Dantes Divine Comedy Study Guide
1. Guelphs- Artisans and Urban elites who supported the pope. Dante belonged in this group. Did not want the Roman empire to interfere with politics.
2. Ghibellins- were against the pope and guelphs, known as monarchy. Believed that Feudal aristocracy kings and what not should rule
3. Epic- long narrative
4. Terza Rima- Terz(three) Rima(rhythm). Where the epic was done.
5. Canticles- Collection of Cantos/Chapters
6. Cantos- are chapters, 100
7. How many cantos per Canticle? - 33
8. Star at the end of the Canticle- affirmation of Gods goodness
9. Necromancy- Black magic communicating with the dead (shades). Ability to talk with the shades.
10. Picaresque -A pilgrim, a man on the road to gain experience in life in all facets to regain his faith. On a journey for experience
11. Pilgrim - person on a journey looking for faith
12. Shades - dead people in hell
13. Necromancy - The ability to talk to the shades in hell.
14. Name the 4 Rivers in Hell. - Stix, Asheron, Cocytus, Phelgatheon.
15. Name the Stream of Forgetfulness - Lethe
16. 4 Elements - Fire, Air, Water, Earth
17. 4 Virtues - Justice, Temperance, Wisdom, Fortitude
18. 7 Deadly Sins- Lust, gluttony, sloth, envy, wrath, avarice(greed)
19. Green, White, Red, Purple- explain. Green is hop. White is faith. Red is love. Purple is other virtues.
20. Why is this a Comedy and not a tragedy? - It ends on a high note and not on a low note
21. Leopard - represents fraud
22. Lion - represents malice
23. Heretics - Those who are against the teachings of the church.
24. Epicurean Heretics - Heretics that do not believe in the salvation that is heaven or hell
25. Blasphemy- doing something against God.
26. Furies- Stained with blood, also known as Erinyes. They represent the spirit of vengeance. Blood created the furies.
27. Twice Virgil is weakened of his power-explain - 1st time was when the angels had to open the gates of Dis and the 2nd is when Virgil lets his guard down or tricked against the Malebranche
28. She Wolf - represents Intemperance
29. Deep Forest- symbol - symbolizes being lost in life without faith. Dante's loss of morality and all of humanity’s sins
30. Ante-Inferno - The forest where the first canticle takes place. They meet the 3 beasts.
31. Blacks- Guelphs who supported the pope
32. Whites- Guelpsh who supported city-state independence. Dante belonged to the whites.
33. Jubilee in Rome - An important political meeting in Rome. Dante was invited as a diversion. Pope Boniface called a jubilee (tells all the political people in Rome to talk). He drew Dante away from Florence He sent the blacks to Florence and had them sack the city.
34. Pope Bonafice 8 - wanted power and riches. Dante got exiled by him.
35. Virgil - wrote Aenid, pagan, Dante’s mentor and guide
36. Limbo - Those who came before Christianity, no joy or sorrow.
37. Name three in Limbo - Virgil, Socrates, Aristotle
38. Verga - magic wand that Virgil uses
39. Three Ladies protecting Dante - Saint Lucy, Rachel, and Mary
40. Beatrice-name means? - Blessed
41. Who picks Virgil to guide D? - Beatrice
42. Dante is on what kind of Journey? Why?- His journey is to find his faith because he lost it. He has to go through his journey through hell in order to go to heaven and get his faith back.
43. Why is he always fearful- Because Dante lost his faith and because he is a coward
44. Charon - The boatman who ferries dead souls over Acheron and into hell. He beats the dead souls with his oar.
45. Minos - The judge of hell. The amount of times his tail wraps around his stomach correlates to the circle of hell you are sent to.
46. What river ferries the dead souls? - Asheron
47. What is listed on the gate of hell? - “Abandon every hope, all ye who enter”
48. Francesca and Paolo are in the lustful. What is their fate? In the lust ring you are blown around constantly not being able to touch anyone or anything
49. Ciacco - no conscience, famous glutton
50. Cerebrus Three-headed monstrous dog, or hell hound. Virgil picks up dirt and throws it in the mouth of the dog.
51. Plutus- The shade of wealth. He is vicious and wrathful, called the wolf of hell.
52. Miserly- people who hoarded their material goods on earth. Known as the sin greed
53. Prodigal- wasteful/prideful
54. Phlegyas- Boatman who rows on the river Styx
55. Arch Messenger/Angel- opened the gates of hell for Dante and Virgil showing God is stronger than the Devil
56. Minotaur- Head of a bull, body of a man. Raging bull man and gatekeeper in hell
57. Chiron - head of centaurs. Guards 7th circle of hell
58. Pholus- He is drunk and raging. He doesn't help anyone.
59. Nessus - He is instructed by Chiron to help Dante and Virgil to get to the next Canto.
60. Suiciders-explain their predicament - The suiciders become trees in the forest where harpies scream and the dogs rip up the bark.
