Levels of Meaning in Dantes Inferno
Have you ever wondered what life would be like after death? In Dantes Inferno the severity of the sin determined the level of hell the sinner would be placed at for eternity. This poem is written in first person, and tells of Dante's journey from Mount Purgatory and hell to heaven. The Roman poet Virgil guides him through hell and he uses many different levels of meaning to illustrate the severity of the sinners sins.
Midway through his life, Dante realizes he is on the wrong path. He finds that he has wondered into the forest having lost his way on the true path. Dante does not remember how he lost his way, but he wandered into a very dark valley. He looks up and sees a hill and the sun shining down on him. Dante tries to climb toward the light. As he is climbing, he sees three angry beasts. They are a leopard, a lion, and a she-wolf. These creatures force him to turn back. Dante then notices a human in the forest. The human says he is the Roman poet Virgil. He tells Dante that the she-wolf kills all that approach her. Virgil offers to guide Dante. Virgil tells Dante that before they can climb the hill they must pass through hell and purgatory. Only when they pass them, can they reach heaven. Virgil tells Dante that he can only remember two other men that ever ventured into the afterlife and returned. Dante is then scared that he may not survive his passage through hell. Virgil told Dante that a woman in heaven took pity upon Dante when he was lost. She asked Virgil to help him. This woman was Beatrice, Dantes love. Virgil tells him that three holy women watch over him. Dante feels comforted when he hears that Beatrice has gone to heaven and still cares about him (The Inferno).
Virgil leads Dante to the gate of hell. Dante and Virgil enter the wide gates of hell and go through the nine circles of hell. As soon as they enter, Dante hears cries. Virgil explains to him that these are the cries of the souls who did not commit to either good or evil. Therefore, both heaven and hell have denied them. These souls remain in ante-inferno, which is in hell, but not truly part of it. Flies and wasps continually bite them, and writhing worms drink the blood and tears that flow from them (Dante's Inferno). Virgil leads Dante to a river called Acheron. This river symbolizes the border of hell. A boat approaches them and an old man named Charon is on it. Charon recognizes that Dante is a living soul and tells him to stay away from the dead. Suddenly there is an earthquake. Wind and fire rise up from the ground. Dante is so scared he faints. There is a clap of thunder and Dante wakes up. He finds that he is on the other side of the river (The Divine Comedy).
Virgil tells Dante that the first circle of hell contains the souls of those who led virtuous lives but were either born before Christ and could not honor God or were never baptized. Virgil himself resides here, and has been aloud to guide Dante on his journey for just a brief amount of time. Virgil then leads Dante out and into the darkness (Inferno Dante).
Dante and Virgil now descend into the second circle of hell. This is smaller in size than the first but there will be more punishment. They see the monster Minos, who stands at the front of a line of sinners. The sinners confess their sins to Minos and then he determines which circle the soul will rest at. Like Charon, Minos recognizes that Dante is a living soul. He also tells him not to enter. The souls in this circle spin around in the wind. These sinners are the lustful. They are the ones who committed sins of the flesh. Dante faints again (Inferno Dante).
When Dante wakes, he finds that he has entered the third circle of hell. A three headed dog named Cerberus tries to stop Virgil and Dante. Virgil calms the beast by throwing it a piece of earth. Dante and Virgil then move past it and into the circle of gluttonous. These souls must lie on the ground as the garbage rains down upon them (Inferno Dante).
Virgil and Dante continue down toward the fourth circle of hell and come upon the demon Plutus. Dante cries out because of what he sees. A ditch has been formed around the circle making a ring. Within the ring, two groups of souls push weights along. Virgil explains that those are the avaricious and the prodigal, who during their lives, hoarded and wasted their money (Dantes Inferno Summary).
Dante follows Virgil to the fifth circle of hell. The fifth circle borders the muddy river Styz. Dante and Virgil see souls crouched on the bank covered in mud and striking and biting each other. They are the enraged, those who were consumed with anger during their lives. Virgil and Dante run into the boatman Phlegyas. He takes them across the Styx. Virgil tells Dante that they are approaching the city of Dis, which is lower hell. As they come close to the entrance, the fallen angels yell to them. The demons slam the gate in Virgils face and do not let them enter. Dante sees three furies, which are creatures that are half woman and half serpent. When they see Dante they laugh and call for Medusa to come and turn him into stone. Virgil quickly covers his eyes so that he would not see Medusas head (The Inferno).
Virgil and Dante then pass through the gate of Dis and enter the sixth circle of hell. Tombs surround them. Here lie the Heretics. Dante and Virgil wander around the tombs of the Heretics. Dante and Virgil begin to speak to Farinata, one of the souls that rest in the sixth circle. Dante realizes that the souls on this circle can see future events but not present ones. Farinata predicts that Dante will be exiled from Florence (Dantes Inferno).
