English 102 Final SG

}}Dante Facts: Born 1265, Died 1321, finished Inferno 1314, finished Commedia 1321}}

Contrapasso (counter-step, retribution): Punishment that fits the crime and turns the crime inside out, eternal: all equally bad for each individual, worst thing for each to suffer because the punishment is the most just (only in hell)

Ferza (whip): Good example of virtue, always from the life of Our Lady (in Purgatory)

Fren (rein): Bad example of vice (in Purgatory)

[[Inferno[[

{{Structure:{{

The lower, the worse the sin

<<The Leopard: (sins of flesh and world) → less grave<<

<<The Neutrals<<<<: in vestibule of hell, chase a banner and bugs sting them and cause them to bleed: worms eat the blood → chasing meaningless in eternity because of their lukewarmness<<

<<Circle 1 - Limbo:<< <<Just pagans, unbaptized, including unbaptized infants<<

<<Circle 2 - Lustful:<< <<Blown about by violent winds for all eternity: passions, Dante faints out of pity<<

<<Circle 3: Gluttony:<< <<Acid rain → eats away at them, Cerberus tears them into shreds: they regrow, incident: Virgil throws a clump of dirt into Cerberus’s mouth<<

<<Circle 4 - Avarice & Prodigality:<< <<trying to take from others, prodigal: wasteful → both disordered view of material goods → roll stones against each other in circle (can’t tell avaricious and prodigals apart) → unrecognizable<<

<<Circle 5 - Angry:<< <<in river Styx, all on top of each other and tearing each other to pieces<<

<<Circle 6 - Heretics: (almost own section)<<

}}Circle 7 - Violent: (openly: no deception, not as malicious) → begins lower hell}}

}}Worse than sins of flesh, not as grave as full malice}}

}}3 Punishments:}}

  • }}Those that stand in river of blood → violence against others}}
  • }}Forest of suicides: transformed into trees that are broken by harpies, causing pain → violence against self (at second coming won’t inhabit bodies since they rejected them in life)}}
  • }}Against God:}}
    • }}Blasphemy: soul lying on back insulting God as fire rains on him}}
    • }}Homosexuals: have to run around, if rest they get stuck for a hundred years: flames raining}}
    • }}Usury: have money bags, upside down? probably burned or something}}

[[Circles 8-9: Misuse of intellect against others and God → most grave because of the value of the intellect[[

[[Circle 8: Simple Fraud: 10 Pits:[[

  1. [[Panderers and Seducers: panderers=forced marriage for status/money, both run in opposite directions in long lines, demons whip them to make them run fast[[
  2. [[Flatterers: In river of feces upside down[[
  3. [[Simoniacs: upside down in burning tunnels: fire comes up to heels because they were focused on using spiritual goods for money[[
  4. [[Diviners: have heads backwards and run around: Dante weeps because he sees how horrible their sin is[[
  5. [[Barrators: corrupt politicians I think? Dr. Stanford went on rant about politicians: they are in river of boiling oil, forced to stay by demons with pitchforks, here Dante + Virgil are escorted by Eviltail → escape from[[
  6. [[Hypocrites: wear yellow lead robes, walk in circle, bridge broken here, walk on top of crucified pharisee[[
  7. [[Thieves: snakes who bite other snakes who are humans, who steal their form: sin attacks human dignity, try to bring others down but also bring themselves down[[
  8. [[False counsellors: here Dante meets Franciscan who was a politician who wanted to repent: Boniface told him to give him a pardon in advance, meets Odysseus, these souls are punished by burning in a pyre[[
  9. [[Schismatics: fighting each other and cutting each other into pieces, Muhammad is here[[
    1. [[Counterfeiters: liars: diseases and madness[[

[[Circle 9: Traitors:[[

[[Dante and Virgil come to pit: carried by Antaeus the giant because Dante agrees to write about him. They reach Cocytus the frozen lake bed, souls buried further in ice depending on severity:[[

  1. [[Least severe: against family: Caina[[
  2. [[Against country: Antenora[[
  3. [[Guests and friends: responsible for taking care of them: Prolomea[[
  4. [[Against lords: Judecca, Satan chewing on Judas in middle, and Brutus and Cassius in side heads[[

]]Figures/Places:]]

