Daily Archives: April 1, 2019

Canto 27, Dante’s Use of Logic

https://hubpages.com/literature/Dantes-Inferno-Canto-XXVII

In Canto 27 Dante comes across Guido da Montefeltro in the ninth bolgia where we can find the sowers of discord. After reading this Canto it made me realize just how moral and logical Dante (the poet) is. Dante portrays his high moral regard for God in a very logical and simple way. Although, Dante does not say who he is talking to in this Canto, the reader can conclude that it is Guido da Montefeltro speaking by the confessing of his sins and the attribution of his home to the story. Guido only does this because he is confident that Dante won’t be able to make it out of hell to tell this story. Guido recounts his story about his encounter with the high priest, ” then he said again: let not your heart fear: henceforth i absolve you, if you teach me how to raze Palestrina to the ground. Heaven i can lock and unlock, as you know; for that reason the keys are two which my predecessor did not prize.” Here, Dante exemplifies his standpoint on morality and his usefulness of logic by deliberately  putting this passage in Inferno. In the non-contemporary times that Dante lived in–thinking outside of the natural order of things must have been very audacious and uncommon. But, here he takes on an Aristotlian tone by applying Aristotle’s principle of contradiction. One cannot be two things at once. One cannot be saved or absolved from their sins if one does not repent. The high priest tells Guido he can save him, but the only person that can save Guido is God along with Guido’s repentance.

The Nature of Weeping

     Unlike the previous sinners, in the 9th circle of hell, the sinners are punished with ice. The coldness pervades their bodies making them unable to express their emotions. In its very nature, the cold strips the sinners of an essential characteristic that makes them human – their ability to cry. The act of crying itself can be seen as a form of self-reflection and a way to unburden the emotional turmoil that exists inside. By taking away the sinners ability to cry, the cold renders them less human than they originally were. The nature of the punishment corresponds with the nature of their crime; the cold weather parallels their cold-hearted crime which essentially degraded them from a human to an animal (less than human). In canto 33, the sinner’s inability to cry parallels their transformation from civilized beings to animalistic primitives devoid of all virtue.

     Count Ugolino’s inability to cry mirrors the loss of his humanity as he succumbs to the temptations of cannibalism. When Count Ugolino is imprisoned with his sons in a tower and it’s door is being nailed shut, Count Ugolino says “I was not weeping, I so turned to stone within: they were weeping; and my Anselmuccio said ‘you have such a look father! What is it?’ (Canto 33, lines 48-50). Count Ugolino marks his transformation from a father to “stone” when he stops crying. The “stone” represents his loss of humanity because he begins to perceive his sons as food. Even though he initially denies it, his son observes that he has “such a look”. The sons notice that their father is looking at them differently, the “look” is synonymous with the way a predator eyes its prey before it consumed them for its means of survival. The ability to cry represents the idea that the individual is still human and tethered to a moral compass. Count Ugolino can’t cry because he is selfish and deceptive by nature. He betrays Archbishop Ruggieri and he’s imprisoned for his treason. When he is imprisoned with his sons, his selfish nature prioritizes his needs over his sons even though his fatherly affections attempts to hold off the temptation to consume them for as long as possible. However, his selfish nature and starvation prevails over his fatherly affection as he succumbs to cannibalism. Hence, he cannot cry because his intentions are already corrupted and he is spiraling towards cannibalism.On the contrary, his sons are “weeping” because they’re innocent. They have the ability to cry because their humanity and moral compass remains intact. In fact, they say “Father, it will be much less pain for us if you eat of us:” (Canto 33, line 60). They offer themselves up to the father because their moral integrity and affection for their father exceeds their own materialistic capacity for starvation. Their intentions and inherently their souls are much more purer than their father which permits them to cry.

     Count Ugolino and Brother Alberigo define crying as the ultimate desire of the sinners in the 9th circle of hell. Both Count Ugolino and Alberigo’s crimes consume their insides and prevent them from feeling anything but the nature and remorse of their crimes.For example, Count Ugolino says “You wish me to renew desperate grief that already possesses my heart merely thinking,” (Canto 33, lines 3-4). Count Ugolino uses the adjective “desperate” to characterize his grief because it reflects his desperate need to express that grief in some physical form. He wants to “speak and weep together” (Canto 33, line 8), the association of voicing his grief and crying further reiterates the idea that their grief can only be lessened through crying. Alberigo claims “And that you may more willingly shave the glassy tears from my eyes, know that, as soon as the soul betrays as I did, its body is taken over by a demon” (Canto 33, lines 126-129). While Alberigo doesn’t explicitly refer to the heart, he loses autonomy because his body is no longer his own; his corrupted soul is weighing his body down to hell. Alberigo uses the word “betray” because he betrays his brother when he kills them over a presumed dinner thus, his soul betrays him by sending him to hell before he has even died.

