Dante’s Inferno
Who Was Dante?
Dante was an Italian poet and scholar in the 14th century. During this time Italy was ravaged by two political factions; the White Guelfs and the Black Guelfs. Dante was a White Guelf, which led to his being exiled when the Black Guelfs took over Florence. Dante loved Florence, and it can be seen throughout the book, however it does not mean that he did not rebuke it for its sins. Many of the people Dante meets along his journey through Hell talk to Dante because he is a Florentine, and they in their lifetime were from Florence.
Concerns About the Book
The book is very graphic in it’s descriptions of the punishments. There are people being shorn in half by a sword. Also, there are devils sticking people with lances and torturing them. People being eaten by the devil. Stuff that some families might not want to read to their little kids. I would recommend this book for teens and adults. Even though, the book is very graphic it is no more graphic than the Bible. Also, Dante was a Catholic, and so there are some theological errors within his book. He believed in the Virgin Mary, and in “good pagans”, among other Catholic beliefs, and this is seen here and there throughout the book, but the good truths by far out weigh the theological errors. I think that someone should not avoid reading the book because Dante is coming from the Catholic point of view. There is so much contained within the book that it is well worth wading through the small amount of theological errors, which are few and far between.
A Brief Overview
Dante is not only a master at spinning a good yarn, but that yarn actually has a deeper meaning than to entertain you. Many people will just read a book and not actually absorb anything, which is how many of today’s books are meant to be read. Dante, however wrote his book keeping in mind that his readers will want to actually learn something from it. One interesting feature of his Inferno is that he is the main character in it. The book is about him being spiritually lost in sin and not knowing how to get out. He shows this by using a picture of himself being lost in a dark wood, with the path leading up onto a hill being guarded by three animals. The animals who pertain to sin are: a lion, wolf, and leopard. The lion is a metaphor of manhood and pride, while the wolf is old age and greed, and the leopard represents lust and youth. These are trapping him in a world of sin and despair. Dante had lost all hope, when he saw a shade or apparition. The ghost turns out to be Virgil, the Italian poet and author of The Aeneid. Virgil in the story is a picture of human reason and poetry. Virgil tells Dante that the only way out of the forest is for Virgil to guide Dante through Hell and out the other side to Mount Purgatory.
The Levels of Hell
On Dante’s adventure through Hell, he sees many punishments being doled out to spirits. Hell is divided into upper Hell and Lower Hell with a total of nine circles. These nine circles are split up into subgroups. The first part of Hell, which is not counted as a circle is called the Vestibule. This holds spirits who were neither for God or against God. The first circle is called the Limbo. Here is where “good” pagans are held. These people have no punishment, except the absence of God and the loss of hope. The third circle is for the lustful. They are blown around in a perpetual wind. The fourth, for the gluttonous, who are in muck, perpetual rain and snow. The fifth is for hoarders and spendthrifts. These always have to roll rocks around and they are faceless. The six circle is for the wrathful. They are submerged in mud in varying degrees. The seventh for the violent, which is split up into three sections. There is the violent against self, God and nature. Violent against self people are made into trees. Violent against God are made to walk on burning sand with fiery rain coming down and the violent against nature are made to always be moving. The Eighth circle is where lower Hell begins. Here is where the more serious sins are punished. There are ten miniature circles within this circle. They are called Malbowges. Here is where seducers, panders, hypocrites, flatterers are put. Along with a long list of other sinners. Their punishments are numerous, so I will allow you to read about those on your own. The ninth circle is for traitors. The traitors according to how bad their betrayal was, are submerged in a frozen lake in varying degrees. Some partially submerged and some with their head covered. This may seem like quite a shock, but Dante had a reason for putting ice into a place that most people think of as fiery. That reason was because Dante was trying to make a point of showing what one’s heart looks like when they sin. Dorothy Sayers says it best in her notes, “A cold and cruel egotism, gradually striking inward till even the lingering passions of hatred and destruction are frozen into immobility, that is the final state of sin.”
Past the traitors submerged in ice, is the last part of Hell. In this part, which is still part of the ninth circle, there is Satan with three heads. Within those three heads are: Judas betrayer of Christ, and Brutus and Cassius betrayers of Julius Caesar. Virgil helps Dante past the Devil, and they come out by Mount Purgatory, and there ends the story until the next book, which is called Purgatory.
Author’s Notes
In my opinion, Dante is an amazing author. If you were to read Inferno numerous times, you would not be able to absorb all the things that Dante had put in there for his readers to decipher. It is probably one of my favorite books. The edition that I read was translated by Dorothy Sayers and I found her notes to be extremely helpful in figuring out what Dante was trying to get across. So, I would suggest getting the edition translated by Dorothy Sayers.