Charon: ferryman across the River Acheron

Minos: Creature that winds souls around his tail to throw them to appropriate level

Geryon: face of man, body of monster, tail of scorpion

Acheron: river souls cross to get into hell

Styx: river Dante and Virgil cross to get to the city of dis (this is where Dante asks to see Fillipo Argenti punished for attacking him)

Phlegethon: river of boiling blood where all the violent stand, have to stand at certain height: centaurs shoot arrows if they stand at the wrong height, lead by Chiron

Minotaur: Virgil brings up Thesius, who killed the Minotaur, which makes the Minotaur go crazy and then they can pass

Chiron the Centaur: Virgil and Dante ride on his back

Malebolge: pits in lowest part of hell, where souls are punished, there are ten

Eviltail: demon who assigns the band of demons that escort Dante and Virgil, but then try to betray them

Antaeus: giant that carries Dante and Virgil down the pit to Cocytus

The dark wood: Wood Dante is lost in at beginning of Commedia

The three beasts: leopard: represents sins of flesh, lion: represents the bestial and violent side of man, wolf: represents malicious side of man

Virgil: Dante’s pagan guide through hell and purgatory, resides in Limbo

the High Hill: hill Dante tries to climb at beginning when he is stopped by beasts, represents path to Heaven?

Virtuous pagans: those stuck in Limbo, only punishment is separation from God

Homer and Aristotle: poet and philosopher Dante and Virgil meet in Limbo, complement Dante

Francesca and Paolo: adulterous lovers in second circle, Dante pities them

Filippo Argenti: sinner in fifth circle, tries to attack Dante who asks to see him punished, sees justice of it

Entrance to city of Dis: Dante and Virgil kept out by demons, only pass through when angel opens gate for them, represents that Virgil, right reason, cannot fully overcome sin without grace (angel)

Farinata: Florentine politician condemned to hell for heresy (did not believe in immortality of soul, ironically), insults Dante and prophesies his eventual exile from Florence

Pier della Vigna: in suicides, poet and courier who slew himself rather than endure slander, Dante breaks off branch at command of Virgil and then Virgil feels bad about it

Brunetto Latini: in hell for sodomy, Dante’s mentor

Nicholas III: Pope in with simoniacs, mistakes Dante for Boniface VIII and prophesies Clement V will join him in hell

Evilclaw: devils, the band of demons lead by Curly-Beard

Navarrese Trickster: sinner who escapes from demons by betraying his friend

Vanni Fucci: thief who stole Church vestments and blamed it on someone else, prophesies Dante’s exile

Ulysses and Diomedes: false counsellors in hell for leading men to Southern Hemisphere, convincing them with a speech

Mohammed: Schismatic in hell

Guido da Montefeltro: politician corrupted by Boniface VIII who gave him an indulgence in advance, people on earth think he is in Heaven since he became a Franciscan, brother is in Purgatory

Bocca degli Abati: betrayer of identity of other sinners in circle

Count Ugolino and Archbishop Ruggieri: Ugolino betrayed city and was locked in tower by Ruggieri, Ruggieri also locked sons with him → unjust: Ugolino chews on Ruggieri’s brains forever

