star Wars)

7. PADRE DAMASO
(Noli Me Tangere)

8. PENGUIN
(Batman)

9. URSULA
(The Little Mermaid)

10. JACK THE RIPPER

Appendix
Terminologies
Cantos
 A canto is equivalent to a chapter.

Sullen

The sullen do not see the beauty and the goodness, all they see is the darkness.

Squanderer

A squanderer is one who wastes possessions, opportunities—one who wastes away his or her life.

Usurer

A usurer harms artistic works, does not value artistic skills, and hurts artists.

Panderer

A panderer is a person who illicit affairs between people, i.e. pimp.

Simoniacs

Simoniacs are spiritual leaders corrupted by personal desires.

Soothsayers

Soothsayers are fortunetellers.