Reading and understanding the Divine Comedy has been a long difficult process for me! At first I was complaining about it and it was frustrating for me to have so many sources to help me understand a text that seemed so difficult from far away to read. Virgil and Dante’s journal through hell and through Purgatorio is filled with many characters that are easy to mix up, especially being that it was my first time reading it.

Dante and Virgil’s journey through Purgatorio is separated into terraces on this mountain. At the very top of the mountain, is the entrance to Heaven, at the bottom is where they just came from Hell. I found it very interesting of the shapes of each part of the Comedies. Inferno was shaped like a spiral, as they descent down through hell, they are understanding sinners and grief, whereas in Purgatorio, they are ascending upward towards the entrance to Heaven. There is a very helpful video on youtube that explains this and the entire Comedy in separate parts.

I like this symbolism throughout the Cantos, it is simple when looking at it like a mountain that you leave your sins behind at the bottom as you recapture innocence of humanity before the fall of man. At the very top of Purgatory, Dante and Virgil find Matilda, who also is near Beatrice whom is Dante’s (dead) girlfriend. Beatrice’s explanation is very confusing as well and I will need to work more to understand that.

The video I watched mentioned that the theme of threes comes up a lot in the trilogy, which is something I will likely mention and look more into in my final paper.

(this post accidentally got erased late at night and i was really mad and re wrote it in the morning)

Canto 28 opens up with dante in the Garden of Eden. Dante seems to be free now to go about with his free will as he wants. According to Digital Dante, the first word of the Italian translation is “Vago” which means “desirous.”  Translated into English, the first lines go as follows: “Now keen to search within, to search around that forest, dense, alive with green, divine, which tempered the new day before my eyes, without delay, I left behind the rise and took the plain advancing solely, slowly across the plain, advancing solely, slowly across the ground where every part was fragrant.” Here he is describing the garden and his newly realized freedom to roam about it. How beautiful it is and how alive he feels within it. Beatrice claims Dante to be a witness of the “Earthly Paradise” and to write down everything he sees. This Canto is much brighter and more positive than anything we have read so far. In canto 30, digital Dante points out that the Italian words “altrui” and “altrove” are both “powerful indicators of the seduction of the new.” These last canti are all geared towards the future which is something new to the comedy. Virgil is finally gone and Beatrice has arrived.

A few ideas i have had for the final paper pertaining to Dante’s Inferno and Purgatorio is to write about some of my favorite scenes in relation to the art that I saw at the MET. Another subject I could touch on is more of a personal one where I could explain how difficult it has been for me to understand the comedy as a whole but then towards the middle of the semester become more interested and actually enjoying the read.

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.

Being that taking this class was the first I was hearing of Dante’s Divine Comedy, I have had no prior knowledge to the Inferno. It has been quite confusing for me and difficult to translate the symbolism and the metaphors depicted by the Author Dante, and the Characters, Dante and Virgil as they travel through the rings into the underworld.

The blogs that I have posted I believe reflect on this confusion that I have experienced and I think that the reflection posts forced me to re-read my own words and try to figure out why I was so confused. In my first blog post, I had more of an understanding of what was happening within the first few cantos. It was simply Dante and Virgil begining their journey into hell, trying to decide if Dante was awake or alive (or dead?) Which I now think that he might either be dreaming or actually already.

I think the ongoing theme of symbolism surrounding sin in the cantos is what sticks out to me most. The constant mention of sin and the different circles that they fall in could be on purpose by Dante which I am thinking could put the worst sins to the least severe in order. I think I will explore that as I re-read the Cantos leading up to the midterm and final papers.

Finally, to further my understanding of the cantos, like one of my classmates had done I think it would be a good practice to imagine my own truths and beliefs as a different image to relate more and have a more exciting experience reading and dissecting this work of poetry. .

Dante and Virgil are now entering the sixth pouch of the eighth circle. While they believed they had escaped the demons in the previous pouch, they now realize they are being chased by a huge pack of the Malabranche, meaning “evil claws.”

The canto seems to give the travelers a sense of uneasiness. In the beginning of the Canto, Dante seems afraid that they angered the  “Silent, alone, no one escorting us, we made our way. One went before, one went after, as Friars Minor when they walk together.” (Inferno 23, 1-3) 

Saving Dante, Virgil grabs him and jumps through the sixth pouch of the Eighth Circle with Dante in his arms. Now that they have lost the Malabranche, they are in the Sixth Pouch, where they see more souls aligned in a circle.