     Alberigo describes his soul as possessed by a “demon” that is holding his body body hostage till the end of time. Since the moment he committed murder and the demon took over his body, all of his humanity left him. He asks Dante and Virgil to “lift from my [his] eyes the hard veils, so that I may give vent a little to the anguish that gathers in my heart, before my tears freeze up again.” (Canto 33, lines 111-113). The “hard veil” has a dual meaning, the “hard veil” refers to Alberigo’s tears frozen over his face, but the “hard veil” can also mean that the nature of his crime is so diresome that it prevents him from ever being empathetic and humane again. Alberigo could’ve asked Dante and Virgil for anything but all he asks for is the opportunity to cry one more time. Both characters claim that their soul or heart is heavy inside of them because it’s carrying the guilt of their inhumane crimes that they can no longer express through humane means.

     Dante personifies “weeping” as a humane quality that is acting inhumanely to the sinners. For example, Dante narrates that “Weeping itself prevents weeping here, and the sorrow that finds a block over the eyes turn back within to increase the pain;” (Canto 33, lines 93-95). The phrase “weeping itself prevents weeping here” refers to the notion that if a person weeps, their tears freeze over their eyes and face preventing them from weeping more. It’s ironic that is a mechanism that reduces the human’s pain causes more pain to the human. The personification of weeping shows its dual nature of being a relief and punishment to the humans just like the sinners had the capacity to be benevolent and harmful and they chose to be harmful to their relations. Dante describes the act of crying as “for the first tears make a knot and, like crystal visors, fill all the cup below the brow.” (Canto 33, lines 96-99).  Dante uses a simile to describe the frozen tears as “crystal visors” that fill the “cup” or the “eye”. He uses the word “visor” which blocks the flow of tears from the inside and sunlight from penetrating the visor from outside. This reiterates that the sinners will never find comfort inside themselves or from their surroundings because their sin is so grave. Hence, they will be stuck in this stage of constant pain and turmoil where they lose all feelings that make them human except grief.

     Canto 33 focuses on the nature of weeping among the sinners. Dante alters the meaning of weeping for each soul. Count Ugolino wants to cry because he wants to express his grief for eating his own sons however, Alberigo wants to cry in order to obtain some for of autonomy over his own sins. Both want to express their grief for their fate however, neither can express it because crying is a humane characteristic that doesn’t fit their inhumane crimes.

 

Dante Prepares to Climb the Mountain

Dante and Virgil on the shore of Purgatory, 1544, Engraving by Alessandro Vellutello

This engraving by Alessandro Vellutello  depicts Canto 1 of Purgatory. The mountain that Dante and Virgil must climb soon is in the background of the image. However, we do not get a sense of the enormity of it’s height because the framing cuts off anything higher than its base. In the top right hand side of the image are the stars Dante speaks of in lines 22-25:  “I saw the four stars never seen except by the first people, the sky seemed to rejoice in their flames”. Directly below, lines in the image indicate these stars are shining down onto Cato, as Dante describes in 37-38 “the rays of the four holy lights so adorned his face with brightness…”

Dante, Virgil and Cato are shown at the base of the mountain. Dante is still on his knees from when Virgil force him down in lines 49-51 “My leader then lay hold on me and, with words and hands and gestures, made reverent my legs and brow”, when recognizing Cato and the respect he thinks he deserves. Cato tells them that before going any further, Dante must clean himself off and we see this action in the engraving. On the right is Virgil cleaning Dante’s face, spoken in lines 127-129 “…offered him my tear-stained cheeks; there he uncovered all that color of mine which Hell had hidden”. To the left of this is Virgil fixing Dante’s belt with reeds from the water around the island.

This image does not convey the light that Dante now sees. Throughout much of the canto Dante celebrates seeing daylight/dawn for the first time since before his journey through hell, calling the dawn sun “the sweet color of eastern sapphire… began to delight my eyes again”. The lack of color in the image makes it appear quite a dark scene. The ground’s texture appears very similar to that of the waves, with curving lines. Similarly, the mountains texture reaches upwards, like waves cresting. All of this in the image displays this scene as much more hectic than the calm and relief Dante feels in the canto.

