Hell, the 1st part of Dante's Divine Comedy describes the poet's vision of Hell. The story begins with the narrator, who is the poet himself, being lost in a dark wood where he is attacked by 3 beasts which he cannot escape. He is rescued by the Roman poet Virgil who is sent by Beatrice (Dante's ideal woman). Together, they begin the journey into the underworld or the 9 Circles of Hell.
- 1st Circle (Limbo) is resided by virtuous non-Christian and unbaptized individuals who are punished with eternity in an inferior form of Heaven. They live in a castle with 7 gates which symbolize the 7 virtues.
- 2nd Circle (Lust), Dante and Virgil find people who were overcome by lust. They are punished by being blown violently back and forth by strong winds, preventing them to find peace. Strong winds symbolize the restlessness of a person who is led by desire for fleshy pleasures.
- 3rd Circle (Gluttony), Dante and Virgil find souls of gluttons who are overlooked by a worm-monster Cerberus. Sinners are punished by being forced to lie in a vile slush that is produced by a never ending icy rain. The vile slush symbolizes personal degradation of one who overindulges in food, drink and other worldly pleasures, while the inability to see others lying nearby represents the gluttons' selfishness and coldness.
- 4th Circle (Greed), Dante and Virgil see the souls of people who are punished fro greed. They are divided into 2 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. The two groups that are guarded by a character called Pluto are so occupied with their activity that the two poets don't even try to speak to them.
- 5th Circle (Anger) is where the wrathful and sullen are punished for their sins. Transported on a boat by Phlegyas, Dante and Virgil see the wrathful fighting each other on the surface of the River Styx and the sullen gurgling beneath the surface of the water. The punishment reflect the type of sin committed during lifetime.
- 6th Circle (Heresy), Dante and Virgil see heretics who are condemned to eternity in flaming tombs.
- 7th Circle (Violence) is divided into 3 rings. The outer ring houses murderers and others who were violent to other people and property. In the middle ring, the poet sees suicides who have been turned into trees and bushes which are fed upon by harpies. But he also sees here profligates, chased and torn to pieces by dogs. In the inner ring are blasphemers and sodomites, resident in a desert of burning sand and burning rain falling from the sky.
- 8th Circle (Fraudulent) is resided by the fraudulent. Dante and Virgil reach it on the back of Geryon, a flying monster with different natures, just like the fraudulent. This circle is divided into 10 Bolgias or stony ditches with bridges between them. In the 1st Bolgia, Dante sees panderers and seducer. In the 2nd Bolgia he finds flatterers. After crossing the bridge to the 3rd Bolgia, he and Virgil see those who are guilty of simony. After crossing another bridge between the ditches to the 4th Bolgia, they find sorcerers and false prophets. In the 5h Bolgia are housed corrupt politicians. In the 6th Bolgia are the hypocrites, and in the remaining 4 ditches, Dante finds thieves (7th), evil counselors and advisers (8th), divisive individuals (9th) and various falsifiers such as alchemists, perjurers, and counterfeits (10th).
- 9th Circle is divided into 4 rounds according to the seriousness of the sin though all residents are frozen in an icy Lake. Those who committed more severe sin are deeper within the ice. Each of the 4 rounds is named after an individual who personifies the sin. Thus the 1st round is named Caina after Cain who killed his brother Abel. The 2nd round is named Antenora after Anthenor of Troy who was Priam's counselor during the Trojan War. The 3rd round is named Ptolomaea after Ptolemy, son of Abulus. The 4th round is named Judecca after Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Jesus with a kiss.
No comments:
Post a Comment