Brother Alberigo: betrayer of guests

[[Topics:[[

  • Principle of divine justice portrayed: contrapassi. The torment and suffering throughout Hell is just: because of free will man chose to sin, and chooses this punishment for himself. In a way all the souls desire justice for themselves: submit to punishments. The contrapasso of sin fits the nature of their sin, and reflects what sin does to their interior lives. E.g.: lustful blown about by wind: passions control them, suicides rejected their bodies: won’t inhabit them, simoniacs upside down in tunnels because use spiritual goods wrongly
  • Inferno examples:  
    • Francesca + Paulo: She refuses to admit to doing something wrong, saying she had no choice but to submit to her feelings or lustful desires. Dante faints from pitting her which is bad because they offended God and are therefore not to be pitted because the pain, they suffer is just. Dante doesn’t see the justice yet. 
    • Filippo Argenti: He attacks Dante in the boat, so because he offended him directly, Dante demanded justice for it and since he was on God’s side and offence against him was an offence against God, so it was easier for him to see the justice. 
    • Bocca Degli Abati is in Antenora, the 2nd level of the 9th Circle of Hell, he is placed here because he betrayed the Guelphs, but dies in battle, his identity is hidden (very reluctant to reveal his identity which highlights his sin), frozen in his sin. Rebuked by Dante, which is no in accord with God’s divine justice. 
    • The Violent, burning in a lake of boiling blood while being shot at by Centaurs. The boiling blood can symbolize the blood of the people they murdered burning them in Hell, furthermore the Centaurs symbolizes the violence they committed against others, being committed to them. (Canto 12) 
    • Geryon, the beast who takes Dante and Virgil to the eighth circle of Hell (The Fraudulent), is a kind looking man in the front of his body, but further back is like a serpent, symbolizing fraud as it is deceitful. (Canto 17) 
    • Caiaphas is crucified and trampled on by the Hypocrites, he is nailed onto the floor of the sixth ditch of Malebolge, this is in correspondence to his condemnation of Christ and his role as an agitator and promulgator of the unjust Crucifixion of Jesus. (Canto 23) 
  • Structure of Hell: the three major categories: (Leopard) sins of flesh, (Lion) violence, and (wolf) malice. The sins of flesh/incontinence are the least grave, they are most “natural”: lust, gluttony, avarice and prodigality, anger. The sins of violent are more grave, but are open and not deceptive, so not as grave as malice: violence against others, violence against self (suicide), violence against God (blasphemers, homosexuals, usurers). Sins of malice are the most grave because they go against the intellect.

<<Purgatorio and Paradisio<<

{{Structure of Purgatorio:{{

]]Ante-Purgatory:]]

Terrace 1: excommunicated, detention for 30 times period of contumacy

Terrace 2: Late-repentant: The indolent, the unshriven, the preoccupied, detention for period equal to that of earthly life

}}Peter’s Gate:}}

Step 1: Confession

Step 2: Contrition

Step 3: Satisfaction

Here Dante gets 7 P’s written on his head

[[Lower Purgatory:[[

Love of Neighbor’s Harm (Love Perverted):

Cornice 1: Proud, bear stones on their backs

Cornice 2: Envious, sealed eyes with metal wire, huddled like beggars

Cornice 3: Wrathful, smoke

<<Middle Purgatory:<<

Love Defective: Cornice 4: Slothful, run around mountain

{{Upper Purgatory:{{

Excessive love of secondary good

Cornice 5: Covetous, prostration, can’t move faces

Cornice 6: Gluttonous, starvation

Cornice 7: Lustful, fire

]]Structure of Paradise:]]

Sphere of the Moon: Those who neglected vows: Piccarda

Sphere of Mercury: Ambitious of active life

Sphere of Venus: The lovers

Sphere of the Sun: Theologians, teachers, historians, etc.: Aquinas

Sphere of Mars: The warriors

Sphere of Jupiter: the Just

Sphere of Saturn: The contemplatives

Sphere of fixed stars: Triumph of Christ, BVM, St Peter, St Jame, John, Adam

Paradise: Blessed in Celestial Rose

}}Figures:}}

Cato and Casella: Cato is a guardian figure for ante-Purgatory, he is an image of the natural virtues, bids Virgil to wash Dante’s face. Casella is on the ship of souls, Dante recognizes him

Manfred of Sicily: in excommunicated, illegitimate son of Frederick II, asked God’s forgiveness as he lay dying in battle

Buonconte da Montefeltro: Died from a wound in battle, shed one tear and said the name of Mary, was saved: son of Guido da Montefeltro in hell

Sordello: from Mantua, Virgil’s hometown, in pre-occupied, leads Virgil and Dante to valley of the princes

Omberto and Oderisi: in proud, Omberto proud of family, Oderisi of artistic ability

Sapia: in envious, reveled in grief of others, Dante considers his own pride and envy talking to Sapia

Mark the Lombard: in wrathful, discourses on free will

Statius: poet, in avaricious, wants to meet Virgil, Dante gives Virgil away, tells of how he converted

Forese Donati: Dante’s old friend, in gluttons, Forese explains that here they find their comfort and happiness: manifestation of love

