Help Me Understand Dante's Inferno!: Includes Summary of Poem and Modern Translation

By Dante Alighieri

A story about travelling through hell. Sounds thrilling, right? And it is! But it was also written hundreds of years ago...in another language. 

If you are struggling to get through Inferno or if you just want a bit more context, then this book is for you!

Inside you will find summaries of each Canto, overview of themes and char

• Language: English
• Publisher: Golgotha Press, Inc.
• Release date: Nov 7, 2019
• ISBN: 9781087829289

Dante Alighieri

Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) was an Italian poet. Born in Florence, Dante was raised in a family loyal to the Guelphs, a political faction in support of the Pope and embroiled in violent conflict with the opposing Ghibellines, who supported the Holy Roman Emperor. Promised in marriage to Gemma di Manetto Donati at the age of 12, Dante had already fallen in love with Beatrice Portinari, whom he would represent as a divine figure and muse in much of his poetry. After fighting with the Guelph cavalry at the Battle of Campaldino in 1289, Dante returned to Florence to serve as a public figure while raising his four young children. By this time, Dante had met the poets Guido Cavalcanti, Lapo Gianni, Cino da Pistoia, and Brunetto Latini, all of whom contributed to the burgeoning aesthetic movement known as the dolce stil novo, or “sweet new style.” The New Life (1294) is a book composed of prose and verse in which Dante explores the relationship between romantic love and divine love through the lens of his own infatuation with Beatrice. Written in the Tuscan vernacular rather than Latin, The New Life was influential in establishing a standardized Italian language. In 1302, following the violent fragmentation of the Guelph faction into the White and Black Guelphs, Dante was permanently exiled from Florence. Over the next two decades, he composed The Divine Comedy (1320), a lengthy narrative poem that would bring him enduring fame as Italy’s most important literary figure.

Book preview

cover-image, Help Me Understand Dante's Inferno (8

Help Me Understand

Dante’s Inferno!



Picture 10

Includes summary of Poem and Modern Translation

Dante Alighieri /

Scott La Counte (Editor)

 Picture 180

SwipeSpeare

ANAHEIM, CALIFORNIA

www.SwipeSpeare.com

Copyright © 2019 by Golgotha Press, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Limited Liability / Disclaimer of Warranty. While best efforts have been used in preparing this book, the author and publishers make no representations or warranties of any kind and assume no liabilities of any kind with respect to accuracy or completeness of the content and specifically the author nor publisher shall be held liable or responsible to any person or entity with respect to any loss or incidental or consequential damages caused or alleged to have been caused, directly, or indirectly without limitations, by the information or programs contained herein. Furthermore, readers should be aware that the Internet sites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared. This work is sold with the understanding that the advice inside may not be suitable in every situation.

Trademarks. Where trademarks are used in this book this infers no endorsement or any affiliation with this book. Any trademarks (including, but not limiting to, screenshots) used in this book are solely used for editorial and educational purposes.

