Dante: The Divine Comedy

1. Summary

1.1. Inferno

1.1.1. As an exile, the poet Dante felt rather lost in his life

1.1.1.1. Dante is likewise lost both physically and spiritually

1.1.2. Virgil (a hero of Dante's) appears in the poem to guide Dante through Hell in an effort to save Dante's soul

1.1.2.1. Dante and Virgil enter Hell, exploring its nine circles.

1.1.2.2. Meeting the biblical, historical, and mythological characters who constitute the infernal cast of punishers and sufferers.

1.1.3. Hell exists in the middle of the Earth and is made up of nine circles.

1.1.3.1. The sinners in Hell have never repented while on Earth

1.1.3.1.1. They suffer the consequences of the sins they committed during life, a concept called contrapasso.

1.1.3.2. Hell is structured like an upside down cone

1.1.3.2.1. The first circle of Hell holds the unbaptized and the pagans born before Christ (such as Plato, Aristotle, and Virgil himself).

1.1.3.2.2. At the deepest region a three-faced Satan, stuck in a frozen lake, chews on the worst betrayers of all time:

1.1.4. At the bottom of the ninth circle, Dante encounters Lucifer and ascends his gargantuan body in order to return to earth.

1.2. Purgatorio

1.2.1. Penitent souls endure punishment in order to fully purge themselves of sin before entering Heaven

1.2.1.1. Shaped like a mountain and divided into seven different levels, associated with the seven deadly sins of pride, envy, wrath, sloth, covetousness, gluttony, and lust.

1.2.1.2. Contrapasso still exists to some extent

1.2.1.3. Unlike the souls in Hell, these souls embrace their punishment because it is making them holy

1.2.1.3.1. They praise God

1.2.2. Pilgrim meets the souls of those waiting to ascend into Heaven.

1.2.2.1. There, the souls of the saved make penance for their sins, of which they must be cleansed before they can go to Heaven.

1.3. Paradiso

1.3.1. Virgil, a pagan, cannot enter heaven

1.3.1.1. He is replaced by Beatrice

1.3.1.1.1. She takes Dante from Purgatorio to Heaven

1.3.1.1.2. Beatrice was Dantes real life lover and muse

1.3.2. Pilgrim reaches Heaven.

1.3.2.1. He sails through space and sees the planets, which are inhabited by saints.

1.3.2.1.1. Upon witnessing the majesty of God in his true glory, Pilgrim returns to Earth to write this very poem.

1.3.3. True heroic fulfillment is achieved.

2. The Plot

2.1. A man (Pilgrim), generally assumed to be Dante himself, is miraculously enabled to undertake an ultramundane journey, which leads him to visit the souls in Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise

2.1.1. He meets several characters from history and literature on his way

2.1.2. He has two guides:

2.1.2.1. Virgil, who leads him through the Inferno Purgatorio

2.1.2.2. Beatrice, who introduces him to Paradiso

2.1.3. Taking place from Good Friday evening in 1300 through Easter Sunday

2.2. The exile of an individual becomes a microcosm of the problems of a country, and it also becomes representative of the fall of humankind

2.2.1. Dante’s story is thus historically specific as well as paradigmatic.

3. About This Book

3.1. Author

3.1.1. Dante Alighieri by Sandro Botticelli, 1495

3.1.1.1. Born 1265, Florence, Italy Died September 13/14, 1321, Ravenna

3.1.1.2. Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker

3.1.1.3. Dante decisively influenced the course of literary development

3.1.1.3.1. Italian became the literary language in western Europe for several centuries

3.2. The Divine Comedy is a famous Medieval Italian epic poem depicting the realms of the afterlife.

3.2.1. Dante wrote it somewhere between 1308 and his death in 1321, while he was in exile from his hometown of Florence, Italy, which had been enduring civil war.

3.3. The Divine Comedy splits into three parts, and each section contains 33 canti (chapters)

3.3.1. Inferno (hell)

3.3.2. Purgatorio (purgatory)

3.3.3. Paradiso (paradise)