Count Ugolino’s Cannibalism Chews Away at His Soul (And Ruggieri’s)

Count Ugolino Gnawing on Archbishop Ruggieri’s Head, Title: Ugolino & Ruggieri, Illustration by Suloni Robertson, Source: Danteworlds (UTexas)

Cannibalism is a predominant theme in canto 33 that rears its ugly head in the form of desperation found in a grieving father and grandfather faced with the death of his beloved children and grandchildren. The powerful imagery of the canto is used to support the recurring motifs of canines and teeth. In the second round of the ninth circle of Hell known as Antenora in which betrayers of one’s nation, party or city are punished, Dante’s first encounter with the wealthy Ghibelline Count Ugolini is a gruesome and disgusting image of him gnawing on the head of another soul with the ferocity of a dog. This other unfortunate soul is Archbishop Ruggieri, leader of the Pisan Ghibellines, who perfidiously convinces Ugolino, a former Ghibelline turned Guelph to come to the city of Pisa. As a consequence of Ugolino’s conniving actions against the Ghibellines and Pisa, Ruggieri decides to imprison him along with his two sons and two grandsons in a hopelessly dark tower with no way out for eight months. When their mealtimes are suddenly halted, starvation slowly begins to eat the five wretched beings alive, especially the children. Slowly but surely, each of their young lives are taken away one by one. Two days following the final death of the last innocent youth, Ugolino’s famine becomes unbearable and he begins voraciously feeding on the decomposing bodies of the children. This pitiful story reflects the contrapasso of the punishments of both Count Ugolini and Archbishop Ruggieri. Since the latter is to blame for the deaths of the guiltless children, he must endure the deplorable and harsh effects of it: just as the bodies of the children become Ugolino’s meals so does Archbishop Ruggieri. At the conclusion of Ugolino’s story, Dante observes, “When he had said that, with eyes askance he took/ the wretched skull in his teeth again, which were strong against the bone, like a dog’s,” (76-8, 519). The metaphor of this vivid phrase compares Ugolino to a canine, invoking the image of a rabid dog who is overcome with rage. The depraved look in Ugolino’s eyes imply that his sanity has vanished and his only objective is to seek blind revenge on Ruggieri with the ferocity and harshness of a dog who has been wronged by an abusive owner, or in this case, a powerful political leader. The presence of the words ‘teeth’ and ‘bone’ further emphasize Ugolino’s canine-like actions because it resembles a dog struggling to chomp on a bone whose rough exterior highlights the hardness of Ruggieri’s human flesh as well as the indifference and cruelty of the soul, itself.

The metaphor of canine viciousness in this cannibalistic situation is taken even further when Ugolino describes a prophetic dream he has prior to the deaths of the children. He sees a man, along with zealous and powerful dogs, hunting a male wolf and his cubs. As the family of wolves begin to grow weary of their journey, they are suddenly torn apart by the canines with the images of their fangs being emphasized in Ugolino’s memory of the dream which, once again, supports the motif of teeth. This vision symbolizes that Ruggieri is the hunter pursuing Ugolino and his children and grandchildren while the weariness of the wolves is the starvation that overcomes each of the prisoners day by day. In addition to this, Ugolino representing himself as a wolf is an attempt to separate himself from the evilness that embodies Ruggieri, the other figures who are indirectly responsible for his and the childrens’ deaths and humanity, in general. Wolves, according to the notes (28-36, 526), are considered the enemies of mankind. With this in mind, Ugolino is implying that his crime is no where near as treacherous as that of Ruggieri because, although the two figures have had their differences and skirmishes, Ugolino is the real victim of the inherently evil nature of humans, especially since he lost his loving young heirs.

Meanwhile, as Dante is witnessing the dreadful situation of the two souls, he contemplates the shameful actions of Ruggieri. His pity is combined with resentfulness and anger towards the city of Pisa, itself. He proclaims, “For if Count Ugolino was reported to have/ betrayed your fortresses, you should not have put his/sons on such a cross,” (85-7, 519). This reaction evidently portrays that he feels as if Ruggieri’s actions overshadow the crimes of Ugolini, solely because of the needless and senseless murder of the innocent children. Although Count Ugolino is supposedly guilty of treason, nonetheless, this does not signify that his children nor grandchildren must pay the price of his punishment. Children are innocent and pure by nature and cannot be held responsible for the misdeeds of their parents or relatives, whom, with age and experience, come to discover their inherently evil and greedy nature. It has always been a universally condemned crime to harm children and Dante finds it unforgivable that Ruggieri knowingly commits such horrendous murders. Therefore, in the darkest and coldest pits of Hell, Dante finds a justifiable reason to bring Archbishop Ruggieri to infamy in the living world and to allow the memory of him to be eaten away, piece by piece.

