Level Summary of Dante's Inferno[IMAGES] Midway along the journey of our life I woke to find myself in a dark wood, For I had wandered off from the straight path. (Canto I, 1-3) The Divine Comedy begins with Dante wandering alone through a forest. The middle-aged man has made a wrong turn somewhere in his life and is now faced with many demons that block his way out of the forest. To get out of the forest, he sees a mountain he can climb which will give him protection and allow him to see his surroundings. He comes across three angry beasts on the mountain – a Lion, a Leopard and a She-Wolf – which forces him to retreat to the forest. These three beasts could potentially represent the three major stages of hell. The spotted Leopard represents Fraud and reigns over the 8th and 9th Circles where the Fraudulent are punished. The Lion symbolizes all forms of Violence punished in the 7th Circle. The She-Wolf represents the different types of Concupiscence or Incontinence that are punished in Circles 2 through 5. In despair, Dante returns to the forest and meets Virgil, who is to be his guide through the Inferno and the Purgatorio. This is a person who Dante greatly admires as a poet and philosopher. Virgil says the only way out is to take another path up the hill. To get there though, he must first get through Hell, then Purgatory, and only then will he be able to reach God’s Heaven. Assured by Virgil, he enters Hell. The Descent/Outer Ring (Canto III) [IMAGES] I am the way into the doleful city, I am the way into eternal grief, I am the way to a forsaken race. Justice it was that moved my great creator; Divine Omnipotence created me, And Highest Wisdom joined with Primal Love. Before me nothing but eternal things Were made, and I shall last eternally. Abandon every hope, all you who enter. (Canto III, 1-9) As Virgil and Dante enter Hell, they immediately hear the wailing of tortured souls. They have arrived at Limbo, and here are the souls who could not commit to either good or evil, so they were rejected by both Heaven and Hell. They must continuously chase a blank banner and are stung and bitten by bees and flies. Writhing maggots consume their blood and tears. They are joined with the souls of the neutral angels, who, during the great battle against God and Lucifer, refused to take sides. River Acheron (Canto III) [IMAGES] Virgil leads Dante to the river Acheron where they meet an old man named Charon, who is the boatman for the souls entering Hell proper. As a group of fresh souls are being waited to be taken across the river, Charon argues that Dante should not enter because he is still living. Virgil informs him that Dante is on a “Blues Brothers-esque” mission from God, and so, Charon lets him pass. Suddenly, there is an earthquake with wind and fire shooting up from the ground. Dante faints in terror. Level 1 – Limbo (Canto IV-V) [IMAGES] Dante awakes on the other side of the river. He crawls to the edge of a cliff and looks down into a deep valley that is the first circle of Hell – Limbo. This circle contains the lives of the virtuous, but were either born before the advent of Christianity or were never baptized. Dante asks Virgil if there was ever anyone who was granted to enter Heaven from Limbo. Virgil replies that, in fact, some have – especially a number of the Old Testament figures. Christ granted them amnesty when he descended into hell following his crucifixion and before his resurrection (called the Harrowing of Hell). Many well-known people are still in Hell, however, including Homer, Aristotle, Socrates, Euclid, Ptolemy and Plato. Virgil leads him out to the next circle. On their way out of Limbo, they encounter the monster Minos, who is directing the endless line of souls to their appropriate level of Hell. Again, after explaining that Dante is on his “mission from God,” he is allowed to pass. Level 2 – The Lustful (Canto V) [IMAGES] In this level, rain ceaselessly falls and the wind whips through the air. The souls get caught in the wind and are tossed back in forth in the storm. These souls are the Lustful who committed sins of the flesh. Helen of Troy and Cleopatra are among them. Dante feels sympathy because they committed these sins out of love. With Virgil’s permission, he calls out to the stream of souls and asks one of them to tell their story. The woman tells how she was killed by her husband because, after reading the legends of King Arthur with her husband’s younger brother, they couldn’t help themselves and began kissing. Now the two lovers are doomed to live in this circle for eternity. Dante faints again, in pity for the lovers. Level 3 – The Gluttonous (Canto VI) [IMAGES] When he wakes up, he finds he has been moved to the third circle, where it is still raining. The rain, however, is made of filth and excrement and there is a horrible smell in the air. As they enter the circle, they are forced to lay on the floor while the sewage hits them. They are approached by Ciacco, a Florentine politician, who discusses the fate of Florence