Table of Contents

Historical Context

Plot Overview

Themes

Compassion

Justice

God and Nature

Levels of Sin

Christianity and Paganism

Reputation and Fame

Characters

Dante

Virgil

Summary of Cantos

Canto I

Canto II

Canto III

Canto IV

Canto V

Canto VI

Canto VII

Canto VIII

Canto IX

Canto X

Canto XI

Canto XII

Canto XIII

Canto XIV

Canto XV

Canto XVI

Canto XVII

Canto XVIII

Canto XIX

Canto XX

Canto XXI

Canto XXII

Canto XXIII

Canto XXIV

Canto XXV

Canto XXVI

Canto XXVII

Canto XXVIII

Canto XXIX

Canto XXX

Canto XXXI

Canto XXXII

Canto XXXIII

Canto XXXIV

Original Text In Modern English

Inferno: Canto I

Inferno: Canto II

Inferno: Canto III

Inferno: Canto IV

Inferno: Canto V

Inferno: Canto VI

Inferno: Canto VII

Inferno: Canto VIII

Inferno: Canto IX

Inferno: Canto X

Inferno: Canto XI

Inferno: Canto XII

Inferno: Canto XIII

Inferno: Canto XIV

Inferno: Canto XV

Inferno: Canto XVI

Inferno: Canto XVII

Inferno: Canto XVIII

Inferno: Canto XIX

Inferno: Canto XX

Inferno: Canto XXI

Inferno: Canto XXII

Inferno: Canto XXIII

Inferno: Canto XXIV

Inferno: Canto XXV

Inferno: Canto XXVI

Inferno: Canto XXVII

Inferno: Canto XXVIII

Inferno: Canto XXIX

Inferno: Canto XXX

Inferno: Canto XXXI

Inferno: Canto XXXII

Inferno: Canto XXXIII

Inferno: Canto XXXIV

About the Editor



Picture 5

Historical Context

Inferno was written in fourteenth century Italy. Medieval Florence, Dante’s home town, has long been in political turmoil. There was fighting between the Black (those that supported the Pope) and the Whites (those that didn’t support him). Dante was not a supporter of the Pope, so when Pope Boniface VIII schemed to help the Blacks take over Florence in a military coup, Dante and his family was exiled.

That little bit of background helps to see why Dante is always criticizing Boniface and previous Popes in Inferno. There are clergy mentioned in nearly every circle of Hell. There are also many major political names mentioned, people we probably don’t know anything about. When it was necessary to know what was going on, some of these people are explained a bit in this guide.

So, Inferno was very much a story that reflected the time it was written in. It was about political vengeance. But it was also about a man who found himself far from home (in exile and having a middle-age crisis, perhaps?), trying to find purpose in his life again.

It’s a good idea to note, also, that Inferno was originally written in Italian. At a time that Italy was is such turmoil, Inferno actually help unify the Italian language. Dante used many interesting words, here, and several Italian words were actually introduced to Italian through Inferno, some of which words are still used in the modern language in Italy. This is just like how catch a cold and it’s all Greek to me are common English expressions that came from Shakespeare. In fact, we can say that Dante is Italian’s Shakespeare, both men considered among the greatest poets/writers for their language.



Picture 5

Plot Overview

Inferno begins with Dante in a deep and dark valley. He doesn’t really know how he came to be there, and he just wants to get back home. But, he encounters several wild animals that block his path. The ghost of the Roman poet Virgil arrives to tell Dante that he can’t get passed the animals to get home the short way. In fact, the only way for Dante to get home is to tour Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven. In fact, the Virgin Mary herself has assigned Virgil to help Dante get through the first part of his trip: Hell.

And so, these two heroes begin a journey that lasts the entire rest of the poem. They start off by travelling through Limbo, the first circle of Hell, the dwelling place where people lived before Christ and, therefore, couldn’t be saved.

In the second circle, lustful sinners are tormented by great storms. Dante meets a woman named Francesca da Rimini there, who had an affair with her husband’s brother.

In the third circle, gluttons are made to suffer under a freezing rain. They meet Ciacco, a man from Florence, just like Dante.

In the forth circle, the greedy and the wasteful push heavy wheels around in circles, eternally insulting each other along the way.

In the fifth circle, the Wrathful fight in the muddy river Styx, while the Sullen are buried forever deep below the surface of the mud.

They next reach the gates of the city of Dis, where the sinners refuse to allow Dante and Virgil to pass. An angel must be sent to repel the sinners and let them through. Once inside the city, and also the sixth circle, Dante sees Heretics trapped in fiery tombs.

In the seventh circle, the Violent are punished. Virgil explains the Dante that all the sins he’s seen so far result from a lack of self control. But violence is a second, and worse, kind of sin. And there are different kinds of violence and different kinds of fraud.

So the eighth and ninth circles are dedicated to different kinds of fraud.

They cross into the eighth circle by riding on the back of a great beast named Geryon. This circle has ten pouches, and the travelers visit each kind of fraud separately. In each pouch, a very different kind of punishment is seen. In the fifth pouch, for example, sinners are submerged in a river of boiling pitch. If they come up for a little relief from the pitch, demons with long pitchforks run to them and stab them again and again. In the ninth pouch, those that caused scandal and division are constantly cut by a demon with a sharp sword. They then heal and are cut again, for eternity.

They finally arrive to the ninth circle of hell, which is also divided into four different areas. They pass towering giants that are buried up to the waist in the ground, Nimrod from the Tower of Babel among them. In the second zone, sinners are frozen in an icy lake, with their head only sticking up above the ice. In the third zone, sinners are lain out naked on the ice to suffer, their tear having frozen over their eyes, blinding them. In the fourth and final zone, Lucifer himself is there, a giant, three-headed beast half-buried in the ice, three great traitors in his three mouths. Other sinners are completely submerged below the icy surface.

The tour of Hell over now, Dante climbs onto Virgil’s back, and the ghost climbs Lucifer’s body, emerging on the southern hemisphere of the earth. They have come to Purgatory. Virgil must go back, and Dante must continue to the next divine realm.

