1. Paradise, Purgatory, or Hell?
Politician?
Religious skeptic?
Soldier in the Crusades?
Exile?
Created the levels of Hell?
Wife named Beatrice?
Yes: One of six Supreme Magistrates
No: But saw papal abuse/corruption
No, but was a soldier at one point
Yes: Lost his power/internal conflict
Yes, but used other sources as inspiration
No: Wife was Gemma.

2. Paradise, Purgatory, or Hell?
Virgil: great poet?
Dante’s journey a choice?
Guided by Virgil?
Epic Poem?
Virgil does not make it to Heaven?
Inferno part of a trilogy?
Dante’s mission is to save his wife?
Yes, he wrote the Aeneid No
Yes
Yes! Also a narrative poem
No, his philosophical beliefs in life bar him from entrance
Yes. Inferno, Purgatory, and Paradise

3. Location: The Dark Wood of Error
Canto 1
Location: The Dark Wood of Error
Symbols
Leopard: malice
Lion: fraud and ambition
She-Wolf: incontinence
Foreshadowing
Presage the numerological significance of three and the division of sins in hell

4. Location: The Dark Wood of Error
Canto 1
Location: The Dark Wood of Error
In the Middle Ages, Catholics were always on the lookout for numerical significance
Holy trinity = 3
Unity of God = 1
Numerology in The Inferno
Trilogy: Inferno, Purgatory, Paradise
Number of cantos: 33
Total number of cantos: 99+1
3 squared plus 1 = holy trinity plus unity of God
Terza Rima: Dante’s stanza
Three divisions of Hell
Sins with no victims
Sins with intent to harm
Sins of fraud and deceit

5. Location: The Dark Wood of Error
Canto 1
Location: The Dark Wood of Error
Terza Rima
Developed by Dante expressly for this trilogy
3 lines (tercet)
A chain or linked rhyme: ABA, BCB, CDC, etc.
No set rhythmn
I have been one acquainted with the night. (a)
I have walked out in rain—and back in rain. (b)
I have outwalked the furthest city light. (a)
I have looked down the saddest city lane. (b)
I have passed by the watchman on his beat (c)
And dropped my eyes, unwilling to explain. (b)

6. Location: The Dark Wood of Error
Canto 1
Location: The Dark Wood of Error
Symbolism
Virgil: human reason
Dante: mankind/ divine soul
Beatrice divine love
Two ways in which to read Dante:
Allegory: as a commentary on Dante’s society
Literary: as an expertly crafted creative and poetic masterpiece

7. Location: The Dark Wood of Error
Canto 1
Location: The Dark Wood of Error
The allegorical perspective:
Florence was a sovereign country (as opposed to its current status as city)
Its international presence and monetary might created a history of internal power struggles
The reigning factions were the Guelphs and the Ghibellines (Papal backed)
The Guelphs won out only to succumb to in-fighting (Blacks vs. Whites)
Dante’s rise to high office fell victim to his being on the losing side (Whites)
Dante felt a victim of
injustice (stripped of titles and exiled)
government corruption
religious corruption
family tragedy (orphaned in his teens)
societal amorality
The Divine Comedy is an allegorical investigation of the many crimes, injustices, and misdeeds Dante witnessed as well a catalog of direct and allusive references to individuals whose misdeeds Dante wished to call out.

8. Canto 2 Location: The Descent Virgil
Wrote the Aeneid (circa BCE)
a classic, ancient Greek work of narrative poetry
chronicles epic hero Aeneus
Was a literary father-figure to Dante
Look for Dante’s desire for approval and acceptance from such a figure throughout Inferno
Line 73

9. Location: The Vestibule of Hell
Canto 3
Location: The Vestibule of Hell
Major Topic:
Symbolic retribution: let the punishment fit the crime
Motif: Inaction, indecision, a lack of allegience to one side or the other is almost worse than a predominance toward good or evil.
Lines 30 to 66
Amongst those spotted is a Pope (first sign of Dante’s allegorical vengence)

10. Location: The Vestibule of Hell
Canto 3
Location: The Vestibule of Hell
Hell’s Gate:
I am the way into the city of woe.
I am the way to a forsaken people.
I am the way to eternal sorrow.
Sacred justice moved my architect.
I was raised here by divine omnipotence,
Primordial love and ultimate intellect.
Only those elements time cannot wear
Were made before me, and beyond time I stand.
Abandon all hope ye who enter here.
Anaphora: phrases or words generally repeated at the start of lines or sentences
Allusion: this stanza refers to God, creator of Dante’s universe
Metaphysics: this stanza alludes to supernatural elements beyond the study of physics
Trope: a common theme, device, or element

