The Inferno Cantos 1-6 Test

Dante

live, human poet who travels throughout the afterlife to save his soul

resides in Dark Wood of Error

Virgil

poet guide for Dante

resides in Limbo because he lived before Jesus and cannot be saved

symbolizes human reason

Francesca and Paolo

Francisco was married but had an affair with Paolo; both were killed by Francisco's husband/Paolo's brother

reside in 2nd circle

only couple in heaven: adds to guilt

Aeneas

the only other living man to have seen hell; came before Dante

resides in heaven

founded Rome; glory was foreshadowed by prophecy from Venus (mother, goddess of love)

Paul

saw "third heaven" (hell)

resides in heaven

"chosen vessel of God"

Relevance of Aeneas/Paul

not actually in story, mentioned in Canto II

Dante compares himself to them and does not measure up; he is therefore unsure why he deserves the opportunity to go to hell

Pope Celestine V

gave up the papacy to save his own soul; church was taken over by an ill-fitted leader (Boniface)

resides with the vestibules

Homer

leader of Classical Poets

resides in Limbo

Ciacco the Hog

Florentine that speaks to Dante and delivers a prophecy of political unrest between the White and Black Guelphs (in his real life, Dante is exiled from Florence because of this)

resides in the third circle with the gluttons

Charon

monster who ferries souls across the Acheron River

station is outside of the first circle

Minos

monster who judges souls and places them in hell

station is outside of second circle

Cerberus

three-headed dog who guards and tortures the gluttons

resides in circle three

Plutus

God of wealth who guards the fourth circle

Beatrice

Dante's guide through heaven

symbolizes divine love

called Virgil to guide Dante

Virgil

symbol of human reason

guides Dante through hell/purgatory

She-Wolf

symbolizes incontinence

1/3 beasts of worldliness

lives in Dark Wood

prevents Dante from climbing the hill to divine light

Lion

symbolizes violence/ambition

1/3 beasts of worldliness

lives in Dark Wood

Leopard

symbolizes malice/fraud

1/3 beasts of worldliness

lives in Dark Wood

Rachel

symbolizes contemplative life

encourages Beatrice to help Dante and gives her strength to go to limbo and find Virgil

Virgin Mary

calls St Lucia to help Dante

represents compassion

The Greyhound

symbol of righteousness and justice

also symbolizes a great Italian leader named Can Grande della Scala

St. Lucia

represents divine life

called by the Virgin Mary to help Dante

encourages Beatrice to find Virgil

Dark Wood of Error

not part of hell; symbolizes worldliness

within it live the Three Beasts (lion, leopard and she-wolf)

most souls wander it but are unaware

Vestibule

inside the gate of hell but before crossing the Acheron

home of the selfish; since they took no sides and acted only for themselves, they are not welcomed in either heaven or hell

path to the City of Woe

Pope Celestine V

Limbo

first circle of hell

home of those who did not sin but also do not have divine salvation; Virgil's place

many sinners there lived before Christ and therefore could not have been saved by him, or sought knowledge instead of God

they are not tortured but have no hope

Homer, Horace, Lucan

guarded by Charon

Carnal

second circle- lust

the souls are trapped in a windstorm (lust) among murky air (clouded judgment)

Francesca/Paolo, Cleopatra, Paris, Tristan, etc.

guarded by Minos

Gluttonous

third circle- gluttony

the souls are covered in filth since gluttons produce only filth and slavered over by Cerberus as they slavered over food in life

Ciacco the Hog

guarded by Cerberus

Easter/Good Friday

season of rebirth, new life

sun is in equinoctial rebirth

Dante awakens in the Wood on the dawn of the morning of Good Friday

Dante's Age

35 years

exactly "halfway through life's journey"

Time of Aries

sign of creation

the stars are in this sign at this time

Judgment Day

eventual day in which souls are reunited with their bodies because heaven has opened up hell's gates

"apocalypse"

everyone will be judged including hell

Women in Heaven

Virgin Mary called to St. Lucia to help Dante; Lucia comes to Beatrice and encourages her to find Virgil; Rachel, who was sitting with Beatrice, encourages her

