Dante’s Inferno

Length:  Minimum 750 words

For this project, you will be writing a brief paper on Dante’s Inferno. First, select an episode, one of the sins from The Inferno as your topic.

First, choose one significant sin from Dante’ epic, and discuss the way Dante interprets human psychology through the symbolic imagery of the sin’s punishment.  For your thesis, make a statement about Dante’s understanding of this behavior.  Note that some of the “sins” Dante explores, like suicide and homosexuality, would not be considered sinful today, and look to see how Dante shows his own critique of his culture’s attitudes.

Sins to consider:

Lust (Canto 5)

Avarice and Prodigality (Canto 7)

Suicide (Canto 13)

Homosexuality (Canto 15)

Simony, corruption in the church (Canto 19)

Theft (Cantos 24-25)

False Counsel (Cantos 26-27)

Treachery—Count Ugolino (Canto 33)

For whatever sin you select, consider the following points as you develop your paper:

1. How does this sin fit into Dante’s scheme of moral behavior?  Why does he make this choice to portray the behavior as better than the sin below it, worse than the sin above it?

(In the case of treachery, Count Ugolino, why is this the worst sin of all?)

2. How does the punishment allegorically condemn the sinner to repeat the sin eternally?  How is this allegory a comment on the nature of this behavior?

3. What do we know about individuals located here?  How does Dante-the-pilgrim respond to the sinners themselves?

4. Does Dante-the-pilgrim identify with anything about these sinners’ behavior? Does Dante-the-pilgrim learn anything from his tour of this level?

Here are some great on-line resources you can use for reference.

www.worldofdante.org    This is the University of Virginia Dante site, and it has great references for every canto.

www.digitaldante.columbia.edu   This site is from Columbia University

www.princeton.edu/dante  This is the Princeton University site.

For this paper, use only the primary source, Dante’s Inferno, for quotations.  Don’t quote or paraphrase secondary sources for this paper.

To plan your paper, here’s an outline template:

1. Introduction
2. Begin with a good lede—an attention-getting quotation or image.
3. Give context for Dante Alighieri’s life, and for the Divine Comedy.  You can find biographical information in the textbook and on the Dante websites.  When and where did Dante live?  What events in his own life led to the writing of his epic poem?  How did Dante organize the Divine Comedy?
4. State your thesis, by introducing your sin, its level, and by making a claim about its significance.

1. Define the sin and explain how it fits into Dante’s scheme of moral behavior.
2. Which section, Incontinence, Violence, or Fraud, is the home of this sin, and why?
3. Why is this sin considered less culpable than the sins below it?
4. Why is it considered more culpable than the sins above it?

III.           How does the sin’s punishment explore its psychology?

1. Describe the punishment (a quote from the poem would be essential here).
2. Discuss the relationship between the punishment and the sin.
3. Discuss any patterns in the form of punishment that link this sin to others.

1. Characters: Who appears as a speaking character for this sin?
2. Describe the sinner and his or her relationship to Dante-the-pilgrim.
3. Describe the interaction between Dante and the sinner.
4. Note Dante’s response to the sinner and any insights he gains from this encounter.

1. Conclusion: Restate the thesis idea in different wording
2. Comment, from the point of view of 2017, on the realism of Dante’s portrayals of human behavior in this section of the poem.
3. Can you think of any later artist, writer, or movie director who borrowed some of this imagery from Dante?
4. Comment on the relevance, if any, of the Inferno for readers today.

Integrating and Documenting Quotations

Whenever we introduce a quotation, we identify the speaker and explain the context of the quotation, smoothly integrating the quotation in our own words.  To document quotations from the Inferno, use the canto number and the line numbers instead of page numbers in the parenthetical note.

Relating her tragic tale of adultery, Francesca tells Dante-the-pilgrim, “’Our Galehot was that book and he who wrote it./ That day we read no further’” (5. 137-138).

Note that we insert a right slash (/) to indicate the end of a line when we quote from poetry.