DIVINE COMEDY

INFERNO
La Divina Commedia
A poem by Dante Aligheri
 Who is Dante Alighieri?
• Dante Alighieri was born in
1265 in Florence, Italy, to a
family of moderate wealth
that had a history of
involvement in the complex
Florentine political scene.
• Around the time of Beatrice’s death, Dante began a serious
study of philosophy and intensified his political involvement in
Florence. 
• He held few political positions until his exile in 1302.
• He roamed the courts of Italy around 1314.
• He died in the year 1321
 What is a Comedy?
• a literary genre and a type of dramatic work that is amusing
and satirical in its tone, mostly having a cheerful ending.
 Divine Comedy
• La Divina Commedia or the Divine Comedy is written by the
Italian writer, Dante Alighieri.
• The poem presents the allegorical journeys throughout the
three spiritual realms:
Inferno
Purgatorio
Paradiso
 INFERNO
• The journey through hell. In the Divine Comedy, hell is depicted
as funnel. Each section is divided in circles.
 CHARACTERS
• Dante - The author and protagonist of Inferno; the focus of all
action and interaction with other characters.
• Virgil - Dante’s guide through the depths of Hell. 
• Beatrice -One of the blessed in Heaven, Beatrice aids Dante’s
journey by asking an angel to find Virgil and bid him guide
Dante through Hell. 
• Lucifer -  The prince of Hell, also referred to as Dis. Lucifer
resides at the bottom of the Ninth (and final) Circle of Hell,
beneath the Earth’s surface, with his body jutting through the
planet’s center.
• Pope Boniface VIII - A notoriously corrupt pope who reigned
from 1294 to 1303, Boniface made a concerted attempt to
increase the political might of the Catholic Church and was
thus a political enemy of Dante, who advocated a separation of
church and state
• Geryon - The massive serpentine monster that transports
Dante and Virgil from the Seventh to the Eighth Circle of Hell.
• Malacoda - The leader of the Malabranche, the demons who
guard the Fifth Pouch of the Eighth Circle of Hell. Malacoda (his
name means “evil tail”) intentionally furnishes Virgil and Dante
with erroneous directions.

• Ulysses - The great hero of the Homeric epics the Iliad and

the Odyssey. Ulysses was a bold and cunning man who is now
imprisoned in the Eighth Pouch of the Eighth Circle of Hell
among those guilty of Spiritual Theft.
• Count Ugolino - A traitor condemned to the Second Ring of the
Ninth Circle of Hell. Ugolino gnaws on the head of another
damned traitor, Archbishop Ruggieri. When Ruggieri
imprisoned Ugolino and his sons, denying them food, Ugolino
was driven to eat the corpses of his starved sons.
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 CIRCLE 1: LIMBO
• Dante’s First Circle of Hell is
resided by virtuous non-
Christians and unbaptized
pagans who are punished
with eternity in an inferior
form of Heaven.

• They live in a castle with

seven gates which symbolize
the seven virtues.
• In limbo: Dante sees many prominent people from classical
antiquity such as Homer, Socrates, Aristotle, Cicero,
Hippocrates, and Julius Caesar.
 CIRCLE 2: LUST
• They are punished by being blown
violently back and forth by strong winds,
preventing them from finding peace and
rest.

• Dante sees many notable people from

history and mythology including
Cleopatra, Tristan, Helen of Troy and
others who were adulterous during their
lifetime.
 CIRCLE 3: GLUTTONY
• Sinners in this circle of Hell are
punished by being forced to lie
in a vile slush that is produced
by never-ending icy rain.

• The vile slush symbolizes

personal degradation of one
who overindulges in food, drink,
and other worldly pleasures.
 CIRCLE 4: GREED
• They are divided into two
groups – those who hoarded
possessions and those who
lavishly spent it – jousting.

• They use great weights as a

weapon, pushing it with their
chests which symbolizes their
selfish drive for fortune during
their lifetime. 
 CIRCLE 5: ANGER
• The Fifth Circle of Hell is where
the wrathful and sullen are
punished for their sins.

• Transported on a boat by
Phlegyas, Dante and Virgil see the
furious fighting each other on the
surface of the river Styx and the
sullen gurgling beneath the
surface of the water. 
 CIRCLE 6: HERESY
• When reaching the Sixth Circle
of Hell, Dante and Virgil see
heretics who are condemned
to eternity in flaming tombs.
 CIRCLE 7: VIOLENCE
The Seventh Circle of Hell is
divided into three rings.
• Outer ring: murderers and
others who were violent to
other people and property.
• Middle ring: the poet sees
suicides.
• Inner Ring are blasphemers and
sodomites
• Placed in a river of boiling blood
• Chased and torn into pieces by dogs
• Placed in a burning desert with burning rain falling from the
sky.
 CIRCLE 8: FRAUD
• Resided by the
fraudulent.
• It is divided into 10 Bolgia 6: Hypocrites
Bolgias. Bolgia 7: Thieves
Bolgia 1: Seducers Bolgia 8: Evil
Bolgia 2: Flatterers Counselors/Advisers
Bolgia 3: Simony Bolgia 9: Divisive
Bolgia 4: Sorcerers/False Individuals
Prophets Bolgia 10: Alchemists,
Bolgia 5: corrupt perjurers, and
politicians counterfeits
• The punishments in this circle vary from
bolgia to bolgia.
• It is either you are immersed in excrement
(poop) or whipped by demons
 CIRCLE 9: TREACHERY
• The last Ninth Circle of
Hell is divided into 4
Rounds according to the
seriousness of the sin.
Though all residents are
frozen in an icy lake.
The Ninth Circle is comprised of 4 rounds:
• Round 1 is named Caina after Cain who killed his brother Abel
• Round 2 is named Antenora after Anthenor of Troy who was
Priam’s counselor during the Trojan War
• Round 3 is named Ptolomaea after Ptolemy (son of Abubus),
• Round 4 is named Judecca after Judas Iscariot, the apostle
who betrayed Jesus with a kiss.