Lesson 5
Dante’s Inferno
by
Joseph Ortiz
LIT 2100
Dr. Cheryl Powell
1 March 2013
Ortiz 1
Dante Alighieri’s “Inferno” is a story about Dante’s journey through the nine circles of
Hell. As Dante travels through the forest, he finds himself lost and even though he finds a way
out, three beasts—a leopard, a lion, and a wolf—block his path. Virgil the Poet sent from Heaven
by Beatrice finds Dante to lead him back to safety; however, since his path is blocked, the only
way out and to Heaven to reunite with Beatrice is to travel through Hell.
As Virgil and Dante approach the entrance of Hell, Dante is intimidated by an inscription
above the gate, “before me nothing but eternal things were made, and I shall last eternally.
Abandon every hope, all you who enter” (Canto III, Lines 7-9). The entrance is followed by the
Ante-Inferno, the outer most layer of Hell. Virgil says to Dante, “this wretched state of being is
the fate of those sad souls who lived a life but lived it with no blame and with no praise...souls
neither faithful nor unfaithful to God” (Canto III, Lines 34-38). As hornets and wasps endlessly
sting these helpless souls, Dante can only watch with shame. As Virgil and Dante near the First
Circle of Hell, they must both cross the first river Acheron. Charon, a boatman, helps them
proceed. The First Circle of Hell, known as Limbo, is for Virtuous Pagans. Virgil, Homer,
Horace, Socrates, Euclid, and many others exist in this Circle, as they died before the birth of
Christ. In Limbo, no physical torture exists however they will never ascend to Heaven or meet
God. As Dante enters into the Second Circle of Hell, a beast named Minos exists where Lustful
souls are judged one by one and are told which level of Hell they belong. Dante explains Minos’
process, “when the evil soul appears before him, it confesses all, and he, who is the expert judge
of sins, knows to what place in Hell the soul belongs; the times he wraps his tail around himself
tell just how far the sinner must go down” (Canto V, Lines 7-12).
The Third Circle of Hell is reserved for Gluttons where “thick hail and dirty water mixed
with snow come down in torrents through the murky air, and the earth is stinking from [the]
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soaking rain” (Canto VI, Lines 10-12). Another guardian of Hell exists in this Circle, named
Cerberus; a three-headed ruthless red-eyed beast which tears souls to pieces. The Forth Circle of
Hell is explained by Virgil, “In their first life all you see here had such myopic minds they could
not judge with moderation when it came to spending [and] priests and popes and cardinals, in
whom avarice is most likely to prevail” (Canto VII, Lines 40-48). The souls here joust in an half
loop before turning around and proceeding in other direction before smashing in to each other
once again; painstakingly they push boulders that dig in to the ground as they wither in pain.
Virgil and Dante must cross Styx river by boat, a swampy marsh leading in to the Fifth
Circle of Hell, which according to Dante was filled with “muddy people, all naked, with their
faces scarred by rage” (Canto VII, Lines 110-111). In this circle, it is reserved for people who
were wrathful or angry during their lives. The mythical figure Phlegyas exists here for setting
fire to the temple of Apollo. As they continue to cross the river, Virgil says to Dante that they’re
getting closer to the City of Dis, “Eternal fire burns within, giving off the reddish glow you see
diffused throughout this lower Hell” (Canto VIII, Lines 73-75). As they reach the city gates of
Dis, fiendish angels rage:
“Who is the one approaching? Who without death dares walk into the kingdom of
the dead?” And my wise teacher, [Virgil], made some kind of signal announcing
he would speak to them in secret. They managed to suppress their great
resentment enough to say: “You come, but he must go who thought to walk so
boldly through this realm. Let him retrace his foolish way alone, just let him try.
And you who led him here through this dark land, you’ll stay right where you
are”. (Canto VIII, Lines 84-93)
Ortiz 3
Virgil promises Dante that nothing will happen to him as their passage through the Circles of
Hell are of greater importance; therefore the angels cannot prevent them from continuing.
Startled, Dante notices three Furies—half women, half serpent—which call upon Medusa to turn
him to stone. Virgil quickly yells to Dante to close his eyes, but instead covered them for him.
