Canto 30

Canto 30

Summary:

Starting in the tenth bolgia of the Eighth circle of hell, Dante sees sinners running towards each other and biting each other with their teeth. These are the Falsifiers of Others’ Persons, which means they acted like someone else by using impersonation. One of the sinners, Myrrha, was overwhelmed by passion for her father that she pretended to be another woman in order to sleep with him. Some of the Falsifiers of Coins mingle with these sinners. The only person Dante tries to speak too is Master Adam, who counterfeited Florentine money, and now is swollen with dropsy as part of his punishment.

Adam points out to Dante two of the sinners, both Falsifiers of Words (liars). One of the sinners is the wife of Potiphar. She had lied and said that Joseph had tried to seduce her after she had tried to seduce him. The other sinner was Sinon, a Greek man, who knows Adam and starts a fight with him. Dante is intrigued and listens. Virgil yells at Dante and tells him to never be tempted, or fascinated to listening.

This is where the Eighth Circle ends.

Sinners/Sin:

The Falsifiers are people who cause destruction on an individual or society by betraying the trust of others by falsifying and finding their only satisfaction in attacking each other.

Punishment/Contrapasso:

The sinners spent their life corrupting nature by misleading and alterations; their time in hell is now spent with some form of corruption, usually a disease. Each type of the four falsifiers receives a different disease that relates to their sin as punishment.  

§  Falsifiers of people suffer madness.

§  Falsifiers of coins suffer dropsy.

§  Falsifiers of things suffer leprosy.

§  Falsifiers of words suffer fever.

The Falsifiers are constantly scratching because they have no control of a great itch, and they are constantly biting at one another.

Characters:

§  Myrrha: pretending to be someone else in order to be able to sleep with her father

§  Master Adam: Is constantly craving the drink of water

§  Sinon: Son of Aesimus, a Greek Warrior during the Trojan War & lied about the Trojan horse saying it was a gift to the gods

§  Potiphar’s Wife: Tried do seduce Joseph but fails, accuses Joseph of seducing her

§  Gianni Schicchi: Used impersonation to inherit his friend’s horse

Important Quotes:

“In a frenzy, like pigs escaped from their sties,

Snapping wildly at everything in sight.

 One of them fastened his teeth like a vise”

Canto 25

Canto XXV

Summary:

*Canto XXV starts in level eight, in the seventh bolgia.

Frustrated and in anger, Vanni Fucci does the ultimate obscenity at God (basically gives him the middle finger). Soon after, the serpents and Cacus, the centaur, come and take him away in great pain as punishment.

            Soon the five noble thieves of Florence meet Dante, and Dante notices their sin. Some of these thieves start in human form, and others start as reptiles. They all suffer a painful transformation in front of Dante, except one. Agnello starts in human form and then changes with Cianfa, who started as a six-legged lizard. Buoso starts in human form as well, and changes form with Francesco, who started as a tiny reptile. They quickly transform into the others form. It is only Puccio Sciancato who stays unchanged, even though it is already known that he will have his transformation soon.

            The thieves will be in transformation for eternity as punishment for stealing during their life.

Sin and Sinners: The sinners in this Canto are the thieves. They are the people who steal possessions from others and claim it as their own.

Punishment:  Not only are serpents bothering them, but they also are constantly in transformation. They continue to return in human form to then be turned again into a reptile. See Canto 24 for other information.

*Notice Dante using animals again in a negative connotation 

Contrapasso: In their life, the sinners always stole possessions and took them as their own. In hell, they now face the battle of constantly having their bodies taken from them and being transformed into a different from. They spend their eternity in a cycle of stealing their bodies back.

New Characters:

v Cacus: Centaur with a back covered with snakes and a fire-eating dragon.

v 5 Thieves:

1.     Agnello: One of the 5 thieves who began in human form and changes with Cianfa.

2.     Cianfa: One of the 5 thieves who began as a six-legged lizard and changes with Agnello.

3.     Buoso: One of the 5 thieves who began in human form and changes with Francesco.

4.     Francesco: One of the 5 thieves who start as a tiny reptile and changes with Buoso.

5.     Puccio Sciancato: One of the 5 thieves who remains unchanged, but will soon be transformed.

Canto 22

Canto 22

Summary:

As continuation of Canto 21, Canto 22 begins in the eigth circle and fifth ditch with the grafters. These are the sinners from Canto 21 who are constantly being plunged into the boiling waters that are guarded by the winged demons who have pitchforks and prongs. Virgil and Dante finally get to hear the story of one of the sinners past, the Ciampolo of Navarre (also known as Giampolo). He explains that he used to serve for the King Thibault in Navarre. He also explains that he was sent there because he accepted bribes. Ciampolo then outsmarts the demon by telling him he will get more sinners for him to punish that had just arrived. This was obviously a trick and Ciampolo is able to escape which then gets very upset.