.



Picture 5

Themes

Inferno is a very thematic poem. The story doesn’t make much sense without the major themes that are explored by the characters. Here are the major themes you can’t miss when reading Inferno.

Compassion

Dante spend a lot of time in the first half of the poem showing compassion to the sinner in Hell. He cries for them, weeps over their plight, and he even faints from the sadness more than once!

Justice

What is justice in Hell? Justice here seems to mean eternal suffering, and that is a concept that Dante starts to understand as he continues his journey through Hell. He starts to get angry with, or righteously indignant towards, the sinners he meets. Virgil celebrates this change in Dante, insinuating that such a viewpoint is more like God’s perspective.

God and Nature

For Dante, there is little difference between God and Nature. Since God is the author of Nature, following the ways of Nature is a way of serving God. Therefore, when one goes against that which is natural, he/she is sinning against God. In Hell, there is a special zone dedicated to those that have sinned against Nature.

Levels of Sin

The idea of levels of sin is explored in Inferno. As the travelers descend deeper and deeper into the lower circles of Hell, they see the area dedicated to greater and greater sins, and the punishment for the sinners is more fierce because of that. It’s interesting that the whole idea for what sins are worse is loosely based on the writings of Aristotle, a pagan philosopher. That leads us, by the way, to another theme.

Christianity and Paganism

In Inferno, Christianity and Paganism are mixed. Several sinners are mentioned who are being punished for sinning against a Greek or Roman god, for example. In fact, pagan gods are seen as powerful beings, just like angels of saints. Also, Virgil, Dante’s ghostly guide in Inferno, isn’t even a Christian himself! He resides in Hell, a pagan condemned to the first circle of Hell, Limbo. It seems that Dante mixed and combines pagan myths, ideals, and beliefs with those of Christianity whenever it was convenient for him to do so.

Reputation and Fame

Reputation and Fame were on the minds of many characters in this poem. Many sinners offered to help Dante or tell him things he wanted to know, if only they would become famous by being mentioned in Dante’s poem. Others wished for Dante to carry along messages to their home towns or relatives, to perhaps clear their reputation. Dante would even offer fame to some souls just to get them to talk!



Picture 5

Characters

There are only two major characters in Dante’s Inferno, Dante himself being one of those characters.

Dante

Dante is both the writer and the main character of Inferno. As a character, Dante has a very specific personality. He spends a lot of time, especially in the first half of the poem, crying and feeling compassion for the suffering sinners. His empathy is so strong that he rarely gets indignant with anyone, no matter how bad their sins were.

Throughout the story, though, Dante does learn to have righteous indignation for these sinners, especially as the heroes descend further and further into the depths of Hells, seeing sinners that have committed worse and worse crimes. Virgil congratulates Dante when he stops feeling sorry for the sinners all the time.

Dante the character blends with Dante that writer all throughout the poem. Dante can’t help but use metaphors and similes in every canto. His obsession with poetic description becomes stronger through the book, until each scene can’t be described plainly until Dante has compared it to two or three things. For the sake of simplicity, and the reader’s sanity, many of these colorful similes have been removed from the guide. In other words, we try and describe to you what it is, not all the things it is like.

Virgil

Virgil was a famous Roman poet, and a personal hero to Dante. His ghost was assigned by the Virgin Mary and God Himself to guide Dante through hell. He does this, taking special care of the often fearful Italian poet.

Virgil spends much time protecting Dante from potential dangers, explaining to vengeful souls and demon that Dante is on a mission from God and cannot be assaulted. He also spend s a good deal of time explaining to Dante about each circle, sin, and punishment.

Because Virgil was also a poet in life, we’re not surprised to hear fancy language from him. Many of his answers are very round-about and ambiguous. Sometimes it’s nearly impossible to know what exactly he means to say, since he’s always padding his meaning with extra words.



Picture 5

Summary of Cantos

Canto I

Dante starts out in a kind of crisis. He says he’s strayed from his path, and he describes himself as walking in some kind of no-man’s land, a place of shadow and he’s just come out of what he calls a night of sorrow. He’s climbing a hill towards some source of light, but a leopard is blocking his path. After the leopard, he faces a lion, and then a wolf. At this point, he runs back down the hill, where he runs into a ghost. He cowers at the ghost, but when the ghost explains that he was once a poet from long ago, Dante isn’t so scared anymore.

