INFERNO
DAN BROWN and DANTE’S DIVINE COMEDY
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DIVINE COMEDY by Dante Alighieri (1265-­‐1321)
• Epic poem (1307-­‐1321)with Dante at the centre
• One of the greatest works of world literature
• 3 parts, each consisting of 33 cantos, 1 introductory canto = 100 cantos
• Journey from Inferno (Hell) via Purgatory to Paradise (Heaven)
• Each part ends with the word “stelle” (“stars”)
• Comedy = not amusing,prosperous ending after a difficult
beginnig
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DIVINE COMEDY -­‐ The three parts
1. Inferno • Dante has strayed from the path of righteousness and truth
and wanders in error and desperation.
• Hell is a gigantic funnel that descends the Northern
Hemisphere to the very center of the Earth. • According to the legend, this gigantic hole was made when
God threw Satan (Lucifer) out of Heaven with such force that
he created a giant hole all the way to the very center of the Earth, • Satan has remained there since, and will remain there
through all of eternity.
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1. Inferno
• The nine circles of Hell.
• The sinners who are the least repugnant, or those whose sins
were the least offensive, are in the upper circles. In each
circle, Dante chose a well-­‐known figure of the time or from
history or legend to illustrate the sin. As Dante descends from
circle to circle, he encounters sinners whose sins become
increasingly hateful, spiteful, offensive, murderous, and
traitorous. He ends with Satan, eating the three greatest
traitors in the world, each in one of his three mouths, at the center of the Earth.
• We learn about the consequences of our actions; that each
action brings a reaction; lesson in morality
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2. Purgatory
• Ascent from centre of the earth to Southern Hemisphere
• Cone-­‐shaped mountain on top of the earth
• Two sections: 2 levels like vestibule for negligent souls and 7 terraces – 7 deadly sins:
1.pride 2.envy 3.anger 4.laziness 5.courtousness/greed
6.gluttony 7.lust • Sins are not as harmful than in Inferno and sinners repent
• On top is the Garden of Eden: place of hope
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3. Paradise • From purgatory through river of forgettfulness to heaven
• 9 spheres beyond the earth: 1.moon=faith 2.mercury=hope 3.venus=love
4.sun=prudence 5.mars=strength 6.jupiter=justice
7.saturn=work 8.prime mover=causes movement to all
heavenly bodies 9.the empirion
• Virtues instead of sins
• The only feeling is love
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• Inferno has nine circles
• Shaped like a funnel, descends into earth where
Satan lives (gets all the dirt of the earth)
• On the way down there are 9 levels –each level describes a sin and punishment to match
• At each level sinners are punished according to
the degree of their sin and a ‘famous’ person that
embodies the sin of their section
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“Abandon all hope you who enter here” (Inscription at the gates of Hell)
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Vestibule to hell: people who lived without commitment to
either good or evil, eternally chasing a flag that cannot be
grasped
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The 9 circles (eternal punishment repeating itself)
1. Limbo: people who lived good lives but were never baptized; never see God; Judge assesses each sinner and designs the correct circle for punishment – this is where Hell really begins
2. Lust: ideal love was spiritual, not physical
3. Gluttony: unending rainstorm and 3-­‐headed dog ripping them
apart
4. Greed: greed or overspending; forever rolling huge rocks
againts each other
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5. Anger: wrathful, sullen, lazy; stuck in mood
6. Heresy: speak falsely against an ideal; exiled in hell (prisons, flaming tombs)
7. Violence: against others (boiling river of blood), self (forest of suicides) and God/nature/art (desert under a rain of fire)
8. Fraud: sins of theft – 10 different sections with different punishments (e.g. Fortunetellers – head turned to look into the past, move backwards)
9. Treachery: families, countries, guests, masters
Satan – holds in his 3 mouths 3 great sinners
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DAN BROWN’S INFERNO linked to Dante
• Inferno – the first book of Dante Alighieri’s Divine
Comedy inspired Dan Brown. He creates his own hell in Inferno.
• Punishment and sin in the afterlife. Hell reflecting the corruption and crime of life on earth.
• Dante’s poem is a kind of master text that explains the struggle
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DAN BROWN’S INFERNO linked to Dante
Link: • Dante’s Hell is not fiction, it is prophecy
• Hell on earth: as the damned souls tell their stories, the sins
they describe reveal that life on earth is just as horrific as the experience of hell, that the world, like the Inferno, is full of damned and tormented souls; an infernal landscape is already
around as
• The way down is in fact the way up – one must go down to go up – one must go through Hell in order to get to Paradise –
where up becomes down: he loves humankind and by doing
something “bad” he wants to save it
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Problem:
• Overpopulation will make earth a hell – the world is in denial about the population crisis
• Social breakdown – once the food supply
becomes grossly inadequate, Dante’s nine-­‐
ringed Hell becomes a reality
• Biological terrorism to save humanity; technology as a way to better life on a global
scale
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