From Pitiful to Reverent

Dante the pilgrim continued to change throughout his journey through hell. Dante learns a little more about hell’s design and God’s intended justice with each encounter of different sinners. Dante’s journey through hell is successful because his response to the sinners throughout hell matures from pitiful to reverent.

To be able to recognize the change in attitude Dante has towards the sinners of Inferno one must analyze Dante’s initial attitudes at the very beginning of his journey with Virgil. In canto 5, Dante encounters the lustful sinners, Francesca and Paolo. Francesca and Paolo are adulterers who are now condemned to the circle of lust where they remain restless and stuck in the moment of their sin. Upon hearing Francesca’s story Dante is overcome with pity and grief. Dante genuinely feels sorry for the pair and this can be seen through the line, “While one spirit said this , the other was weeping so that for pity I fainted as if I were dying and I fell as a dead body falls” (Inferno 5, 139). This shows how faint-hearted Dante is at the beginning of his journey in response to the sinners. Dante is vulnerable to the emotion of pity and grief that it is too much to handle and he faints. Similarly, when Dante encounters Ciacco in the third circle of gluttony, Dante is also overcome by the emotions of pity and grief. Dante the pilgrim says, “Ciacco, your trouble weighs on me so that it calls me to weep…” (Inferno 6, 58). Dante’s reaction to Ciacco’s suffering is very similar to that of Francesca and Paolo. In these two encounters with sinners, Dante allows his emotions to dictate his judgement and attitude toward the sinners.

The initial change in Dante’s attitude towards sinners in hell can be found in canto 19. In the third bolgia of the eighth circle where simony is punished, Dante encounters Pope Nicholas III. Pope Nicholas III was guilty of selling indulgences and exercising overall corruption within the church. In this bolgia the former pope is face down in a hole, feet up and exposed to be burnt by flames that rain down like snow. In response to Pope Nicholas III’s story of how he ended up in hell, Dante the pilgrim says, “Therefore stay here, for you deserve your punishment; and be sure to keep your ill-gotten coin, which made you bold against Charles” (Inferno 19, 97). This line shows that Dante agrees with the punishment bestowed upon the pope and he comes to realize God’s intended justice for sinners such as Pope Nicholas III. Th reverence in Dante’s attitude toward sinners solidifies in canto 33 with the encounter of Ugolino in the ninth circle of hell. Ugolino betrayed the city of Pisa and in return he was locked in a tower with his two sons to starve. Ugolino watched his sons die of starvation and it is rumored that he also ate his sons but that part of the story is made unclear. Ugolino hopes to evoke pity from Dante when Ugolino says, “You are surely cruel if you do not already grieve… and if you are not weeping, about what do you usually weep?” (Inferno 33, 40). Dante the pilgrim does not weep for Ugolino and instead uses his tragic story to criticize the city of Pisa. In regard to the city of Pisa, Dante states, “… let Capraia and Gorgona move and make a barrier at the mouth of Arno, so that it may drown every person in you!” (Inferno 33, 82). Here we see that Dante the pilgrim has completely transformed his attitude toward sinners to be more reverent rather than pitiful. He does not weep nor pity Ugolino because he has come to realize that his punishment is just as meant by God.

Was the Journey worth it?

We currently find ourselves in canto 33 of inferno with Dante and Virgil as they pass through the 9th circle of hell. However, I will be discussing the importance of cantos 26-29. I find that these two cantos are important since they give a clearer picture about what’s occurring in the next cantos. Canto 26 is the part where Dante decides to take the opportunity to impede upon Florence and the Florentines. In the very beginning of the canto we can see him ironically saying that Florence is a “great” city and how he has found five thieves.(lines 1-7). In this canto, Dante manages to get Ulysses to reveal information about his death. The thieves in this canto are engulfed in a flame, two of which were identified as Ulysses and Diomedes for committing the same fraud during the trojan war.

 

The next scene takes us to canto 27 where Dante and his master find yet another sinner guilty of fraud who lived in Italy’s Romagna region. This soul is later revealed to be Guido da Montefeltro who apparently was from the same party as Dante, the Ghibellines. I found this next scene interesting because although this might make Dante appreciate Guido as a friend, we find out that he was persuaded by Pope Boniface 8th who is someone that Dante does not like.

