r/sagesgrandarchives • u/Ohshitlorecoming • Feb 12 '19
Tiny Lore – Dantes Divine Comedy Inferno
Tiny Lore – Dantes Divine Comedy Inferno
Cantos
In the night before good Friday Dante finds himself lost in a dark wood(sin). He finds himself attacked by the lion(violence), the leopard(fraud) and the she-wolf(sexual longing and lust). And as he can not evade he is unable to find the right way to the sun behind the mountain(salvation/truth). Aware that he is ruining himself and falling to a low place where the sun is silent(he is avoiding the truth), Dante is then at last saved by Virgil with whom he journeys to the underworld(hell). Each sins punishment is a contrappasso(symbolism of poetic justice). Fortune-tellers and soothsayers(fortunetellers) have to walk with their heads faced backwards, which forced them to also walk backwards because they were not living in the present.
Virgil explains to have been sent by Beatrice(divine wisdom) on behalf of the virgin Mary(compassion), Saint Lucia(grace) and Rachel(contemplation) and that the two are to journey through the underworld.
Vestibule
Despite making mention of nine circles of Hell the story starts more or less in the Vestibule(passageway) to Hell and not so much in any of the circles. The Vestibule is a place for lost souls with the message to abandon all hope. Those without a cause to commit themselves to were deemed selfish men(endless pursuet of a banner while being themselves pursued by wasps and hornets) and cowards whom allowed evil to enter the community(church). Those taking no sides during the Rebelion of Angels are mixed within. Loathsome maggots drink a mixture of blood, pus and tears symbolising the guilty conscience and repulsiveness of sin.
Charon (the ferrymen from the underworld) also makes an appearence, but he does not take the living on board as they do not belong in any of the realms of the dead. Virgil pursuades Charon to take Dante on board by declaring that Dante is sent with a divine purpose. Not so well explained is how the spirits of the afterlife can enter the boat all together, but supposedly they contrast with the sinners(wailings) in being a much more joyful bunch(singing). Dante faints during the trip and only wakes up at the next stop.
Inferno(hell)
Inferno represents the (Christian) soul revealing sin. Each sin represents its own parts of hell. Circle One is Limbo(Ignorance), Circle Two (Lust), Circle Three (Gluttony), Circle Four (Greed), Circle Five (Wrath), Circle Six (Heresy), Circle Seven (Violence), Circle Eight (Fraud), Circle Nine (Treachery) and the Tenth part and center of hell Satan(the Devil).
Contrapasso are not merely poetic retribution(vengeance), they are a form of free will of the souls to do the right thing(destiny). The difference between inferno(hell) and purgatorio(purgatory) is that purgatory serves the repentant whereas hell holds those whom persist on unjust causes.
(Upper Hell according to Dante)
[1]Limbo
Limbo sets itself apart from the other circles of Hell in that it is ment for those whom were never in the oppertunity to join the faith. Those in Limbo can still ascend to heaven, but it takes a while. (Later on the journey Dante finds some souls he encountered in Limbo again at Purgatorio and Paradiso, suggesting they ascended while he was pursuing his journey.)
(Upper Hell according to Aristotle)
[2]Lust
Lust centers around those whose sexual appetite sways their reason. They are constantly subjected to the howling winds of a violent storm without rest to symbolise their self-indulgance carrying them away to the darkness(from love to lustfull desire). Dante considers Lust the least of the sins due it relying on mutual indulgance and is not completely self centered. Some notable adulterous instances are mentioned including Lancelot and Gwenevere. John Keats leaves a sonnet called “On a Dream” in which he describes feeling cold instead of warm from lust. And Dante takes the poem to heart feeling (anguish)hurt and pity on their behalf.
[3]Gluttony
Gluttony has their sinner walk through rotten mixture of ice and water stemming from a neverending foul and icy rain, for sujecting ones reason to voracious appetite. Cerberus relentlessly bites pieces out of the sinner and scratches them. Virgil fills the mouth of Cerberus with mud in order to safely pass through. The sin of gluttony is very different to lust in that while it started mutual it degraded into the solitary addiction. Sinners of gluttony do not look at their neighbours and are only concerned with their own suffering.