11. Location: The Vestibule of Hell
Canto 3
Location: The Vestibule of Hell
Minor Theme:
Those who take no side, are passionless in their lives and beliefs, deserve no specific reward or punishment in the afterlife.
Angels who took no side in the revolt in Heaven
Individuals who lived passionless lives
Major Theme:
One must harden oneself against sympathy for sinners.
Lines 118 to end

12. Location: The Vestibule of Hell
Canto 3
Location: The Vestibule of Hell
Charon
From Greek myth; ferryman to deceased souls on the river Styx; described by Virgil in his Aenid)
How does this relate to Dante’s orphan status?
Acheron
In The Inferno, river in front of which those waiting to pass into Hell congregate in epic numbers

13. Canto 3 Writing Prompt
Regarding The Inferno, you have an understanding of what lay ahead. How does Dante use the gateway to Hell as foreshadowing? Support your response with an explanation and specific examples. You may use Art History to help support your response, but provide at least one example from the text. Regardless of the structure you choose, provide a thesis statement. Be direct and be confident.

14. Canto 4 Location: Limbo Hell’s locale:
Hell is located at the center of our Earth
The realm of the Virtuous Pagans:
Reside on the lip of Hell’s deeps
Within the Dolorous Abyss just beyond the Acheron, surrounded by brooke
These are symbolic gestures

15. Canto 4 Location: Limbo The Citadel of Human Reason: Question:
Who resides outside of the Citadel of Human Reason?
Answer:
The unbaptized (including children and infants)
In real life, Dante was tormented by this belief accepted by orthodox Christians of the day
His deference to God’s omniscient will forces him to accept a truth that pains him

16. Canto 4 Location: Limbo Question:
What lesson does Virgil teach Dante on page 27?
Lesson starts on line 13
Answer:
Virgil reinforces Dante’s theme regarding hardening oneself against sympathizing with the fate of sinners

17. Canto 4 Location: Limbo The Citadel of Human Reason: Question:
We know that Virgil cannot lead Dante into Paradise. We know that the inhabitants of the Citadel have done no wrong. What larger statement (theme) is Dante making about human reason?
Answer:
Human reason is required to understand God’s omnipotence, but it must be transcended in order for one to become beatific.

18. Canto 4 Location: Limbo The Citadel of Human Reason:
A Melange of Residents:
Fictional
Aeneas
Hector
Electra
Historical
Caesar
Socrates
Plato
Lucan
Ovid
Horace
Homer
etc.

19. Canto 4 Location: Limbo The Harrowing of Hell:
Numerous allusions to this event are made throughout
The very entrance to Hell is permanently damaged as a result of God’s powerful redemption of the Old Testament believers
Adam
Noah
Moses
etc.

20. Canto 5 Location: Circle Two The carnal (lust):
Those individuals who gave in to earthly desires without thought or reason
Why does this place them a circle below those in The Citadel?
They denied reason
Why is this particular punishment fitting?
The wind is a symbol for lack of continence (self restraint); they can not steady themselves

21. Canto 5 Location: Circle Two Minos: Judge of the damned
Renders his decision through coiling of tail
Greek mythological creature
King if Crete
Victims of Note
Cleopatra (historical)
Paris (fictional hero)
Helen of Troy (historical?)
Achilles (fictional hero)
Featured Conversation: Paolo and Francesca
Much alluded to tale

22. Canto 5 Location: Circle Two Dante’s Second Swoon:
Where did we see Dante first swoon?
What theme does this swoon support?
What other parallel occurs after Dante’s swoon?

23. English vs. Italian
Hither and thither, upward and downward it drives them. Di qua, di la, di giu, di su li mena Leave behind every hope, you who enter Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate

24. Location: Circle Three
Canto 6
Location: Circle Three
The gluttons:
Those individuals whose appetites were over-indulged in life
Guarded over by Cerberus
Three headed dog
Greasy beard and bulging belly
Tears the shades apart
What is the atmosphere of circle three, and why is it fitting?
Soggy, putrid smelling ground
Hailstones, snow, filthy rain
Monotonous weather

25. Location: Circle Three
Canto 6
Location: Circle Three
Ciacco (The Hog):
Florentine (the first direct reference to Florentine citzenry)
Why is this important?
One of Dante’s purposes is to criticize Florentine society (he is angry!)
Dante asks Ciacco about the future because…
The damned can see into the future
Dante of literature has yet to be exiled

26. Location: Circle Three
Canto 6
Location: Circle Three
Ciacco indicates that Florence is doomed for three sins (three!!!!!)
Envy
Pride
Avarice
Ciacco predicts Dante’s political undoing
Dante the writer adds a lovely nuance:
“remember me to the sweet world”
Then on to … Plutus