This week I am reading Dante's Inferno, which can be found
here.
We start the story with the narrator (Dante) wandering
through a dark forest. Dante is completely scared and tired and sees a lion and
wolf, which brings even more fear to him and forces him back into the woods.
There he meets the likeness of a man named Virgil who was a Roman poet. Virgil
explains that the wolf will not allow anyone to pass onto the hill it is
guarding (which leads to paradise maybe?). Virgil tells Dante that he will lead
him through Hell until they meet a spirit who will lead Dante to Heaven.
First the two men come across people who are sighing and
moaning seemingly in pain. Virgil explains that these people will never die but
neither Heaven or Hell will accept them and they are naked and being attacked
by wasps and hornets. They also see Charon on the river Styx.
Dante and Virgil start their journey into Hell and first see
people that are in “limbo,” which is the first circle of Hell. These people
have done nothing wrong but also have not been baptized. We also learn that
this is what happened to Virgil.
The two men come across Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan, all
of whom are poets. The poets join Virgil and Dante and they continue their
journey. As they continue they see other famous beings such as Socrates, Plato,
Hector, and Caesar. The other poets part ways and Dante and Virgil appear in a
place of darkness.
The second circle of Hell is the carnal sinners. Howling
from severe pain can be heard here and some of the famous people the men see
are characters from the Iliad such as Achilles and Helen. Dante and Virgil also
meet Paolo and Francesca, who is a woman that cheated on her husband with
Paolo.
The third circle of hell contains the gluttonous and is
guarded by Cebrus. Cold rain and sleet are here and howling rings through the
air. They then descend into the fourth circle of Hell, which is guarded by the
god Platus. This circle contains the greedy and some of the people they see
here are popes and cardinals.
Outside of the fifth circle of Hell is the marsh from the
river Styx. There are naked people in the marsh and they are fighting each
other. The two men walk around the swamp and reach a tower. They get on a boat
that sinks into the moat that surrounds a city but are not allowed to enter the
city because they do not have enough anger, I think?
The two men can see the city of Dis and its glowing redness from heat. Many angels come down and question why Dante, a live person, is venturing through the land of death. We also learn that it is rare for someone such as Virgil to be in limbo and proceed further into Hell.
A messenger from Heaven eventually comes and lets them into
the city after the furies sort of attacked Dante and Virgil. Inside the city of
Dis is the sixth circle of Hell. Here are those that are captured in tombs and
exposed to extremely hot temperatures. Virgil then explains that these are the
heretics.
Going from the city of Dis towards the seventh circle of
hell, the two men see the Minotaur. They go away from it through a rocky area
and then Virgil says they are approaching a river of blood, which is punishment
for those that have hurt others by violence. The blood boils and those that try
to escape get shot with arrows.
A centaur then begins to guide Dante and Virgil around the
boiling blood. They see many people suffering and eventually reach the woods.
They than see fiery sands and continue towards the seventh circle of hell.
From the edge of the woods Virgil points out the “Old Man of
Crete” and we learn that they still have not made one complete circle through
Hell. Virgil then describes a beast named Geryon that they will begin to
approach.
The two men climb on the back of Geryon and he flies
downward to bring them towards the eight circle of Hell, where Dante hears
incredible screams and moaning. I’m not exactly sure what the seventh circle
was, but my guess is the boiling bloody river. After getting off of Geryon,
they approach a place called Malebolge, which is made of stone.
Malebolge consists of ten moats with successive ditches for
each and people lie in each “chasm.” As they pass through they see
pimps/seducers and a ditch filled with what I think is feces and is filled with
people. They pass through some other chasms and reach the sixth one, where
there are demons. The demons are aggressive at first and then realize the men
mean no harm.
A demon then guides them through the remaining chasms and on
the way pass hypocrites.
Continuing through the chasms they see Ulysses who explains
how he died and they continue through the ninth chasm. Here they see the pophet
Mohammad and enter the tenth chasm.
The tenth chasm is in the center pit of all the moats and
ditches and is guarded by giants. In the pit they see Nimrod, who built the
tower of Babel in the Bible. This is the end of the eighth circle and they
continue to the ninth.
In the ninth circle of Hell they see two men, one of them
Count Ugolino and the other archbishop Ruggieri and they are chewing on each
other’s head. Count Ugolino explains that he was locked in a tower by Ruggieri
and died of hunger.
Into the ninth circle of Hell now, the men see Satan
himself. Here Dante becomes as scared as ever and explains that the devil has
three faces. He has massive wings and chews a sinner in each of his three
mouths simultaneously. These three men are Judas from the Bible, Brutus who
killed Caesar, and Cassius who helped Brutus. This is the end of the journey to
Hell and them climb on Satan to get out, where it is now Easter Sunday.