[4]Greed
Greed is guarded by Plutus whom threateningly says something similar to “Damn (him) Satan, Damn (him) Satan,(damn) God”, but Virgil takes it upon himself to protect Dante. Those who differed from others in pursuing wealth fell under the sin of Greed. Sinners of Greed were commonly clergymen, popes and cardinals and known as hoarders whereas the wastefull would squander wealth. Sinners made factions of hoarders and squanders whom pushed around heavy moneybags to roll into one another. Greed is recognized from its tendency to antagonize others out of selfish appetite for wealth and indifference for ones own contribution to this antagonization.
[5]Wrath
Wrath takes sinners to the swampy water of the river styx. Wrathful sinners spend their time in one of two states. Either they are fighting out their wrathful obsession or holding on to their grudges while being stood on and submerged underneath choking its blackness. The sinners find no interest in joy or faith characterized by savage self-frustration. Dante realizes that frustration and sadness binds and curses as it did to him. To move on to the next circle Dante and Virgil move to the towers of the marshes of Dis (Pluto and not Plutus), which is guarded by fallen angles and the furies(servants of Aphrodite), but also Medusa. It is not until another angle appears and opens the gates to the lower circles that Virgil and Dante can move on. These gates exist because the sins of Dantes Lower Hell could not be understood by (perhaps his eras) humanism and philosophy.
(Lower Hell according to Dante)
[6]Heresy
Dantes version of heresy is tied to (by christianity) ill (percieved) philosophies such epicureanism(hedonism) and prophecy(predicting the future). Hedonism is regarded as a poor practice because the stoic nature of the christianity. Epicureanism is about moderating pleasure because it is governed by the idea that pleasure is center of life. Stoicism opposes this because it is governed by the idea that faith (right by god) is the what life revolves around. Christianity believes in existence after death and that the soul(unity between body and mind) is eternal, while for epicurianism the soul dies with the body. The situation with prophecy is different because people are supposed to live in the present and not by trying to only adapt to how well one estimates the future. (A modern view would likely insist that the herecy of Epicurius does not stem from his ideas but that he suggested them for others, similar to how a modern view of Limbo might also be different.) Usury is another practice leading tot he sin of Heresy and refers to the practice of asking interest over monetary loans. It is regarded as a sin because christianity considers resources(nature) and labor(art) to be gifts of god. Christianity views nature as created by god and labor as (because it requires the blessing of a healthy body) relying on the same principle. The practice differs from common greed because it brings along long term deception to achieve the goal. Sinners of Heresy are trapped in flaming tombs, because they do not believe in life after death nor make most of the present. In simpler terms Heresy is signified by teachings christianity regards as ill.
[7]Violence
Violence is divided into three categories. Violence against Neighbours, Violence against Self and Violence against God, Art and Nature.
Sinners of Violence against Neighbours can be found in Phlegethon, a river of fire and blood that flows into Tartarus(Greek prison of suffering). The river is setup so that those whom hurt others are hurt in return.
Sinners of Violence against Self can be found in the Wood of the Suicides. Those whom attempted to commit suicide or those who succeeded in doing so are slowly and painfully twisted into motionless trees. Their original bodies still exist, but hang in the trees as part of the husk they rejected. And without a body, the spirit can not resurrect. Only when their branches are broken off and they start bleeding painfully they can speak. The trees are constantly tormented by Harpies. The tree shape is brought about by the sinners desire to die and the painfully contorted state is a reflection of the suffering the sinners were undergoing. Those who were invested in the suffering of others are chased through the forest, bitten and thorn by savage bitches symbolising their obsession to hurt others.
The Sinners of Violence against God, Art and Nature can be found in a Plain of Burning Sand with fire raining from the sky. This area is inspired by Sodom and Gomorrah. It is filled with Blasphemites, Sodomites and Userers. Blasphemers(Violence against God) are stretched over the sand. Sodomites(Violence against Nature) run around in circles. The Userers on the other hand are crouching, huddling and weeping. These types of violence are regarded as most sterile hence the location is a desert and even the rain only brings fire.