Suddenly, the Furies scatter as a messenger of God appears before them to allow Virgil and
Dante to pass through the city, “he reached the gate and touched it with a wand; it opened
without resistance from inside” (Canto IX, Lines 89-90). Now entering the Sixth Circle of Hell,
opened tombs surround them endlessly. Virgil explains that in this Circle, Arch-Heretics exist
here, “There lie arch-heretics of every sect, with all of their disciples; more than you think are
packed within these tombs. Like heretics lie buried with their like and the graves burn more, or
less, accordingly” (Canto IX, Lines 127-131).
Now within the first ring of the Seventh Circle of Hell, a Minotaur—half-man, halfbull—looks over this Circle devoted to the violent. Virgil and Dante run past without incident;
however they find a river of boiling blood which boils the souls which in their lives injured
others with their violence. Virgil summons a Centaur, named Nessus, to help navigate Dante
through the dangerous rock. As they travel, Nessus informs Dante that Alexander the Great and
Dionysius exist here. In the second ring of the Seventh Circle, reserved for suicides, contains
souls that were transformed into trees. Dante is told to break off a branch, but upon doing so, a
tree begins to bleed and screams out in agony. In the third ring of the Seventh Circle of Hell,
Dante and Virgil find burning sand. Souls here are reserved for acts of violence against God.
This place is divided into three subzones which contain the burning sand and fiery rain which
endlessly burns its victims.
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Virgil and Dante find Geryon, a beast which helps cross them into the Eighth Circle of
Hell, known as Malebolge. Dante explains that it is divided in to ten descending valleys in which
souls are tortured. The first is for Panderers and Seducers, the second is for Flatterers, third is for
Simonists, fourth is for Soothsayers, fifth is for Grafters, sixth is for Hypocrites, seventh is for
Thieves, eighth is for Deceivers, ninth is for Sowers of Discord, and tenth is for Falsifiers.
The Ninth Circle of Hell is devoted to souls that are treacherous to kin, country, guests,
and benefactors. The giant Nimrod and other giants are damned here for all eternity except
Antaeus whom lifts Virgil and Dante up and sets them down at the bottom of frozen lake
Cocytus, the lowest pit of Hell. Within the first ring of the Ninth Circle, called Caina, is named
after Cain as he is damned here for murdering his brother Abel. Those that are treacherous to kin
are frozen up to their necks in ice within the Cocytus. The second ring of the Ninth Circle, called
Antenora, is named after Antenor, a traitor “whom opened the gates of Troy to the enemy”
(Parada). Those souls damned here must stand frozen up past their head. The third ring of the
Ninth Circle is called Tolomea, where those who betrayed their guests are condemned and their
tears freeze over their eyes. The fourth and final ring is known as Judecca. At the very bottom
lies Lucifer, which holds one sinner in each of his three mouths—Judas, betrayer of Jesus; and
Brutus and Cassius, who killed Julius Caesar. Dante describes what he saw, “In each of his three
mouths he crunched a sinner, with teeth like those that rake the hemp and flax, keeping three
sinners constantly in pain” (Canto XXXIV, Lines 55-57). Virgil says to Dante that “soon it will
be night. Now is the time to leave this place, for we have seen it all” (Canto XXXIV, Lines 6869). Virgil and Dante climb on to Satan and make their way downward until they reach his waist.
Once there, Virgil turns around and to Dante’s surprise, Satan’s legs are now above them and
they must climb upward. Virgil explains that, “When he [Satan] fell from the heavens on this
Ortiz 5
side, all of the land that once was spread out here, alarmed by his plunge, took cover beneath the
sea and moved to our hemisphere; with equal fear the mountain-land, piled up on this side, fled
and made this cavern here when it rushed upward” (Canto XXXIV, Lines 121-126). Both Virgil
and Dante continue to climb, Dante says “We climbed, he first and I behind, until, through a
small round opening ahead of us I saw the lovely things the heavens hold, and we came out to
see once more the stars” (Canto XXXIV, Lines 136-139).
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Works Cited
Parada, Carlos. "Antenor - Greek Mythology Link." Antenor - Greek Mythology. Maicar Förlag,
June 1997. Web. 27 Feb. 2013. <http://www.maicar.com/GML/Antenor1.html>.
Puchner, Martin, and Alighieri, Dante. "Dante’s Inferno." Trans. Mark Musa. The Norton
Anthology of World Literature. 3rd ed. Vol. B. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2012. 392511. Print.