 

Canto 28 is where sinners are being punished for those who cause schisms which is a split or division between strongly opposed sections or parties, caused by differences in opinion or belief. For that reason the sinners here are split in multiple ways whether it be vertically, being beheaded such as Bertran de Born. Bertran was split for giving bad advice to English king henry 2nd and his son which eventually caused the son to rebel against the father. More importantly Bertran mentions: “ thus you observe me in the counter-suffering” (line 142) which is a contrapasso. Here are large amounts of bloodshed in the 9th pouch that is very graphic and that Dante believes is the home to those that caused schisms.

 

Finally in canto 29 of inferno, we still find ourselves in the 9th pouch of hell. In here, there are falsifiers that are being punished. It is here that we can predict that Dante’s journey through hell is almost over. Going straight to canto 34, still in the 9th circle Dante introduces us to Lucifer. I find it interesting that Lucifer didn’t have his own way of expressing his thoughts, its as if Dante had control the whole time. So in conclusion, the whole pilgrimage was worthless because Lucifer ultimately had zero impact on the development of Dante and his guide to purgatory.

Dante’s Sins

 

In canto 33, Dante remains in the ninth circle. Here, Dante is talking to more sinners, one of which calls himself Count Ugalino, describes himself being starved while locked in a cage with his four sons. There was nothing but a small window in a tower that he named the Hunger Tower. “A cage in which still others will be locked, had, through its opening, already showed me several moons, when I dreamed that bad dream which rent the curtain of the future for me.” (Dante, 33.25) Are the punishments given for each sinner just? Being left to starve to death and enduring the pain of having to go through it with his children is torture, many of the punishments in hell have been torturous. Dante’s torture is his entire journey through the circles into hell.

It seemed to Dante that Ugalino and his sons were torn by sharp fangs, as Ugalino recounts hi and his sons in the Hunger Tower, his sons asking for bread. This upset Ugalino, and “out of my grief, I bit both my hands; and they, who thought I’d done that out of hunger, immediately rose and told me: ‘Father, it would be far less painful for us if you ate of us; for you clothed us in this sad flesh that is for you to strip off.'”..” And they all ended up dying of hunger. Once Ugalino watched all of his children die, he goes blind. He could not eat, and could not bear to the offer his children gave him to eat them, so he also starved to death.

Dante and Virgil passed through the ninth circle, stepping over sinners submerged in ice except for their heads. They are freezing and Dante describes not being able to feel his face when he says “because of cold, my every sense had left its dwelling in my face, just as a callus has no feeling, nonetheless,” Dante is now questioning what is happening to him when he asks Virgil he responds telling him that he will be where he is supposed to be soon. He will soon know why the wind blasts from above. (Dante, 33.106) The sinners now tell Dante that the last place has been assigned just for him. Dante tries to level with the sinner named Fra Alberigo, who murdered guests with fruit he tended to badly, in order to enter the last layer into hell. Dante is about to enter the very last circle into hell, and he is about to discover what his sin was after all.

 

Canto 33: Further Progression in Dante’s Callousness towards Sinners

             In Canto 33, we find Dante and Virgil pass through the 9th circle of Hell, where traitors to their country, guests, and hosts are punished. Canto 33 is a continuation of Canto 32. Betrayal is the major theme of Canto 33 and because of how deep these sinners are placed in Hell, it is evident how deeply Dante, the author, feels towards those capable of deception.

              Dante sees Count Ugolino, another historical figure, savagely eating Archbishop Ruggieri’s head, an image of cannibalism. Ugolino was a political nobleman in Pisa whose politics went wrong. Ugolino tells Dante his account of the past. Dante finds out that Ugolino was imprisoned for treason along with his sons and grandsons. Ugolino plotted to take over Pisa, an act of betrayal against his hometown. But Ruggieri betrays the betrayer, Ugolino. Ruggieri punishes Ugolino and his family and denies them food, so the sons die of starvation. Ugolino must watch his sons die for his crimes. It is not fully clear if Ugolino eats his sons or not but he states “Then hunger proved more powerful than grief”, which can indicate Ugolino actually eating his dead children. While this interpretation is certainly viable, Dante, the poet, does not necessarily place Ugolino there for eating his children, but because of the selfish betrayal of his hometown. As we have seen throughout Inferno, according to Dante, the writer, the place a person comes from is an incredibly important characteristic and makes that person who he or she is. Therefore, Dante, the writer, finds that the betrayal of one’s hometown must be severely punished.

