Inferno - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Inferno

By Dante AlighieriSlide2

LIFE AND TIMES

Dante was born in 1265 in Florence.

At the age of 9 he met for the first time the eight-year-old

Beatrice

Portinari, who became in effect his Muse, and remained, after her death in 1290, the central inspiration for his major poems.1285: he married and began a family1302: when he was exiled from Florence, he was active in the cultural and civic life of Florence, served as a soldier and held several political offices.Slide3

The GUELFS and the GHIBELLINES

Competed for control of Florence

The

Guelfs

, with whom Dante was allied, were identified with Florentine political autonomy (independence or freedom)The Ghibellines supported the Hohenstaufen emperors1268: the Guelfs became the dominant force in Florence, by the end of the century, the

Guelfs

became divided (grounded in family and economic interests), became the “Whites” and “Blacks”Slide4

The GUELFS and the GHIBELLINES

1301: conflict arose between the Blacks (the faction most strongly committed to

Guelf

and papal interests) and the more moderate Whites, Pope Boniface VIII instigated a partisan settlement which

allowed the Blacks to exile the White leadership, of whom Dante was oneDante never returned to Florence, and played no further role in public life, but remained passionately interested in Italian politicsDuring the next twenty years Dante lived in several Italian cities1319: he moved from Verona to Ravenna, where he completed the Paradiso, and where he died in 1321Slide5

INFERNO

by DANTE ALIGHIERI

Inferno

is part of an epic poem

There are 3 parts to the epic, The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Purgatorio, and ParadisioTells the story of Dante’s journey through Hell, guided by the Roman poet, Virgil (narrated by Dante)

Shades

: souls residing in HellSlide6
Slide7

CIRCLE I (LIMBO) ~ THE UNBAPTISED, VIRTUOUS PAGANS

Geography

: green fields, ground is firm, grassy and pleasant, air is clean and fresh

Sin

: all of the people in Limbo are virtuous and sinless, but who for the lack of a single ceremony cannot be admitted into ParadisePunishment: loss of Hope; they must exist in desire for the glory of God (often a God who they do not believe in), without ever being able to attain itFigures: Virgil

,

Homer

, Horace, Ovid,

Caesar,

Lucretia

, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Democritus, Thales, Heraclitus, Euclid, Hector, Aeneas,

Epictatus

, Ptolemy, and Hippocrates, great thinkers, classic poets, great menSlide8

CIRCLE II ~ THE LUSTFUL

Geography

: there is an eternal storm

Sin

: excess of sexual passion, those souls who in life made pleasure their hope, with reason and love of God secondPunishment: infernal storm that lashes at them in darkness with rage and punishment, spinning through the air, blown about in pairs, they cry out lamentations and insults to God as they go, standing on the ground in the Second Circle are unsuccessful lovers

attempting

to be caught up by the winds of passion.

Figures

:

Semiramis

, Cleopatra,

Helen, Achilles, Paris

, TristanSlide9

MINOS

Minos

wraps his long tail around the body of the sinner. The number of times is equal to the soul's assigned level (circle) of Hell.Slide10

CIRCLE III ~ THE GLUTTONOUS

Geography

: mixture of stinking snow and freezing rain, which forms into a vile slush

underfoot;

a winding, dangerous trail leads down the precipice to the Fourth Circle.Sin: wallow in food and drink, produce nothing but garbage and offal (rubbish)Punishment: lie half-buried in the icy paste, swollen and exposed, and Cerberus, the ravenous three-headed dog of Hell, stands guard over them, ripping and tearing them with his claws and teethFigures: allusions to Last Judgement and Florentine politics, Ciacco (unknown reference)Slide11

CIRCLE IV

~

AVARICE AND PRODIGALITY

Geography

: a flat plain of hard-baked claySin: greed/lust for material gain, spending too freelyPunishment: the sinners are divided into two raging mobs, each bearing a great boulder-like weight, two mobs meet clashing their weights against one another, after meeting the mobs separate, pushing the great weights apart, and begin all over again, insult each other in the processFigures: monks and church leaders (cardinals and popes)Slide12

CIRCLE V ~ WRATH AND SULLENESS

Geography

: stinking swamp covered by thick fog, river Styx

Sin

: anger that is expressed, and anger that is repressedPunishment: partially submerged in the filthy river Styx, the wrathful ruthlessly attack themselves and one another, the sullen stew below the surface of the muddy swampFigures: Phlegyas (set fire to the temple of Apollo because the god had raped his daughter), Filippo

Argenti

(Dante's natural political enemy), 3 Furies, MedusaSlide13

THE RIVER STYX

The Styx is a body of water--a marsh or river--in the classical underworld.