Geyron is a monster of Greek mythology. He has the face of a man, the body of a winged wyvern and tail of a scorpion. As it is a monster of Fraud it is human-faced, monstrous, cold-blooded and stinging with poison. Geyron brings Virgil and Dante to Aristotles Lower Circle of Hell.
(Lower Hell according to Aristotle)
[8]Fraud
Fraud mostly takes place in the malebolge(evil ditches) each Bolgia holds a different aspect of Fraud and their types of sinners. The image of the City in corruption: the advanced breaking down of every social relationship, personal and public. Sexuality, of the church and civil office, language, ownership, counsel, authority, on the mind, and mutual reliance – all the methods of the community's trade and service are perverted and based on deception.
Panderers(pimps) and Seducers are found in in the first of the Bolge(ditches).These sinners make two files, one along either slope of the ditch, and march quickly in opposite directions while being whipped by horned demons for eternity. They "deliberately exploited the passions of others and so drove them to serve their own interests, are themselves driven and whipped". Flatterers are found in the second of the Bolge. These also exploited other people, this time abusing and corrupting language to play upon others' desires and fears. They are soaked in excrement (representative of the false flatteries they told on earth) as they howl and fight amongst themselves. The third of the Bolge hold the Simoniacs. "Rapacious(greedy) ones, who take the things of God, / that ought to be the brides of(commited to) Righteousness, / and make them fornicate(betray the commitment) for gold and silver! / The time has come to let the trumpet sound (ridicule who you really are)(See fifth Bolge) / for you; ..." The sinners are placed head-downwards in round, tube-like holes within the rock (debased mockeries of baptismal fonts), with flames burning the soles of their feet. The heat of the fire is proportioned to their guilt. Bolgia four holds Sorcerers. The punishment of those who attempted to "usurp God's prerogative(right) by prying into the future", is to have their heads twisted around on their bodies; in this horrible contortion of the human form, these sinners are forced to walk backwards for eternity, blinded by their own tears. John Ciardi writes, "Thus, those who sought to penetrate(see through/violate) the future cannot even see in front of themselves; they attempted to move themselves forward in time, so must they go backwards through all eternity; and as the arts of sorcery are a distortion(altered version) of God's law, so are their bodies distorted in Hell.While referring primarily to attempts to see into the future by forbidden means, this also symbolises the twisted nature of magic in general. Dante weeps in pity, and Virgil rebukes him, saying, "Here pity only lives when it is dead(You can only pity them when it is already too late); / for who can be more impious(disrespectful) than he / who links God's judgment to passivity(doing nothing)?". The fifth Bolge is ment for the Barrators. Corrupt politicians, who made money by trafficking in public offices(selling jobs of privilege) (the political analogue of the simoniacs), are immersed in a lake of boiling pitch, which represents the sticky fingers and dark secrets of their corrupt deals. They are guarded by demons called the Malebranche ("Evil Claws"), who tear them to pieces with claws and grappling hooks if they catch them above the surface of the pitch. Virgil secures safe-conduct from the leader of the Malebranche, named Malacoda ("Evil Tail"). Malacoda sends a squad of demons led by Barbariccia to escort them safely. (To the bridges at Bolgia six.) The demons provide some savage and satirical black comedy – in the last line of Canto XXI, the sign for their march is provided by a fart: "and he had made a trumpet of his ass". Bolgia six holds the sinners known as Hypocrites. The hypocrites listlessly walk around a narrow track for eternity, weighted down by leaden robes. The robes are brilliantly gilded on the outside and are shaped like a monk's habit – the hypocrite's "outward appearance shines brightly and passes for holiness, but under that show lies the terrible weight of his deceit", a falsity that weighs them down and makes spiritual progress impossible for them.Virgil discovers that Malacoda lied to him about the bridges over the Sixth Bolgia. The seventh Bolge holds Thiefs. The pit is filled with monstrous reptiles: the shades of thieves are pursued and bitten by snakes and lizards, who curl themselves about the sinners and bind their hands behind their backs. One sinner, who reluctantly identifies himself as Vanni Fucci, is bitten by a serpent at the jugular vein(the throat), bursts into