“And they were dressed in cloaks with cowls so low they fell before their eyes.” (Inferno 23, 76)

Dante is trying to find one of the souls now that he might recognize as he has been. Instead, he is now the one who is recognized by his Tuscan language. “Stay your steps, o you who hurry so along this darkened air!” (Inferno 23, 77)

Dante seems unsure of what will happen next, but seems to continue to symbolize his truths and emotions through the constant darkness and uncertainty of his journey with Virgil through the circles into hell. 

Dante refers to the entrance to the Eighth Circle of hell as “Evil Pouches,” otherwise known as Malebolge. Dante describes he and Virgil’s surroundings, Dante says; “so here, across the banks and ditches, ridges ran from the base of that rock wall until the pit that cuts them short and joins them all.” The ridges Dante describes are creating pits or “pouches” where people receive punishments for their sins. The ridges were too crowded so they were separated into two groups of bolgia, the sinners who sexualized and trafficked women committing a sexual sin, and the flatterers. These pits were not pleasant. Dante describes them in great detail; “And while my eyes searched that abysmal sight, I saw one with a head so smeared with shit, one could not see if he were lay or cleric.” Dante recognizes another Italian. I think what Dante realizes here is that he has seen others outside of these circles descending into hell. He might be in the process of realizing that everybody sins, including himself. In class today we talked about being honest, and how even though sometimes the truth can be shameful. Dante can no longer be silent and must tell the truth even if it hard or obscene.

Sodomites dancing around Virgil and Dante as they leave the second zone.

Canto XV is where Dante and Virgil enter the second zone of the third ring into the path to hell.  Virgil and Dante are acquainted with the Sodomites. Sodomites are those who have been violent towards nature. Weather its murder of others or of oneself, they have gone against love towards nature and now must walk under the “rain of fire.” As they approach, Dante describes seeing “so many flocks of naked souls, all weeping miserably, and it seemed that they were ruled by different decrees.” (Canto 14, 19-21) They were each there for different reasons. “Some lay upon the ground, flat on their backs; some huddled in a crouch, and there they sat; and others moved about incessantly.” (Canto 14, 22-24) The Sodomites are those who have engaged in Sodomy. Virgil tells Dante that violent sins  and crimes are separated into three parts; effect on the victim (weather its yourself or somebody else), the people who hurt others, and the people who hurt themselves. Dante, being Christian, believes that suicide is a sin amongst all other violent sins because it is considered a personal disgrace. In Canto 16, Dante treats the Sodomites with surprising respect and understanding. Barolini suggests that lust and sodomy are desexualized in Inferno when he says  “Dante’s treatment of sodomy is “progressive”—in the sense of not focused on sexualized torture. (Didgital Dante)” He urges that it is very unlikely that Dante in the Comedy does not imagine sexualized tortures at all.

Today, we are flooded with stories of rape, torture, and sexual assault throughout every aspect of our lives. We see it re-enacted in the movies and the shows we watch. We read about peoples “coming out” stories on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. We see awful stories in the news about how someone has been hurt. Our view on sodomy and especially same sex participation has changed for the more inclusive. It was difficult to read Dante’s traditional take on the Sodomies, yet it is important to understand that approaching the Commedia with an open mind and understanding of the characters views when taking in the epic of Dante and Virgils journey into hell.

Dante turning from the she-wolf

The image I chose is by Gustave Doré titled, “Dante turning from the she-wolf.” I found it  by using the databases in the resources tab, and after some browsing for images that pertained to the parts of the canto that stuck out to me the most, I chose this one which is located in the World of Dante (University of Virginia) tab. The image is of Dante after he speaks with the Virgil, being guided away by them as he turns away from the she-wolf that he feared so heavily.

This image stuck out to me over the others because as I was reading, I was copying down certain lines that suck out to me. For example: “you must hold to another path, if you wish to escape this savage place.” This can be interpreted in many ways such as that of a life lesson that every single person experiences. That is, the choice to willingly go down a different path and experience happiness in your own path. Previously, the leader that approaches Dante asks him, “Why do you not climb the delightful mountain that is origin and cause of all joy? (76)” Essentially asking him what we should all ask ourselves, should we, and how do we choose happiness?

The final lines in canto 1 are what I think this picture is depicting, (which is literally the title of the image) Dante turning away from the she-wolf and choosing another path. My favorite lines in canto 1 are as follows: “and you will see those who are content in the fire, because they hope to come, whenever it may be, to the blessed people (118) “Poet, I beg you that by God whom you did not know, so that I may flee this evil and worse, that you lead me where you have just now said, so that i may see the gates of Saint Peter and those whom you call so woebegone (130-136).” I really enjoyed this and feel that there is a metaphor or allegory in this entire epic pertaining to very natural and typical feelings that human beings experience daily throughout their entire life’s journey.