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Home , Gluttony, The Gates of Hell

DAN BROWN and DANTE’S INFERNO

DIVINE COMEDY by (1265-1321)

• Epic poem (1307-1321)with Dante at the centre • One of the greatest works of world literature • 3 parts, each consisting of 33 cantos, 1 introductorycanto = 100 cantos • Journey from Inferno (Hell) via Purgatory to Paradise (Heaven) • Each part ends with the word “stelle” (“stars”) • Comedy = not amusing,prosperous ending after a difficult beginnig INFERNO

DIVINE COMEDY - The three parts 1. Inferno • Dante has strayed from the path of righteousness and truth and wanders in error and desperation. • Hell is a gigantic funnel that descends the Northern Hemisphere to the very center of the Earth. • According to the legend, this gigantic hole was made when God threw Satan (Lucifer) out of Heaven with such force that he created a giant hole all the way to the very center of the Earth, • Satan has remained there since, and will remain there through all of eternity. INFERNO

1. Inferno • The nine circles of Hell. • The sinners who are the least repugnant, or those whose were the least offensive, are in the upper circles. In each circle, Dante chose a well-known figure of the time or from history or legend to illustratethe . As Dante descends from circle to circle, he encounters sinners whose sins become increasingly hateful, spiteful, offensive, murderous, and traitorous. He ends with Satan, eating the three greatest traitors in the world, each in one of his three mouths, at the center of the Earth. • We learn about the consequences of our actions; that each action brings a reaction; lesson in morality INFERNO INFERNO

2. Purgatory

• Ascent from centre of the earth to Southern Hemisphere • Cone-shaped mountain on top of the earth • Two sections: 2 levels like vestibule for negligent souls and 7 terraces – 7 deadly sins: 1. 2. 3. 4.laziness 5.courtousness/ 6.gluttony 7. • Sins are not as harmful than in Inferno and sinners repent • On top is the Garden of Eden: place of INFERNO

3. Paradise

• From purgatory through river of forgettfulness to heaven • 9 spheres beyond the earth:

1.moon= 2.mercury=hope 3.venus=love 4.sun= 5.mars=strength 6.jupiter= 7.saturn=work 8.prime mover=causes movement to all heavenly bodies 9.the empirion

• instead of sins • The only feeling is love INFERNO INFERNO INFERNO

• Inferno has nine circles • Shaped like a funnel, descends into earth where Satan lives (gets all the dirt of the earth) • On the way down there are 9 levels –each level describes a sin and punishment to match • At each level sinners are punished according to the degree of their sin and a ‘famous’ person that embodies the sin of their section INFERNO

INFERNO

“Abandon all hope you who enter here”

(Inscription at the gates of Hell) INFERNO

INFERNO Vestibule to hell: people who lived without commitment to either good or evil, eternally chasing a flag that cannot be grasped INFERNO

The 9 circles (eternal punishment repeating itself)

1. Limbo: peoplewho lived good lives but were never baptized; never see God; Judge assesses each sinner and designs the correct circle for punishment – this is where Hell really begins 2. Lust: ideal love was spiritual, not physical 3. Gluttony: unendingrainstorm and 3-headed dog ripping them apart 4. Greed: greed or overspending; forever rolling huge rocks againts each other INFERNO

5. Anger: wrathful, sullen, lazy; stuck in mood 6. Heresy: speak falsely against an ideal; exiled in hell (prisons, flaming tombs) 7. Violence: against others (boilingriver of blood), self (forest of suicides) and God/nature/art (desert under a rain of fire) 8. Fraud: sins of theft – 10 different sections with different punishments (e.g. Fortunetellers– head turned to look into the past, move backwards) 9. Treachery: families, countries, guests, masters

Satan – holds in his 3 mouths 3 great sinners INFERNO

DAN BROWN’S INFERNO linked to Dante

• Inferno – the first book of Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy inspired Dan Brown. He creates his own hell in Inferno.

• Punishment and sin in the afterlife. Hell reflecting the corruption and crime of life on earth.

• Dante’s poem is a kind of master text that explains the struggle INFERNO

DAN BROWN’S INFERNO linked to Dante

Link: • Dante’s Hell is not fiction, it is prophecy • Hell on earth: as the damned souls tell their stories, the sins they describe reveal that life on earth is just as horrific as the experience of hell, that the world, like the Inferno, is full of damned and tormented souls; an infernal landscape is already around as • The way down is in fact the way up – one must go down to go up – one must go through Hell in order to get to Paradise – where up becomes down: he loveshumankind and by doing something “bad” he wants to save it INFERNO

Problem: • Overpopulation will make earth a hell – the world is in denial about the population crisis • Social breakdown – once the food supply becomes grossly inadequate, Dante’s nine- ringed Hell becomes a reality • Biological terrorism to save humanity; technology as a way to better life on a global scale INFERNO