The ghost turns out to be the Roman poet Virgil, a great influence for Dante. Virgil explains that the wolf (technically a she-wolf) will eat and rape him if he tries to pass her. But this wolf, which is corrupting Florence, will soon be beaten back by the heroic Greyhound. In the meantime, Virgil says that Dante must follow him through Hell, Purgatory and Heaven.

Dante agrees, and the epic journey begins.

Canto II

Dante and Virgil have ended up talking all day. Now the sun is setting, and Dante invokes the Muses to help him through the night. Dante also asks Virgil why he was chosen for this journey. Virgil sees that Dante is very afraid, so he explains that he (Virgil) was specifically assigned to guide Dante in order to help him with his fears. He also tells Dante the story of how he came to be with him. Here is his story:

Virgil’s soul is in Limbo when a woman comes to him and asks for his assistance in helping a friend of hers. The woman, named Beatrice, says that she is doing this out of Love for Dante. Beatrice is somehow protected, so that the horrors of Hell can’t affect her, and now she’s delivering an order that has come all the way down from the Virgin Mary herself, who is very upset about Dante’s predicament. Beatrice, because she loves Dante, also wants to help him, but she can’t because she’s a woman, so she acts Virgil to help Dante

And so, here Virgil is, ready to guide Dante along on this journey. Dante is determined to stay close to Virgil, saying, in fact, that they are bound together, with a single will. And so, the two of them Dante and Virgil’s ghost, head into Hell.

Canto III

Dante and Virgil get to the Hellgate, on which there’s an inscription that says, basically, if you come in, don’t ever have any hope of coming out. The inscription also describes how Hell was made as an act of Justice and Wisdom and Love. Dante tells Virgil he doesn’t understand the inscription is trying to say, but Virgil simply tells him to be brave.

At this point, Hell seems to be a noisy place, full of strange noises, angry voices, and screaming. He asks Virgil about the screams, and the Roman poet explains that these people are those that, in life, didn’t choose either good or evil. Therefore, they are sentenced at death to go on in Limbo, a place that is neither really Heaven nor Hell. Even angels are here, those that didn’t side with either Lucifer or God in the great battle in Heaven. Virgil calls them cowardly angels. Dante asks for more explanation.

Virgil says that these sinners have no hope of anything. They envy even those in a true circle of Hell over being here in this neutral place.

Dante sees that the punishment for these neutral, cowardly souls is to be stung again and again by insects. They run around, naked, to escape, but they can’t avoid the bugs. Dante is astounded by the sheer number of souls here. He recognizes one of the people there as the one who made the great refusal. Scholars think this is referring to Pope Celestine V, who gave up his seat as Pope after just five months of holding the position.

There is also a huge crowd of people waiting by a large river. When Dante asks about them, Virgil tells him to be quiet and he’ll find out. The river is Acheron, one of the fiver rivers in the underworld of Greek mythology. A man with a white beard comes up to Dante and says that he can’t board the boat to cross because only the dead can cross. The man is Charon, the ferryman. Virgil insists that they be allowed across, saying that God has sent them on this journey. Charon is forced to yield, and he gives them a ride.

On the boat, Virgil explains that only true sinners cross the river to the rest of Hell. Suddenly, there is an earthquake, a tornado, and a red light! Dante loses consciousness.

Canto IV

Dante wakes up on the edge of the great dark valley. It’s so dark, he can’t see anything there, but one thing is sure—they’ve managed to cross the river Acheron. Virgil is there, saying they must continue now.

Dante notices that Virgil looks pale. Thinking this is from fear, he starts to mock his ghostly guide. Virgil explains that his complexion doesn’t come from fear, but from sympathy for those that are normally his neighbors. This circle of Hell is Virgil’s home—Limbo. Dante can hear the sinners sighing, though things don’t seem as bad as they are for the neutrals.

Those that live in this first circle of Hell are those that perhaps never learned about God or Christ. Perhaps they were born before the coming of Christ or they simply were not baptized at birth. They feel the constant ache that is the absence of God’s love for them. Dante asks if anyone can every leave this place and perhaps go to heaven. Virgil says that he himself saw that happen, when Christ came down and gathered up some of those from the Old Testament, like Noah, Moses, and Abraham, and take them up to Heaven.

A fire appears in the great valley, a glow coming from a kind of castle. There are also men there. Virgil introduces them as Homer, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan, great poets of history all. Dante is excited to be included in such a group.

Inside the castle area are gardens and courtyards, filled with great heroes of Greek and Roman history, people like Hector, Aeneas, Caesar, Socrates, and Plato. After chatting with them for a time, Dante and Virgil must move on to darker regions of Hell.