As Dante and Virgil continue, they meet Fra Alberigo and Bronca. They live on Earth but their souls were sent to Hell, another example of duality in Inferno. Fra Alberigo invited his brother over for dinner and had his family assassinated. Branca’s sin is similar to Alberigo’s because he killed his father-in-law. These sinners are cold enough to kill family members, therefore they must eternally be frozen. They are punished by laying on freezing ice on the river Cocytus and when they cry, their tears freeze. This type of imprisonment is compelling because Hell is constantly represented with fire. The harsh freezing ice can symbolize the callousness of the sinners. Fra asks Dante to “stretch out your hand and open my eyes” but Dante gladly refuses to help him remove the frozen tears so he can cry some more. Dante, the writer, states, “I did not open them for him; and it was courtesy to treat him boorishly” (148-149), meaning being hostile towards this sinner was like a gift to Dante. Dante’s refusal to wipe away the tears mirrors the themes of betrayal and disloyalty in this Canto. Dante, the pilgrim, promises Alberigo that he will wipe away his tears when he states, “If you wish me to help you, tell me who you are” (115) but he is misleading because he readily does not fulfill those words.

It is important to pay attention to Dante’s lack of empathy in the final cantos. As he gets closer to reaching God, Dante’s comprehension of sins is stronger and he is gratified to let the sinners hurt in hell for eternity. From the start of Inferno, Dante, the pilgrim, is on a journey where his attitudes change as he progresses through Hell. He feels compassion and pity for sinners like Francesca, but as the sins grow in severity Dante, the pilgrim feels apathy and hatred towards the sinners. Dante certainly feels no empathy for sinners like Ugolino and Fra Alberigo because of the magnitude of their sins, according to Dante the poet. As Dante reaches the end of his journey in Hell, his pity lessens with each ensuing sinner he encounters. At the beginning of Inferno, empathy overcomes Dante, and he cries and literally faints for many hurting sinners, but by the end of Inferno, he does not even allow the sinners to cry for themselves.

The Punishment of Satan/The Contrapasso of Lucifer

Dante and Virgil Encounter Lucifer in Hell, 1923 Giclee Print by Henry John Stock

In Canto 34, Dante is introduced to Satan, “the creature who had once been beautiful.” (17-18) Dante’s descriptions of Satan are haunting, so haunting that Dante pauses the dialogue to engage the reader stating: “I became frozen and feeble, do not ask reader, for I do not write it, and all speech would be insufficient.” (22-24) But Satan’s real punishment isn’t just his eternal fate in hell. He’s doomed to forever be one with hell, punishing not only Judas, Brutus, and Cassius, but also the other members of the 9th circle with the cold beats of his bat-like wings. In other words, he’s reduced to a mechanism of hell, equivalent to other beasts and lower forms we’ve seen in other Cantos, like Cerberus or Plutus from upper hell.

The contrapasso of Lucifer is very evident. Not only through his punishment, but Dante’s descriptions of Lucifer. Almost without exception Dante refers to Satan’s prior perfection, literally a “light-bearer,” the translation of Lucifer: “If he was as beautiful then as now he is ugly, when he lifted his brow against his Maker.” (34-35) This further develops the idea of his punishment. A rebel against God, he is now doomed to forever remain a mechanism of God’s divine justice. A punishment to others who also violated God’s divine authority.

Lucifer’s physical punishment also reflects this contrapasso. Massive in size, but rooted in ice, Lucifer is both incredibly intimidating but at the same time utterly docile. This is further illustrated by his utter silence throughout the canto, forced to continue God’s will and chew sinners for eternally with three mouths, a parallel to the trinity.

I think that the geology of lower hell is very interesting, especially in reference to Satan. As Virgil and Dante leave the 9th circle to exit hell, Dante describes how “I raised my eyes, thinking to see Lucifer as I had left him, and I saw that he extended his legs upward.” (88-89) I like to think that this is a reference to the 8th circle, 3rd Bolgia, in which the feet of simonists are engulfed in flame. In a certain way, Satan too used his position in a different context for personal gain.

Ultimately, I think that the punishment of Lucifer is a poetic and powerful transition into Purgatorio. I think that because of Lucifer’s silence in the Canto and his diminished state as a mechanism of hell reflects the punishment of sinners in the Anti-Inferno, who aren’t recognized at all. While Satan is recognized, he isn’t glorified or even dignified by speech, as other sinners have been. He’s simply condemned to his fate and eternally frozen in the absence of God’s light, and warmth.