Charon

ferries souls of the dead. The Styx, according to Dante's design, is a vast swamp encompassing the fifth circle of hell, in which the wrathful and sullen are punished.

It also serves a practical purpose in the journey when Dante and Virgil are taken by Phlegyas--in his swift vessel--across the marsh to the city of Dis.Slide14

THE CITY OF DIS

Dante designates all of lower hell--circles 6 through 9, where more serious sins are punished--as the walled city of Dis.

For Dante,

Dis

stands both for Lucifer and the lower circles of his infernal realm. Details of the city and its surroundings include moats, watch towers, high walls, and a well guarded entrance.Slide15

CIRCLE VI ~ HERETICS

Geography

: a huge cemetery filled with open tombs with fire coming out of them

Sin

: the denial of the soul's immortality, a product of bitter disputes over Christian doctrine (understanding the Trinity and Christ)Punishment: souls eternally tormented in fiery tombsFigures: Farinata (a Florentine leader of the Ghibellines), Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti (member of a rich and powerful Guelph family), Guido Cavalcanti

(Dante's best friend), Epicurus (Greek philosopher), Frederick II (the last in the line of reigning Holy Roman Emperors),

Guelphs

and GhibellinesSlide16

CIRCLE VII (RING 1) ~ VIOLENCE

Geography

: divided into three rings (1

st

: a river of blood)Sin: violence against others (murderers/bandits)Punishment: souls submerged in a river of boiling blood, depth determined by the severity of the sinFigures: Minotaur (man's head and bull's body or reversed), Centaurs (men from the waist up with lower bodies of horses) guard the first ringSlide17

CIRCLE VII (RING 2) ~ VIOLENCE

Geography

: 2

nd

: horrid forestSin: violence against self (suicide)Punishment: punished by Harpies (foul creatures with the head of a woman and body of a bird), they are perched in the suicide-trees, whose leaves they tear and eat--thus producing both pain and an outlet for the accompanying laments of the souls Figures: Harpies, Pier della Vigna (was an accomplished poet, killed himself by smashing his head into a wall)Slide18

CIRCLE VII (RING 3)~ VIOLENCE

Geography

: , 3

rd

: inside the other , barren plain of sand ignited by flakes of fireSin: violence against god and nature (blasphemers/sodomites/usurers – obtaining money in God’s name for a selfish purpose)Punishment: souls eternally tormented in fiery tombsFigures: Capaneus (huge and powerful warrior-king who virtually embodied defiance against his highest god), Brunetto Latini (a prominent Guelph who spent many years living in exile, sodomite) Slide19

THE RIVER PHLEGETHON

“River or fire”

Overflow of river of blood in Circle I

Geryon: has an honest face, a colorful and intricately patterned reptilian hide, hairy paws, and a scorpion's tail, Geryon is an image of fraud - the realm to which he transports Dante and Virgil (Circles 8 and 9).Slide20

CIRCLE VIII (MALEBOLGE) ~ FRAUD

Geography

: divided into ten gulfs, each with varying geography

Sins and Punishments

: Panderers and Seducers - scourged/lashed by demonsFlatterers - remain immersed in filthSimonists

(profiting on sacred objects)

- submerged in apertures with only their feet sticking up, the soles of their feet are covered in flames

Diviners, Astrologers, and Magicians

- faces are reversed so they are forced to walk backwards

Barrators

or Public Peculators (fraud/theft/embezzlement of public or company funds)

- plunged in a lake of boiling pitch guarded by demons

Hypocrites

- pace continuously around the gulf under the pressure of caps and hoods that are gilt on the outside and leaden within

Thieves and Robbers

- tormented by venomous and pestilent serpents

Evil counselors

- engulfed in flames

Sowers of Scandal and Discord (Dispute)

- limbs are maimed or divided in different ways

Falsifiers (Alchemists/Forgers)

– each soul is plagued with a disease or physical deformitySlide21

CIRCLE VIII (MALEBOLGE) ~ FRAUD

Guardians/Demons

:

Geryon

, demons (1st and 5th), serpents, Cacus (angry centaur to punish Fucci) Figures: Pope Nicholas the Fifth, Amphiaraus

, Tiresias,

Aruns

, Manto

, Catalano and

Loderingo

(knights of St. Mary),

Vanni

Fucci

(black Guelph who pillaged church of St. James)

, Diomede and Ulysses (Greek heroes from the war of Troy), Count Guido

da

Montefeltro

(Italian figure from Dante’s time), Mohammed (founder of Islam),

Piero

da

Medicina

, Curio,

Mosca

,

Bertrand de Born (

allegedly instigated a rift between King Henry II of England and his son,

Bertran

is now himself physically divided: he carries his decapitated head, which--though separated from the body, inexplicably manages to speak)

,

Grifolino

of Arezzo,

Capocchio

of Siena,

Sinon

of Troy,

Adamo

of BresciaSlide22

THE WELL OF GIANTS

The giants encompass/guard the outer ring of the ninth circle.

The Giants physically connect circles 8 and 9: standing on the floor of circle 9, the upper halves of their huge bodies tower over the inner edge of circle 8. From a distance, Dante initially mistakes the Giants for actual towers.

Nimrod: described in the Bible as a "stout hunter before the Lord" (Genesis 10:9)Ephialtes: one of the Giants who fought against Jove and the other Olympian godsAntaeus: drawn from classical Greek tradition, lifts and places Dante and Virgil in the 9th circleSlide23

CIRCLE IX ~ TRAITORS

Geography

: four

circles (

Caina, Antenora, Ptolomea, Judecca) each inside the next; surrounded by giants; near center of Hell; Dante calls circle 9, a frozen lake, Cocytus (from Greek, meaning "to lament")Sin: treachery - defined in

Inferno

as

fraudulent acts between individuals who share special bonds of love and trust Slide24

CAINA

Sin

:

traitors to kin

Punishment: immersed face down in the iceFigures: Camiccione de’ Pazzi, Francesca identified her husband (Gianciotto)--who murdered her and Paolo (Gianciotto's brother)--as a future inhabitant of

Caina

, two

brothers, the

Ghibelline

Napoleone

and the

Guelph

Alessandro, who murdered one another because of a dispute over their inheritanceSlide25

ANTENORA

Sin

:

traitors to their country

Punishment: gnawing on each otherFigures: Bocca degli Abbati (a Ghilibene by practice,

Bocca

pretended to

fight on the side of the Guelphs

, and betrayed

his

Guelph

countrymen at a decisive moment in the

battle), Count

Ugolino

de’

Gherardeschi

is chewing on Archbishop Ruggeri’s headSlide26

PTOLOMEA

Sin

:

traitors to their guests

Punishment: their souls descend immediately to hell and their living bodies are possessed by demons when they commit these acts; head up in ice with eyes frozenFigures: Friar Alberigo de’ Manfredi, Fra Alberigo Slide27

JUDECCA

Sin

:

traitors to their benefactors (region named after Judas Iscariot)

Punishment: their souls are completely frozen in ice and locked in various postures with no mobility or sound whatsoever; exception for Judas, Brutus, and CassiusFigures: Judas, Brutus, and Cassius are all in the mouths of Lucifer (Brutus/Cassius feet first, Judas head first)Slide28

LUCIFER

Lucifer, Satan,

Dis

, Beelzebub--Dante throws every name in the book at the Devil, once the most beautiful angel (Lucifer means "light-bearer")

Lucifer is the wretched emperor of hellHis flapping wings generate the wind that keeps the lake frozen and his three mouths chew on the shade-bodies of three arch-traitors, the gore mixing with tears gushing from Lucifer's three sets of eyes

Lucifer's

three faces--each a different color (red, whitish-yellow, black)--parody the doctrine of the Trinity: three complete persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) in one divine nature--the Divine Power, Highest Wisdom, and Primal Love that created the Gate of Hell Slide29

EXIT FROM HELL

After Dante and Virgil have passed through the center of the earth, their perspective changes and Lucifer appears upside-down, with his legs sticking up in the air. Slide30

SOURCES

http://danteworlds.laits.utexas.edu/index2.html

Alighieri, Dante. (2003).

The Inferno

. (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Trans.). New York, NY: Barnes and Noble Classics. (Original work published in 1308).