At the edge of the seventh circle of hell, they smell something so overpowering that they must sit down. The seventh circle of hell is divided up into three smaller circles. They punish the sins of violence against ones neighbor, against oneself, and against god. Virgil and Dante now progress toward the first ring of the seventh circle. Coming close to the ring they see a river of blood. Here boils the sinners who were violent against their neighbors. A group of Centaurs which are creatures that are half man, half horse, stand on the bank of the river with bows and arrows. They shoot at any soul that tries to come out of the river. The head Centaur, Chiron, notices that Dante moves the rocks that he walks on as only a living soul would. He draws an arrow, but Virgil commands him to stand back. He obeys (Inferno Dante).
In the second ring of the seventh circle of hell, Virgil and Dante enter a strange wood filled with black and knotted trees. Dante hears many cries of suffering but cannot see the souls. Virgil tells him to snap a twig off of one of the trees. He does this, and the tree cries out in pain. To Dante's surprise, blood begins to trickle down its bark. The souls in this ring are those who were violent against themselves or their possessions. They have been transformed into trees (Inferno Dante).
He and Virgil then advance through the forest of tree-souls to the edge of the Third Ring of the seventh circle of hell. Here they find a desert of red-hot sand. This ring is for those who were violent against God. It is divided into three zones. It rains fire throughout all three zones. The First Zone is for the Blasphemers. They must lie flat on a bank of sand. The falling flakes of fire keep the sand hot, which makes the souls burn from above and below. Before leaving the seventh circle of hell Virgil asks Dante to take of his belt. He throws the end into the dark water. Dante now sees a creature that has the face of a man, body of a serpent, and two hairy paws. Virgil talks the monster into transporting them down to the eight circle of hell. Dante climbs onto the beasts back and it takes off into the air (The Divine Comedy).
Virgil and Dante then find themselves outside the eight circle of hell. This circle has a wall running along the outside and has a circular pit in the center. Ten evenly space ridges run between the wall and the pit. Theses ridges create ten separate pits or pouches, each of a different scheme. As Virgil and Dante finally approach the pit in the center of the eighth circle of Hell, Dante sees what appear to be tall towers in the mist. Going closer, he realizes that they are actually giants standing in the pit. Their navels are level with the eighth circle, but their feet stand in the ninth circle, at the very bottom of Hell. Virgil names some of the other giants whom they pass until they come to Antaeus. He is the one who will help them down the pit. After listening to Virgil's request, Antaeus takes the two in one of his hands and slowly sets them down by his feet, which is at the base of the massive well. They are now in the ninth circle of hell, the realm of traitors (Inferno Dante).
Walking past the giant's feet, the two come upon a frozen lake, as clear as glass. The lake is named Cocytus. In the ice, souls stand frozen up to their heads, their teeth chattering. The first ring of the ninth circle of hell is called Caina where traitors to their kin receive their punishment. Virgil and Dante progress to the Second Ring, Antenora, which contains those who betrayed their homeland or party. Continuing across the lake, Dante is horrified to see one sinner gnawing at another's head from behind. He and Virgil then pass to the third ring, Ptolomea, which houses those who betrayed their guests. The souls here lie on their backs in the frozen lake, with only their faces poking out of the ice. Virgil and Dante approach the fourth ring of the ninth circle of hell, the very bottom of the pit. Dante sees a shape in the distance, hidden by the fog. Right under his feet, he notices sinners completely covered in ice, sometimes several feet deep, twisted into various positions. These souls make up the most evil of all sinners. They are the traitors to their benefactors. Their part of hell, the fourth ring of the ninth circle, is called Judecca (The Inferno).
Dante and Virgil move toward the giant. As they approach the fog they see its true form. The figure is Lucider. No name does justice to what a horrible creature it is. The size of his arms alone exceeds all of the giants of the eighth circle of hell put together. He stands in the icy lake. His torso rises above the surface. Gazing upward, Dante sees that Lucifer has three horrible faces, one looking straight ahead and the others looking back over his shoulders. Beneath each head rises a set of wings, which wave back and forth, creating the icy winds that keep Cocytus frozen. Each of Lucifer's mouths holds a sinner, the three greatest sinners of human history. Virgil tells Dante that they have now seen all of hell and must leave at once. Putting Dante on his back, Virgil avoids the flapping wings and climbs onto Lucifer's body, gripping the Devil's frozen hair and lowering himself and Dante down. Dante notes with shock that Lucifer's legs now rise above them, his head below. Virgil explains that they have just passed the center of the Earth. When Lucifer fell from Heaven, he plunged headfirst into the planet. His body stuck in the center. Dante and Virgil climb a long path through this hemisphere, until they finally emerge to see the stars again on the opposite end of the Earth from where they began (Inferno Dante).
Throughout his travels Dante found his way to God. In spite of Dantes fear throughout the journey, he followed Virgil the whole way and made their way through the center of the earth. They climbed out of hell through a rock tunnel. Then they reached the end of the tunnel, where they come across an opening from which they saw the sky again. On Easter Sunday, Dante emerged from hell (Inferno Dante).
Works Cited
Dante's Inferno. 16 Nov. 2008
Dante's Inferno Summary / Study Guide. 12 Nov. 2008
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