Sin and Sinners:

The sinners continue to be the grafters, which are people who find illegal ways to get wealth and power. In other words, they use money to get political positions. They are a lot like corrupt politicians because of their actions in order to get things.

Punishment:

The grafters are thrown into the bolgia, which are filled with dark, boiling, tar-like waters. They are continuously tricked to go to the surface in which a demon uses the hook to continuously push them back down in the pit. The demons use pitchforks and prongs to throw them into the water. The demons also claw open at some of the sinners.

Link to Contrapasso:

       The bolgia is filled with a dark, boiling, tar-like substance where the sinners are sent to find ways to be sneaky in order to reach the surface. The demons, very much like the sinners, are not very trustworthy and find ways to twist their secret deals for their advantage. It is these black devils that make fun of the sinners and their sin. The sticky pitch is representative of their sticky fingers.

Characters:

o  Malacoda : Also known as evil-tail and is the leader of the Malebranche.

o  Malebranche : Also known as evil claws. They are the demons who guard the bolgias in the Eighth circle.

o  Ciampolo of Navarre : Also known as Ciampolo and is a grafter. All that is known about him is that he was born in Navarre, his dad was a wastrel, and he worked for King Thibault II.

Important quote:

“Born in Navarre’s domain,
My mother placed me in a lord’s retinue:
For she had borne me to a losel vile,
A spendthrift of his substance and himself.
The good King Thibault after that I served:
To peculating here my thoughts were turn’d,
Whereof I give account in this dire heat.”

Inferno Canto 9

     INFERNO

Canto IX

v Summary:

Dante waits afraid outside of the gate to the City of Dis as Virgil fails to get Dante inside with him. While the two talk, Virgil tells Dante of Erichtho who summoned a spirit from the lowest level of hell. Virgil continues to assure Dante that they will continue their journey without anyone stopping them. Soon, the angles return and shut the gates ending their conversation. When Virgil returns, he tells Dante that soon an angel from Heaven will come to open the gates for them.

Dante sees three Furies who call for Medusa to come and turn Dante into stone. Virgil places his hands over Dante’s eyes, warning him to cover his eyes from Medusa’s head. A loud noise makes its way over the Styx, while spirits rush away from him. The messenger arrives to the gate and demands for it to be opened for the travelers, and soon his task is completed.                                                                The two poets enter the gates leading into the Sixth Circle of Hell. As they walk in, Dante sees the huge graveyard with tombs covering the land. Sounds of torture and cries come from the open tombs, as hot flames outside each wall raise them. Dante asks who the sinners are inside the tombs, and Virgil answers that they are the arch-heretics and those that follow them.

v Sin:

In Level 6, the walled city is filled with heretics. These are the people who denied immortality of the soul and are there because they chose wrongly. The difference with them and the virtuous pagans, and opportunists is that the pagans had no choice, and the opportunists did not choose. “Dante opts for the most generic conception of heresy--the denial of the soul's immortality (Inf. 10.15)”

v Punishment for their sins:

The heretics came to a decision with God which was wrong, leading to them being inside the walled city. Living in full distress and torment punishes the heretics. Burning tombs cover the land with hot flames where they stay. 

v Link to contrapasso:

      Failing to believe in God and the afterlife leaves them to lie where they wont be offered any leisure. They now stay with the three infernal Furies that live in this circle. Dante uses this circle to present a clear and effective form of contrapasso. The heretical souls will be tormented in fiery tombs endlessly because they believed that there was no heaven and god.

v Character Analysis:

Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megaera: (Greek and Roman Mythology) 3 terrible female spirits, known as furies, with snake as hair, and who punish those of unavenged crimes. The three furies live in level six and work with Medusa.

Medusa: (Greek Mythology) She is one of 3 Gorgons who turns humans into stone when they look at her. Like the furies, she also has snakes as hair.