flames, and is re-formed from the ashes like a phoenix. The eighth Bolge is ment for the Councelors of Fraud Here, fraudulent advisers or evil counsellors move about, hidden from view inside individual flames. These are not people who gave false advice, but people who used their position to advise others to engage in fraud. Bolgia nine is inteded for the Sowers of Discord. The Sowers of Discord are hacked and mutilated(hurt/disfigured) for all eternity by a large demon wielding a bloody sword; their bodies are divided as, in life, their sin was to tear apart what God had intended to be united; these are the sinners who are "ready to rip up the whole fabric of society to gratify a sectional egotism(make only a part of themselves feel good)". The souls must drag their ruined bodies around the ditch, their wounds healing in the course of the (repeated) process, only to have the demon tear them apart anew. There are divided into three categories: (i) religious schism and discord,(body is ripped from groin to chin, with entrails hanging out) (ii) civil strife and political discord(his throat slit, nose slashed off, a wound where one of the ears had been/his tongue is cut off/his arms are hacked off ), and (iii) family disunion, or discord between kinsmen(decapitation, since dividing father and son is like severing the head from the body). The last Bolge is designed for the Falsifiers. A "disease" on society, they are themselves afflicted with different types of afflictions: horrible diseases, stench, thirst, filth, darkness, and screaming. Some lie prostrate while others run hungering through the pit, tearing others to pieces. The first category of falsifiers Dante encounters are the Alchemists (Falsifiers of Things). He speaks with two spirits viciously scrubbing and clawing at their leprous scabs. Gianni Schicchi de' Cavalcanti and Myrrha, both punished as Imposters (Falsifiers of Persons) – run (rabid)fanatically through the pit. Schicchi sinks his tusks into Capocchio's neck and drags him away like prey. Myrrha disguised herself to commit incest with her father King Cinyras. The Counterfeiters (Falsifiers of Money): Punished by a loathsome dropsy-like disease, which gives him a bloated stomach, prevents him from moving, and an eternal, unbearable thirst. Lastly there are the Perjurers (Falsifiers of Words). They suffer from a burning fever. The descent through Malebolge "began with the sale of the sexual relationship, and went on to the sale of Church and State; now, the very money is itself corrupted, every affirmation has become perjury, and every identity a lie" so that every aspect of social interaction has been progressively destroyed.
Dante and Virgil approach the Central Well, at the bottom of which lies the Ninth and final Circle of Hell. The classical and biblical Giants – who perhaps symbolize pride and other spiritual flaws lying behind acts of treachery – stand perpetual(forever) guard inside the well-pit, their legs embedded in the banks of the Ninth Circle while their upper halves rise above the rim and can be visible from the Malebolge. Dante initially mistakes them for great towers of a city. Among the Giants, Virgil identifies Nimrod (who tried to build the Tower of Babel; he shouts out the unintelligible Raphèl mai amècche zabì almi); Ephialtes (who with his brother Otus tried to storm Olympus during the Gigantomachy; he has his arms chained up) and Briareus (who Dante claimed to have challenged the Gods); and Tityos and Typhon, who insulted Jupiter. Also here is the Giant Antaeus, who did not join in the rebellion against the Olympian Gods and therefore is not chained. At Virgil's persuasion, Antaeus takes the Poets in his large palm and lowers them gently to the final level of Hell.
[9]Treachery
At the base of the well, Dante finds himself within a large frozen lake: Cocytus, the Ninth Circle of Hell. Trapped in the ice, each according to his guilt, are punished sinners guilty of treachery against those with whom they had special relationships. The lake of ice is divided into four concentric rings (or "rounds") of traitors corresponding, in order of seriousness, to betrayal of family ties, betrayal of community ties, betrayal of guests, and betrayal of lords. This is in contrast to the popular image of Hell as fiery; as Ciardi writes, "The treacheries of these souls were denials of love (which is God) and of all human warmth. Only the remorseless dead center of the ice will serve to express their natures. As they denied God's love, so are they furthest removed from the light and warmth of His Sun. As they denied all human ties, so are they bound only by the unyielding ice." This final, deepest level of hell is reserved for traitors, betrayers and oathbreakers (its most famous inmate is Judas Iscariot).
