Inferno Review

First Circle

Limbo
Sinners: people before god
Punishment: No torment, just a grassy meadow

Second circle

Sinners: Lustful

Punishment: Blowen Forever in a violent wind without rest

Third Circle

Sinners: Gluttony
Bombarded by cold dirty rain in vile slush

Fourth Circle

Sinners: Greed
Punishment: Forced to roll heavy weight against each other

Fifth Circle

Sinners: Wrath and Sullenness
Punishment: Wrathful fight on surface of River Styx, sullen gurgle beneath the water

Sixth Circle

Sin: Heresy
Punishment: Trapped in Flaming Tombs

Seventh Circle

• Sinners: Murderers, Suicides, Blasphemers, Sodomites, Usursers
  Punishment:
  Murderers: Immeresed in river of boiling blood (Phlegethon)

• Suicides: Become gnarled trees, fed upon by harpies

  • Blasphemers: Lie on burning sand with fire raining down
    Sodomites: Walk under the rain of fire
    Usurers: Sit under the rain of fire with purses around their necks

Ninth Circle

• Sin: Betrayal of trust

• Punishment: Frozen in the lake Cocytus—the deeper the betrayal, the deeper the sinner is encased in ice

• Subdivisions:

  1. Caina (traitors to kin): Frozen up to necks

  2. Antenora (traitors to country): Deeper in ice

  3. Ptolomea (traitors to guests): Lie on their backs with only faces out of the ice

  4. Judecca (traitors to lords/benefactors): Completely frozen in contorted positions

  • At the center: Lucifer, with three faces, chewing eternally on Judas Iscariot (betrayed Christ), Brutus and Cassius (betrayed Julius Caesar)

Dante

The main character and author; journeys through Hell as a pilgrim seeking salvation.

Virgil

Dante’s guide through Hell; the Roman poet symbolizes reason and wisdom.

Beatrice

Dante’s beloved in Heaven; represents divine love and grace.

Angel at the Gates of Dis

A heavenly messenger who opens the gates of the City of Dis when demons refuse entry.

Charon

The boatman who ferries souls across the river Acheron into Hell. Guardian of Limbo

Minos

The infernal judge who assigns souls their place in Hell by coiling his tail. Guardian of Lustful

Cerberus

Three-headed dog who torments the Gluttons in the third circle. Guardian of Gluttons

Plutus

Demon of wealth who guards the fourth circle (Greed). Guardian of Greed

Phlegyas

Ferryman of the River Styx who carries Dante and Virgil across. Gaurdian of Wrath and Sullenness

Minotaur

Guards the entrance to the circle of the Violent; a symbol of brute rage.

Centaurs

Half-human, half-horse creatures who patrol the river of boiling blood. Gaudian of Violence against others

Harpies

Bird-bodied, female-faced creatures who torment the souls of suicides. Guardians for those violence against self

Pope Celestine V

Implied soul who made the “great refusal” by abdicating the papacy; placed among the indecisive.

Francesca & Paolo

Lovers punished for lust; killed by Francesca’s husband.

Ciacco the Hog

A glutton in the third circle; offers Dante political prophecies.

Filippo Argenti

A wrathful soul Dante scorns in the River Styx.

Alexander the Great & Attila the Hun

Placed among the violent for their conquests and bloodshed.

Ugolino & Ruggieri

Ugolino gnaws on Ruggieri’s head for betraying and starving him and his sons.

Bocca

A Florentine traitor whose hair Dante rips out in the circle of traitors.

Brutus & Cassius

Traitors to Caesar; eternally chewed in Lucifer’s side mouths.

Judas

The worst traitor; eternally chewed in the central mouth of Lucifer for betraying Christ.

Three Kinds of Moral Faliure

Fraud, Violence, Inconstance

Three Beasts of Worldliness

Shewolf (Inconstance), Lion (Violence), and Leopard (Fraud)

Three heavenly women

Mary (Compassion), Rachel (The Contemplative Life), Lucia (Divine Light)

Three types of souls in Limbo

Unbaptized Babies, virtous pagans, Jewish Patriarchs

Harrowing of Hell

After Jesus’ death, pulls Jewish Patriarchs from limbo to heaven

Three Furies

Symbolize eternal remorse

Medusa

Symbolize Despair

Names of the four regions in Circle nine

Caina, Antenora, Ptolemea, Judecca