Guido Guinizelli: in lustful,

Matelda: in Earthly Paradise: one with nature, figure of Eve, she represents the active life: physically draws Dante across the river →purification, transformation, conversion, Dante has to ask her, she guides him walking alongside the opposite banks

Beatrice: in Earthly Paradise: represents contemplative life

the pageant in the Garden of Eden and the rivers Lethe and Eunoe: river Lethe: forgetfulness of sin, Eunoe: remembrance of good deeds

Piccarda Donati: sphere of Moon, neglectful of her vows, explains the diversity of saints, she is furthest from God yet completely happy

Sts. Thomas and Bonaventure: St Thomas describes the life of St. Francis, criticizes bad Dominicans, Bonaventure life of St Dominic, criticizes bad Franciscans, both dancing together in sphere of Sun (Wisdom)

Cacciaguida: in sphere of Fortitude, great-great grandfather of Dante: knight in Second Crusade, discourses on rise and fall of noble Florentine families, how bad Florence has become

the Eagle of Justice, Trajan and Ripheus: legend that Trajan was resurrected and saved, Ripheus a mythical Trojan hero, exemplar of Justice

St. Bernard of Clairvaux: describes individual souls in the Celestial Rose, leads Dante now

the Celestial River, the Mystical Rose, the Blessed Mother: The celestial River and Rose are made up of the Blessed

the book of creation, the three rings, and the “figure of a Man"“: visions: the created universe, Trinity, Incarnation

[[Topics:[[

Purgatory: opposite to hell, more grave at bottom: most serious sins purged first. E.g., if you are proud, you would be unwilling to make satisfaction for other sins. Less grave sins at top, still need to be purged from them. The more grave sins are closer to Satan, and further from Heaven. All sin is disordered love: so the goal of Purgatory is for your love to be purified until its love for all other things is in accordance with God’s Will, and love for God is the highest. By first purging the most disordered loves first, you increase your capacity for the cardinal and theological virtues (ultimately divine love). Not just about justice: reorienting your love towards God.

Freedom: the souls are not being forced to do anything: progress when their will is in line with God’s, no “timer”, progress when their soul is ready. They want to do the will of God: submit themselves to their penances to be purged. All about unity with divine Will. There is always motion (life): none in hell. Their punishment is for a goal: virtue is for a goal.

Examples:

The Terraces: The function of the terraces is to rid the souls of the vice, and teach them the opposite virtue. They receive various examples of virtue (whip), always from the life of the Blessed Mother, and also secular history and mythology and examples of the vice (rein). Their “contrapasso” is either to practice the virtue they are learning, accept the punishment of their vice, or both.

Slothful: (canto 18) the slothful run around the mountain to conquer their spiritual laziness repeating the example from the life of Our Lady “Mary ran in haste”. Second example from Caesar, his zeal in military conquest. Souls in front of group cry out whip, souls in back cry out rein. We were created by love to love, sloth approaches loving God in a deficient way, no zeal. We are loving God without enough strength. Sloth is not just laziness, but a lukewarmness of love. Antidotes of sloth: grumbles of Israelites, grumbles of Trojans. Dante asks how we are responsible for our actions. Virgil tells him we have power of reason: helps us to bring our will in accord with God’s. Virgil tells Dante about the nature of love: all of our actions must be motivated by love, sin is when we love things in a disordered way. Reason is supposed to advise us on the proper ordering of love. We were made to love, cannot stop loving, yet we always have the power to make our love in accord with reason. They meet the abbot of San Zeno: gives them directions to hole, tells him they have to move.

Proud: (cantos 10-12) Dante and Virgil make it up through the needle’s eye: straight and narrow. the ferza (whip) images of humility are carved into stone: Mary at the Annunication, the Ark of the Covenant being carried, David’s humility, the humility of emperor Trajan: on war, stopped by an old widow shedding tears at his horse’s rein who wanted justice for his son: Trajan stopped armies. Dante looks on the images of humility with delight. The proud are bent over, carrying stones on their backs, Dante has to bend over to speak with Omberto (pride of family) and Oderisi (artistic pride). Speaking with Omberto instills humility into Dante. Provenzan Salvani humbled himself, helped him move more quickly. Remnants of pride are still there: has to still be purified. Dante is alongside Oderisi, humbled, bent down. Even after Virgil tells him to move on, still remains humbled and bent in his soul while he walks upright. Towards the next gate, the fren (rein) of pride is carved onto the floor of the cornice: the souls tread on it. Examples begin with Satan, ultimately meditating on pride in man. Pride is a bedrock sin: all sins rooted in pride. Don’t dwell on punishment but what follows: punishment not end, but means. Prayer: the Lord’s prayer, foundational prayer for foundational sin. Dante is cleansed from one of his P’s by the angel of humility. Song: blest are the poor in spirit. Dante is lighter.