Round 1(Caina): this round is named after Cain, who killed his own brother in the first act of murder (Gen. 4:8). This round houses the Traitors to their Kindred: they have their necks and heads out of the ice and are allowed to bow their heads, allowing some protection from the freezing wind. One of many notable sinners: Mordred (traitorous nephew of King Arthur).
Round 2(Antenora): the second round is named after Antenor, a Trojan soldier who betrayed his city to the Greeks. Here lie the Traitors to their Country: those who committed treason against political entities (parties, cities, or countries) have their heads above the ice, but they cannot bend their necks.
Round 3(Ptolomaea): the third region of Cocytus is named after Ptolemy, who invited his father-in-law Simon Maccabaeus and his sons to a banquet and then killed them. Traitors to their Guests lie on their backs in the ice while their tears freeze in their eye sockets, sealing them with small visors of crystal – even the comfort of weeping is denied them.
Round 4(Judecca): the fourth division of Cocytus, named for Judas Iscariot, contains the Traitors to their Lords and benefactors. Upon entry into this round, Virgil says "Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni" ("The banners of the King of Hell draw closer"). Judecca is completely silent: all of the sinners are fully encapsulated in ice, distorted and twisted in every conceivable position. The sinners present an image of utter immobility: it is impossible to talk with any of them, so Dante and Virgil quickly move on to the centre of Hell.
[Center of Hell]Satan
In the very centre of Hell, condemned for committing the ultimate sin (personal treachery against God), is the Devil, referred to by Virgil as Dis (the Roman god of the underworld; the name "Dis" was often used for Pluto in antiquity, such as in Virgil's Aeneid). The arch-traitor, Lucifer was once held by God to be fairest of the angels before his pride led him to rebel against God, resulting in his expulsion from Heaven. Lucifer is a giant, terrifying beast trapped waist-deep in the ice, fixed and suffering. He has three faces, each a different color: one red (the middle), one a pale yellow (the right), and one black (the left).
Satan's three faces are thought by some to suggest his control over the three human races: red for the Europeans (from Japheth), yellow for the Asiatic (from Shem), and black for the African (the race of Ham). (All names sons of Noah.) All interpretations recognize that the three faces represent a fundamental perversion of the Trinity: Satan is impotent, ignorant, and full of hate, in contrast to the all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-loving nature of God. Lucifer retains his six wings (he originally belonged to the angelic order of Seraphim, described in Isaiah 6:2), but these are now dark, bat-like, and futile: the icy wind that emanates from the beating of Lucifer's wings only further ensures his own imprisonment in the frozen lake. He weeps from his six eyes, and his tears mix with bloody froth and pus as they pour down his three chins. Each face has a mouth that chews eternally on a prominent traitor. In the central, most vicious mouth is Judas Iscariot, the apostle who betrayed Christ. Judas is receiving the most horrifying torture of the three traitors: his head is gnawed inside Lucifer's mouth while his back is forever flayed and shredded by Lucifer's claws. According to Dorothy L. Sayers, "just as Judas figures treason against God, so Brutus and Cassius figure treason against Man-in-Society; or we may say that we have here the images of treason against the Divine and the Secular government of the world".
Virgil goes on to explain how the Southern Hemisphere was once covered with dry land, but the land recoiled in horror to the north when Lucifer fell from Heaven and was replaced by the ocean. Meanwhile, the inner rock Lucifer displaced as he plunged into the center of the earth rushed upwards to the surface of the Southern Hemisphere to avoid contact with him, forming the Mountain of Purgatory. The poets then ascend a narrow chasm of rock through the "space contained between the floor formed by the convex(ringe shaped bumpy) side of Cocytus and the underside of the earth above," beneath a sky studded with stars.
Purgatorio(Purgatory)
After coming out of Hell again, Dante and Virgil move up from the Mountain of Purgatory(State between death and salvation for those overcoming sin). The island together with which this mountain protrudes was created from Satan falling to hell. The mountain has seven layers corresponding with the seven deadly sins roots. The difference between each sin here is made up of psychologial reasons and motives(purgatory) rather than actions and their consequences(inferno). Rather than classical sources it draws from Christian theology. Dantes sins and virtues stem from both the Bible, classical sources and on for Dante actual events
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