Acheron

the river into hell

Charon = ferryman

on one immediate side is the vestibules

on the other is limbo

Dante's faints

Dante swoons because he is overwhelmed with grief and compassion for the sinners' pain and torturing

"Heaven of the Smallest Circle"

everything within the moon's orbit around Earth

Ptolemy's astronomical model shows Earth at the center and each heavenly body creating a "ring" around Earth with their orbits; since the moon is closest to the Earth, it has the smallest circle in the heavens

The Great Denial

Pope Celestine V (vestibules) gives up the papacy after an adviser, Benedetto (circle 8 bolgia 3), convinced him that his soul was in danger

Benedetto (Pope Boniface VIII) then seized the papacy and brought evil into the church

Harrowing of Hell

previous event in which Jesus Christ came to hell and admitted the first worthy souls (Abraham, Israel, etc.) into heaven

entered hell after being crucified; when he resurrected, the other worthy souls ascended into heaven with him

left a large crater

Dolorous Abyss

the large abyss that constitutes hell; appears like a funnel

each circle juts off of the abyss

canto 4

Great Citadel

part of limbo

represents human reason (philosophy); built by the Masters of Pagan Antiquity

to live in the citadel denotes that your human form reached the highest possible state without divine help

living in the citadel:

1. heroes/heroines (Electra)

2. philosophers (Plato, Aristotle, Democritus)

3. naturalists- historians of science (Avicenna, Averroës)

illuminated by the light of human reason (bright but incomparable to the light of God)

Sir Lancelot

brave knight who had an affair with King Arthur's wife, Queen Guinevere

his story of love with Guinevere urged Francisco and Paolo to begin their affair

"Just as a swimmer, who with his last breath, flounders ashore from perilous seas.."

said by Dante

in Canto I

simile for his last-minute awakening to the fact that he has sinned

"Glory and light of poets! Now may that zeal and love's apprenticeship that I poured out on your heroic verses serve me well!"

said by Dante to Virgil

in canto I

shows that Dante has respect for Virgil's poetic works

"He must go by another way who would escape this wilderness, for that mad beast that fleers before you there, suffers no man to pass."

said by Virgil to Dante

in canto I

explains that they cannot go around the Three Beasts, they must go another way (through hell)

"Oh Muses! Oh High Genius! Be my aid! O Memory, recorder of the vision, here shall your true nobility be displayed!"

said by Dante

canto II

calling out to his memory to remember his journey so that he does not return to earth and continue to sin

"But I- how should I dare? By whose permission? I am not Aeneas. I am not Paul. Who could believe me worthy of the vision?"

said by Dante to Virgil

canto II

Dante questions why he is worthy of the trip to hell

"She spoke and turned away to hide a tear that, shining, urged me faster."

spoken by Virgil to Dante about Beatrice

canto II

describes Beatrice's entrance into hell to recruit Virgil

"Abandon all hope ye who enter here."

inscribed on the Gate of Hell

canto III

tells the damned that there is no escape from this eternal punishment that they have chosen

"A confusion of tongues and monstrous accents toiled in pain and anger."

said by Dante

canto III

describes the vestibule and it's punishments

"The pain of these below us here drains the color from my face for pity, and leaves this pallor you mistake for fear."

said by Virgil looking into the abyss

canto IV

foreshadows deeper suffering to come

"And still their merits fail, for they lacked Baptism's grace"

said by Virgil

canto IV

explains how souls end up in limbo

shows that Dante believes that salvation can only be achieved by Baptism/Jesus

"Love, which permits no loved one not to love, took me so strongly with drought in him that we are one in Hell, as we were above."

said by Francesca

canto V

explains how it is that she and Paolo remain together even in hell

is not necessarily romantic because they cannot touch each other and they remind each other of guilt

"After many words were given and taken, it shall come to blood: White shall rise over Black and rout the dark lord's force, battered and shaken."

said by Ciacco the Hog

Canto VI

part of his prophecy; discusses the political unrest that ultimately resulted in Dante's exile from Florence

"He will not wake again until the angel trumpet sounds the day on which the host shall come to judge all men."

said by Virgil about Ciacco

Canto VI

reference to judgment day

implies that souls do not scream in this circle