61. Harpies - Half woman and half winged beasts. They have clawed hands and rip the branches off the trees and bushes.
62. What beasts rip at them - Wild Dogs
63. Old Man Crete- He is from the Island of Crete. It was an island of innocence, very similar to the Garden of Eden. When the innocence was lost in Crete he started crying. His tears pool at the bottom of Mt. Ida and create the four rivers of hell.
64. Ser Brunetto Latini - Dante’s mentor
65. 2 symbols of the Chord -
66. Geryon - Dante and Virgil ride on his back, scorpion tail
67. Malbolge - evil pockets (10 of them)
68. Malbranche - black devils who poke at those drowning shades with pitchforks.
69. Malcoda - leader of the Malebranche
70. Thais the Whore- prostitute who was scratching her genitals while submerged in fecal matter.
71. Simonists - Sell church favors for favors
72. Astrologers/Soothsayers found in the Eighth Circle of Hell, specifically in the Fourth Bolgia.Their punishment is quite symbolic: their heads are twisted backward, forcing them to walk backward for eternity. This represents the twisted nature of their attempts to see into the future, as they are now condemned to only see what is behind them
73. Grafter - those in a political position who take money for favors
74. Usurer - charge high interest for loaning money (use credit cards)
75. Hypocrites - those who go against what they preach
76. Vanni Fucci- outrageous. He stole sacraments from the Church and allowed someone else to hang. Directs an obscene gesture towards God.
77. Guido Da Montefeltro - The great Deceiver. Pope Boniface said he absolve his sins and make him a friar if he taught him how to be a deceiver
78. Sowers of Scandal - the 9th malbolge where people who created divisions and rivalry between people
79. Who scratches their scabs furiously? - falsifiers
80. What is an Alchemist? - someone who studies or practices alchemy, seemingly magical transformation of matter
81. Dis- lowest pit of hell
82. Empyrean- highest point in paradise(heaven)
83. Three Giants - Nimrod, Ephialtes, Antaeus
84. Tower of Giants. Giants have a wingspan of 30 hands. Only see the giants from the waist up. Virgil says: the further away you are from something, the more your imagination takes over, the closer you get, the closer to reality you get.
85. Watch Tower -a high tower that guards over the depths of hell where Satan lives. It guards Dis.
86. Count Ugolino- the governor of Pisa
87. Arch Bishop Ruggieri- Arch Bishop of Pisa, betrayed Count Ugalino
88. Betrayers- Judas Iscariot, Brutus, Cassius.
89. Describe Devil - has three heads one red, yellow, and black, has bat-like wings, and tuffs of fur.
90. Reversal Hemisphere- when Lucifer fell from Heaven, he crashed into the Earth, creating a massive impact. This caused the land in the southern hemisphere to flee, leaving it entirely covered by ocean1.
As a result, Hell is located beneath the northern hemisphere, and the southern hemisphere is devoid of land. This geographical reversal is part of Dante’s imaginative cosmology, situating Hell precisely in relation to the Earth’s structure
91. Peccato - Latin word for sin
92. Cato of Utica - He is a man of reverence
93. Angel of Chastity- Singing Beatitudes: Blessing
94. Reed of Humility- everytime this reed is plucked, another one comes out. A sense of renewal/regeneration.
95. Statius - they are enthralled with Virgil. He was a poet but not yet a Christian. He is pretending to be Christian and is in Purgatory. Virgil's work, the Aenid, inspired him.
96. Casella - He took Dante's work and put it to music. Dante tries to embrace him three times but can't because Casella is only a spirit.
97. Beatitudes - blessings. i.e: “Blessed are the meek”
98. Bernard of Clairveaux - appears to Dante before he ascends, french mystic, the one who tells him to “Look Up”
99. Why does Beatrice admonish him at the end? - Beatrice does this to prevent Dante from giving in to lust.
100. Crown and Miter -Vergil's final words before leaving Dante “I crown and miter you lord of yourself”
101. Why does every monster leave quickly after doing their job? - because their primary role is to enforce the punishments and maintain order in Hell.
102. Why does Virgil Leave? - he could no longer help dante for his faith was already restored.
103. What piece of literature did Virgil Write? - he wrote the Aenid
104. The Circle of Lights- The three circles of light represent the holy trinity
105. Look up, Look up - means to look up into heaven and to not dwell too long in the past