with Dante. After Ciacco asks Dante to be remember him, Dante asks Virgil what will happen to the punishments after the Last Judgement. Virgil responds that as all of creation will be perfected, so will the punishments be perfected. On the way to the fourth circle, they run in to Plutus, a demon, who stops them. Virgil does his “mission from God” speech and they pass. Level 4 – Hoarders and Spendthrifts (Canto VII) [IMAGES] Within this ring, two groups of souls push weights along in anger in pain in a circle. Each side completes a semi-circle before crashing into the other group. Then they turn around and do it again the other direction. These are the Avaricious and Prodigal, or the hoarders and squanderers, respectively. Most of the Avaricious are corrupt clergymen, popes and cardinals. However, this constant bashing about has left them unrecognizable. The hoarders and squanderers are together in this ring because neither was prudent with the gift of Fortune. Dante asks Virgil to explain the nature of this “Fortune.” Virgil replies that Fortune has received orders from God to transfer worldly goods between people and between nations. Her swift movements evade human understanding; thus, men should not curse her when they lose their possessions. Level 5: The River Styx – The Wrathful and Sullen (Canto VII-VIII) [IMAGES] The muddy river Styx borders the fifth circle of Hell, and on its banks are a plethora of souls biting and scraping at each other. They are the Wrathful, who were consumed with hatred and anger during their lives. Virgil informs Dante that there are also invisible souls in the river, the Sullen, who muttered and sulked in life and who now choke on the muddy waters of the river. They are taken across the river by the boatman Phlegyas. Level 6: The Heretics (Canto IX - X) [IMAGES] As the two enter the city of Dis, they notice tombs flanking them on either side that are glowing with fire. One of the groups here, Virgil explains, are the Epicureans who took great pleasure in life because they believed the soul died with the body. There punishment, beyond their flaming tombs, are the ability to see only the distant past. Level 7: The Violent (Canto XI-XVII) [IMAGES] Before entering the seventh layer, Virgil explains the last three levels and their subdivisions. In the seventh level, they punish the sins of violence against one’s neighbor, against oneself, and against God. The smell emanating from this level is horrific. The outer ring of the violent has the souls who did violence against their neighbors boiling in a river of blood. The second inner ring is for the Suicides who have been turned into wailing trees. They then are wounded and pecked by Harpies—foul creatures that are half woman, half bird. When a tree-soul’s branch is broken, it causes the soul the same pain as dismemberment. When the time comes for all souls to retrieve their bodies, these souls will not reunite fully with theirs, because they discarded them willingly. Instead, the returned bodies will be hung on the soul-trees’ branches, forcing each soul to see and feel constantly the human form that it rejected in life. The third ring is for those violent against God. This ring is separated into three zones, the Blasphemers, the Sodomites and the Usurers(who make money from money). In each one, there is fiery rain in a desert atmosphere where the souls are scorched beyond recognition. Level 8: The Fraudulent (Canto XVIII – XXIX) [IMAGES] Worse than any violence, however, is the sin of fraud, which breaks the trust of a man and therefore most directly opposes the great virtue of love. In this ring, there are 10 pouches where the souls are deposited depending on their sort of fraud. In the first pouch are the pimps, who are whipped by demons as they run from one side of the pit to the other. The second pouch is the flatterers who swim in a pit of human excrement. The third pouch has the simoniacs, or the ecclesiastical who sold pardons. Their heads are stuck in holes in the ground, with flames licking them at their feet. The fourth pouch is the sorcerers who walk around in a circle with their heads twisted backward looking at the past. The fifth pouch is filled with black tar into which the souls are thrown in. When they come up for air, they are poked back down with prongs. They are the Barterers who accepted bribes. The sixth pouch is for the Hypocrites, whose souls wear garments trimmed with heavy lead. In the seventh pouch, there is a pit of serpents who bite the souls. The souls then burn in flames, and then are reborn out of the ash to return to the serpent pit to be bitten again. These are the thieves. The eighth pouch is full of flames and in each flame is contained a soul. These are the Liars. The Sowers of Scandal and Schism are in the ninth pouch, and are tortured by being forced to walk around a demon who slices at them with a sword. The Falsifiers are in the tenth and final pouch. Here, souls are clumped together in a pile and covered with scabs which they scratch for eternity. |