Circle 1: Limbo
• Unbaptized and virtuous pagans
• All virtuous non-Christians
• Guiltiness damned are punished by living in a deficient form of heaven
• Disappointment and regret
• Homer, Euclid, Socrates, Julius Caesar
Circle 2: Lust
• Those overcome by lust and sensual love
• Thrown by terrible winds of a violent storm w/o hope and rest. First ones truly punished
• Dido, Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Achilles, Paris, Tristen
• Paolo and Francesca are murdered before they could repent carnal courtly love as sin
Circle 3: Gluttony
• Not only overindulgence in food and drink but also other kinds of addictions
• Gluttons lie here not being able to see their neighbors to represent selfish and empty sensuality of their lives
• Lay in vile freezing slush produced by ceaseless foul, icy rain
• Ciacco of Florence
Circle 4: Avarice and Prodigality
• Attitude toward material goods deviated from the appropriate mean
• Abused material goods
• Many clergymen, popes, and cardinals who hoarded possessions
• Joust using as weapons great weights which they push with their chests
• He finds the poets of antiquity who have been luminaries of his own intelligence.
• Latin Poets: Horace, Lucan
• Roll stones to crash against one another
Circle 5: Wrath and Sullenness
• Wrathful fight each other on the surface
• Sullen lie gurgling beneath the swamp-like water
• Filippo Argenti
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Cantos 23-25
[Canto 23]
Aesop's fable story is about how a mouse asked a frog to help her get across the river. The frog tied the mouse's front leg to her own back leg using a piece of string and they swam out to the middle of the stream. The frog then turned traitor and plunged down into the water, dragging the mouse along with her. The mouse's dead body floated up to the surface and was drifting along when a kite flew by and noticed something he could snatch. When he grabbed the mouse he also carried off her friend the frog. Thus the treacherous frog who had betrayed the mouse's life was likewise killed and eaten. The noise reminded him of this and how the hypocrites can be referred to as the frog.
[Canto 24]
The way the serpent looks reminds Dante of the other monsters he encountered. The way the snake wraps it's tail around the sinner reminds Dante of the way Geryon's tail moved. The idea of tails is very important and in medieval times a beast's tail showed the ferocity and strength of the beast.
[Canto 25]
"To be sure my leader heard, I signaled him" This is showing how Dante is gaining confidence and independence. In the beginning he was begging Virgil to not leave him and stay by his side but now as he as almost gone through all the circles of hell he has finally gained confidence. Cianfa belonged to the Donati family in Florence. This is significant because Dante blames Corso Donati for the downfall in Florence and for sees him being dragged into hell by a beast.
Aesop's fable story is about how a mouse asked a frog to help her get across the river. The frog tied the mouse's front leg to her own back leg using a piece of string and they swam out to the middle of the stream. The frog then turned traitor and plunged down into the water, dragging the mouse along with her. The mouse's dead body floated up to the surface and was drifting along when a kite flew by and noticed something he could snatch. When he grabbed the mouse he also carried off her friend the frog. Thus the treacherous frog who had betrayed the mouse's life was likewise killed and eaten. The noise reminded him of this and how the hypocrites can be referred to as the frog.
[Canto 24]
The way the serpent looks reminds Dante of the other monsters he encountered. The way the snake wraps it's tail around the sinner reminds Dante of the way Geryon's tail moved. The idea of tails is very important and in medieval times a beast's tail showed the ferocity and strength of the beast.
[Canto 25]
"To be sure my leader heard, I signaled him" This is showing how Dante is gaining confidence and independence. In the beginning he was begging Virgil to not leave him and stay by his side but now as he as almost gone through all the circles of hell he has finally gained confidence. Cianfa belonged to the Donati family in Florence. This is significant because Dante blames Corso Donati for the downfall in Florence and for sees him being dragged into hell by a beast.
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Cantos 20-22
[Canto 20]
"God grant you benefit of this book" This Dante's warning to us to avoid hell. This can suggest that the point of this book is to scare us and resist the urge to sin. Dante also may be aware that he is going to hell and is now praising god.
[Canto 21]
"Pulled me across toward him from where I stood." Even Virgil knows that Dante is going to hell so he is keeping him away from the beings that are there right now so they don't take him in early.
[Canto 22]
"Guided by land or star! We journeyed now with the ten demons." This could be an allusion to the three wise men who where knew by the a star that baby Jesus was born. Dante is the guidance and signal star that the demons are waiting for so they can take him.
"God grant you benefit of this book" This Dante's warning to us to avoid hell. This can suggest that the point of this book is to scare us and resist the urge to sin. Dante also may be aware that he is going to hell and is now praising god.
[Canto 21]
"Pulled me across toward him from where I stood." Even Virgil knows that Dante is going to hell so he is keeping him away from the beings that are there right now so they don't take him in early.
[Canto 22]
"Guided by land or star! We journeyed now with the ten demons." This could be an allusion to the three wise men who where knew by the a star that baby Jesus was born. Dante is the guidance and signal star that the demons are waiting for so they can take him.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Cantos 17-19
[Canto 17]
The beast Geryon is the guardian of the eigth circle. Geryon is sometimes identified as a death-demon with the tail of a scorpian but the face of an honest man. In Greek mythology he is described differently as a monster with one head, three bodies, and two arms and legs. His apperance was also that of a warrior. It is ironic that he has the face of an honest man but is in hell, this can suggest that he could be similar to Dante or that he liked him. The idea of the three different faces could suggest three different sins that all belong to one person.
[Canto 18]
Venedico Caccianemico, a noble Bolognese Guelph, was said to have been a procurer of his sister Ghisolabella to gain the favor of Obizzo II of Este, this being the reason he belongs in the eigth circle of hell. The greek hero Jason is also in this circle. It seems to be the pattern that noblemen and heros are in placed in hell.
[Canto 19]
In this canto the people are very curious who Dante is and Virgil tells him to lie to them. He is also confused for Pope Boniface who was Dante's political enemy. It is probably important for him to hide his identity because many of the people in this circle are people he had conflicts with.
The beast Geryon is the guardian of the eigth circle. Geryon is sometimes identified as a death-demon with the tail of a scorpian but the face of an honest man. In Greek mythology he is described differently as a monster with one head, three bodies, and two arms and legs. His apperance was also that of a warrior. It is ironic that he has the face of an honest man but is in hell, this can suggest that he could be similar to Dante or that he liked him. The idea of the three different faces could suggest three different sins that all belong to one person.
[Canto 18]
Venedico Caccianemico, a noble Bolognese Guelph, was said to have been a procurer of his sister Ghisolabella to gain the favor of Obizzo II of Este, this being the reason he belongs in the eigth circle of hell. The greek hero Jason is also in this circle. It seems to be the pattern that noblemen and heros are in placed in hell.
[Canto 19]
In this canto the people are very curious who Dante is and Virgil tells him to lie to them. He is also confused for Pope Boniface who was Dante's political enemy. It is probably important for him to hide his identity because many of the people in this circle are people he had conflicts with.
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