The Divine Comedy

By : Dante Alighieri
Who is Dante Alighieri ?
Dante Alighieri, known simply as
"Dante," is often considered the
finest poet of the Middle Ages and is
best known for his epic La divina
commedia ("The Divine Comedy").
He was also a philosopher and
political thinker. He wrote most of
his poetry in the Italian vernacular
instead of Latin, a choice that would
influence the entire course of western
literary development.
• Dante, called the Father of Italian Literature, was the author of the
Divine Comedy.

• Dante was born into a noble family in Florence. His father died
when he was only a child, but his mother took the greatest pains to
have him educated.

• When he was 9 years old, he met a girl of his own age, Beatrice
Portinari, who was to inspire him in writing La Divina Comedia.

• He made progress early not only in the study of classical literature

but also in music, drawing, and horsemanship.

• At the age of twenty-five he fought gallantly in two battles.

• At the age of 35, he was elected chief magistrate of Florence.

• He died at the age of 56.

The Woods Outside of Hell
The Vestibule
The Nine Circles of Hell

Circle 1 : Limbo

. The virtuous
unbaptized:
Those who died before
the birth of Christ
Or without being
baptized (pagans and
babies)
But were basically good
people.
Circle 2 : The Lustful
Notable People
• Paolo & Francesca

•Paolo and Francesca (a married

woman) were lovers while they lived.

•Their contrapasso is to be stuck

together forever in the act of
making love
without satisfaction—their sinful
pleasure in life is now their torture.

A contrapasso is "punishment that

fits the crime."
Circle 3 : The Gluttonous
The souls here,
guilty of gluttony,
did nothing more
with the gifts of
God than to
consume food and
drink. They
produced nothing
but garbage, and
therefore, that's
what they receive
and live in for all
time..
 Circle : 4 The Greed
Spendthrifts :
these people are the
ones who squandered
their money in life on
useless things.

Avaricious :
these people are the
Miserly, who hoarded
their money, never
giving or sharing
freely.
 Circle 5 : Wrathful
The souls of the Wrathful
are tapped in the filthy
slime of Styx, violently
attacking each other.
Deep below the surface,
unseen by anyone, is also
the souls of the Sullen—
those that shut out the
light of sun from their
lives, they forever suffer in
the darkest place in Hell.
Circle 6 : Heretics
Here lies the city of Dis.
Three furies appear at the
gates to intimidate Dante
and Virgil. They are scared,
but do not take heed of the
warnings because an angel
sent from heaven comes to
their aid.
The inside of the city is
carpeted with coffins, in
which the arch heretics (bad
religious leaders) and their
followers are tortured as
flames shot out of their
graves.
 Circle 7 : Violent
The circle of Violence is divided into three
rings:

Against Others
Against Self
Against God, Nature, Art
Ring I: Violence Against Others
Ring II: Violence Against Self
Ring III: Violence Against God, Nature, a
and Art
Geryon
 Circle 8 : The Fraudulence
This circle (called Malebolge,
Italian for Bad Circle) is divided
into ten sub-circles
called "Bolgias."

Bolgia 1: Panderers and Seducers

Bolgia 2: Flatterers
Bolgia 3: Simoniacs
Bolgia 4: Fortunetellers
Bolgia 5: Grafters (Barrators)
Bolgia 6: Hypocrites
Bolgia 7: Thieves
Bolgia 8: Evil Counselors
Bolgia 9: Sowers of Discord
Bolgia 10: Falsifiers
Bolgia I: Panderers and Seducers
Bolgia II: Flatterers
Bolgia III: Simoniacs
Bolgia IV: Sorcerers, Soothsayers, and
Fortune Tellers
Bolgia V: Barrators and Grafters
Bolgia VI: Hypocrites
Bolgia VII: Thieves
Bolgia VIII: Fraudulent Counsellors
Bolgia IX: Sowers of Discord, Scandal,
Schism
Bolgia X: Falsifiers
 Circle 9 : The Treacherous
This circle is divided into four
sub-circles of Traitors:

-To Kindred
-To Country
-To Guests
-To Master

Satan:
Here at the bottom of the pit,
frozen in Lake Cocytus, is the
Great Worm in the core of the
earth. He has three faces, each a
different color, each chewing on a
famous sinner.
Region I: Caina
Region II: Antenora
Region III: Ptolomea
Region IV: Judecca
Red:
The color of Hatred. Opposite of Divine Love.
The middle face, chewing Judas Iscariot.

Yellow:
The color of Impotence. Opposite of Divine Omnipotence. He
is powerless--uselessly trapped here forever. The right face
chews Cassius.

Black:
The color of Ignorance. Opposite of Divine Wisdom. He made
his mistake and learned nothing from it. It chews Brutus, who
stabbed Caesar, his best friend, in the back.
The Exit
from Hell
Paradiso
Empyrean
Extra 

The Divine Comedy was not titled as such by Dante; his title
for the work was simply Commedia or Comedy. Dante’s use of
the word “comedy” is medieval by definition. To Dante and
his contemporaries, the term “comedy” meant a tale with a
happy ending, not a funny story as the word has since come to
mean.
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The Divine Comedy by : Dante Alighieri
Thank you for listening.
-SR