Canto V

Dante and Virgil now move on the second circle of Hell, which seems smaller than the first circle. There is a great crowd of people, and presiding over them is a bull-like judge named Minos. One by one, each person from the crowd steps forward to talk to Minos.

Virgil explains that Minos determines which circle of Hell each person must go to. They each tell their story, and Minos’ tail twists into curls. The more curls, the lower the circle of Hell (and the worse-off the person’s fate will be). Minos looks over at the two travelers, warning them to be careful who they trust. Virgil responds that they are under God’s protection, but Dante can tell the ghost is still scared.

They come now to a cliff. There is a giant whirlwind, and souls are being twirled around like helpless birds there. Virgil names some of the souls for Dante: Semiramis, Dido, Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Paris, Tristan, etc. These are the Lustful, the promiscuous and impulsive.

One female soul is very kind to Dante and tells her story. Her name is Francesca da Rimini, from Ravenna, Italy. He was once something like a princess, and she was forced into a political marriage to Gianciotto Malatesta. But she didn’t love Gianciotto. She fell in love with her husband’s younger brother, Paolo. She had an affair with him, only to be killed by Gianciotto when he found out. So now she is here, in the circle of the Lustful, while Gianciotto is in a deeper circle of Hell.

Dante cries at the injustice of it all and asks how it is Francesca fell in love. She says that one day she and Paolo were reading a book together, one about knight Lancelot falling love with Queen Guinevere. When, in the book, knight and queen kiss, Francesca and Paolo kissed, as well. At that point they stopped reading, distracted by each other’s passion. Paolo is here, in the whirlwind, too, and he begins to cry. Dante is so overcome by their grief that he passes out.

Canto VI

Dante wakes up and sees that he is surrounded by new suffering souls, so he must be in a new circle of Hell. In this circle, it’s always raining polluted water and hailstones, the circle dedicated to the Gluttonous. Because of the poisoned rain, the earth itself stinks, just like the water. The sinners continuously turn, trying in vain to keep some part of their bodies dry and clean. Cerberus, a three-headed dog, stands guard over the sinners. As Virgil and Dante approach, Virgil picks up a clump of mud and throws it a Cerberus, who eats it out of the air, showing just how gluttonous he, too, is.

The two travelers tour the circle. One sinner sits up from the mud and demands that Dante recognize him. The soul knows Dante is from Florence, so they must know each other.

Dante asks the man his name, as politely as he can. The soul says his name is Ciacco of Florence and that his sin is gluttony. Dante is moved to tears, and instead of asking about this man’s life, he asks about the future of Florence.

The soul, in very cryptic-prophecy language, talks about political strife between two forces. Both parties abandon reason and continue to struggle until one is banished, Dante included.

Dante mentions sever famous Florentines, asking where their souls are now. Ciacco answers that the poet will see them in other parts of Hell. Ciacco requests that Dante make him famous among the living. He then disappears into the mud. Virgil says that he will not resurface until Judgment Day.

Dante asks if the suffering of these sinners will get better or worse after Judgment Day. Virgil says that the suffering will be greater because these souls will be reunited with their bodies, and then both soul and body will suffer. They now turn and make their way down to the next circle of Hell. Along the way they meet someone named Plutus.

Canto VII

Plutus cries out to Satan, with words that no one can understand, as Dante and Virgil walk by. Even though Dante gets afraid, Virgil tells him that Plutus can’t do anything. As they pass, the demon falls down, as if lifeless.

When Plutus comes to, he compares the movement of the sinners to the waves of a whirlpool of myth. Dante sees that the sinner here are pushing heavily weighted wheels around in endless circles. The Avaricious and the Prodigal (meaning the greedy and the wasteful) are punished in this circle of Hell. When the sinners pass close to each other on their spinning wheels, they shout insults to each other. Why do you hoard? Why do you squander?

These sinners insult each other because they are so different. The greedy souls used to keep everything, hoarding like pack rats. The prodigal are reckless spenders, wasteful, and the opposite of the hoarders. So whenever they get close to each other in their endless dance of labor, they accuse the other.

Dante sees that some of the sinners have shaved heads. Wonders if they were clergy. Virgil confirms his suspicions. Dante looks through the crowd to find someone he can recognize, but Virgil explains that they are all now so filthy and dirty that their identity is hidden.

Virgil launches into this speech about how these sinners either wasted or hoarded all the Fortune given to them. Now gold cannot save them from their