Dante Midterm Characters

Rough character descriptions. Meant to help memorization, not be the only study tool.

Dante

A Guelph. Exiled by Pope Boniface. The author of the Commedia (written in 1308, set in 1300, before exile).

Virgil

Wrote The Aeneid. Dantes guide through the Inferno.

Beatrice

An angel, seated beside God in Heaven. The object of Dante’s affection, and written of divinely in the Commedia. She sends Virgil to escort Dante through the Inferno. 

Charon

Canto 3. Helps souls cross the river Acheron (the first river of hell). The first hell-born creature that Virgil plays the “God card” on. An instance of the Christian will/ethics is described during Dante and Virgil's interaction with him.

Francesca and Paolo

Canto 5, the second circle. Affair that is blamed on the reading of Lancelot. Murdured together and in the Inferno together.

Farinata

Canto 10, the sixth circle. A Ghibelline. Pulls Dante into an argument about factions. Warns Dante of his exile from Florence. We learn that shades have foresight from him.

Cavalcanti

Canto 10, sixth circle. Resides with Farinata. Asks Dante about the state of his son.

Pier Della Vigna

Canto 13, Seventh circle (second ring). Has lost his human form and become a tree in the Inferno because he committed suicide. Took his own life because he was accused of betraying his lord, Emperor Frederick the II.

Brunetto Latini

Canto 15, seventh circle (final ring). Dantes former mentor. Treats Dante like a son and warns him of his exile, to which Dante replies the wheel of fortune will do what it may. Speaks of keeping memory alive in ones writing.

Geryon

Canto 17, between the seventh and eighth circles. The embodiment of fraud, with the face of a kind man, a reptilian wyvern body, lions paws and a scorpions stinger on the tip of the tail. Dante ride him to reach the eighth circle- with Dante being uncomfortably close as a poet.

Simon Magus

Canto 19, circle eight. At the bottom (first) of a long line of religious leaders who tried to buy their way into faith (simony).

Nicholas III

Canto 19, eighth circle. At the top (most recent) of a long line of religious leaders who tried to buy their way into faith. Mistakes Dante for Pope Boniface.

Ulysses (Odysseus)

Canto 26, eighth circle. Fraudulent counselor to his crewmen. Went too far. Died in a shipwreck after catching a glimpse of the mountain of Purgatory. Scholars say he is Dantes “mirror” in the Inferno.

Guido da Montefeltro

Canto 27, eighth circle. Fraudulent counselor to Pope Boniface VIII, who promised him absolution from his sins if Guido gives advice. Lived a life of sin (akin to a fox) and then became a monk. He was fought for by an saint and a demon after his death.

Ugolino

Canto 33, ninth circle. Was traitorous to his city, Pisa. Found gnawing on Ruggieri’s head. Was locked in a tower with four of his sons by Ruggieri. It is debated whether or not he ate his sons after they starved to death.

Ruggieri

Canto 33, ninth circle. Was traitorous to Ugolino and Nino Visconti. Found being gnawed on at the head by Ugolino, whom he locked in a tower with four of Ugolino’s sons.

Pope Boniface VIII

The Pope who exiled Dante. Not in the Inferno at the time the Commedia is set (1300), but condemned by several shades that Dante encounters: Nicholas III, who claims he will be sent to the eighth circle of hell. Guido Da Montefeltro, who gave him fraudulent counsel after he claimed he could lock Guido out of heaven. 

Lucifer

Canto 34, ninth circle. Found at the very bottom of hell, the traitors of benefactors. Three heads and six wings, which are flapping and causing wind that keeps the ninth circle frozen over. Eating one sinner in each mouth: Cassius, Brutus, and Judas. Many perversions of Christianty represented. Does not speak. 

Judas

Canto 34, ninth circle. Betrayed Jesus. Found being chewed, headfirst, by Lucifer. Does not speak.