  • Purgatory examples: 

    • Justice  

    • Prideful: hunched over (humility), carrying stones (weight of sins); stones are different weight according to the severity of the pride.  

    • Avaricious: Face to the ground, symbolic of attachment and preoccupation with lower, worldly things. Transfixed to the world (punishment is of looking down). Ex: Pope Adrian (love of power) 

    • Envious: Symbolic of envy is to desire; ex: Sapia who was envious of someone among the prideful and Dante tells her that he believes that he will be spending some time among the prideful and envious. She also asks for prayers 

Structure of Paradise: Related to specific virtues of active/contemplative life:

Major questions of Dante:

Dante asks how we are responsible for our actions. Virgil tells him we have power of reason: helps us to bring our will in accord with God’s. Virgil tells Dante about the nature of love: all of our actions must be motivated by love, sin is when we love things in a disordered way. Reason is supposed to advise us on the proper ordering of love. We were made to love, cannot stop loving, yet we always have the power to make our love in accord with reason.

Free will

}}Commedia as a whole:}}

Principle of Divine Justice: How each section reveals Divine Justice: Hell: justice given to sinners because of the sin they chose. Purgatory: must be clean before enter Heaven. Heaven: the Beatitude the souls merited because they chose to align their wills with God’s. Dante’s reactions: pity calls into question God’s justice Divine Mercy: complements Divine Justice: God wants to save us, He is ready to give us His grace, but we must be receptive to it. In the case of Buonconte da Montefeltro and Manfred of Sicily: asked God’s forgiveness, God is merciful, and He answered their prayers and saved them. This is only because they were receptive to God’s grace, in the case of Guido da Montefeltro, he rejected God’s grace, thus he was damned, because of his own choice.

Commedia as study of nature of Love: divine love and man’s love: God’s love is present in the justice of Hell because Free Will is God’s gift to us, He wants us to be free to choose to love Him, otherwise it is not love. Because of this gift, God honors our own choice to reject Him. The justice of hell is God’s love because it is what the souls deserve: they have rejected God. The purifications are God’s love because God knows our weakness and sinfulness, and knows we would not be able to fully embrace Beatitude if we were not spotless and purified in our love for Him. Thus, Purgatory is our opportunity to be purified so we can fully love God. Example: Forese Donati in gluttons, explains that they find happiness in their punishment: their punishment is their solace. Man’s sin threatens and corrupts man’s love: it is no longer love because it is disordered. Natural love: always moving towards what we perceive as good, sin distorts our view of goodness. True love of created things have to be below love of God → rightly ordered. For example, Francesca and Paolo make an idol of their love for each other, not even true love. They don’t even have a natural love, their love becomes their god. Given man’s fallen nature: must beseech God for the grace to order his love with God’s love, his will with God’s in order to find happiness and peace.

Development of Dante’s character: The journey of Dante represents every man’s spiritual journey: must reject mortal sin, then love must be purified before enter Beatific Vision. Comic movement (adversity to tranquility): Inferno and Purgatorio in relation to Paradisio: Specific examples:

The relationship between Dante and his various guides in the Commedia: Virgil and Dante: like father and son. Virgil is right reason: helps Dante, but limited. Entrance to city of Dis: angel has to open, Virgil cannot because he as right reason is limited. Virgil is instrument of grace to bring Dante to Beatitude. Dante becomes very attached to Virgil: at end of Purgatorio has to learn to detach himself: chastened by Beatrice after he looks back. Dante learns to ask Virgil’s permission.

Relationship between Reason and Revelation, Reason and Grace:

Beatrice and Dante: Beatrice is Dante’s prime motivation for virtue, Virgil would speak her name and he would move. He sees her goodness and beauty: she points him to God.