Pt. 3 of Dante's "The Inferno" book review
(Originally posted) Dec 14, 2021 at 1:03 AM
We left off from the previous blog post in Dis, where the metropolis slabs and foundations of Hell are dark, beaten from fire and soaked in piss. It's understandable that Dante and Virgil are keen to pass through this part with haste. But as our poets trip further towards the end of "town" Dante hears the lament of a swooning and blackened shade.
Subsequently, he recognizes the ghost as a great Tuscan war-chief.
"I may say that if I have a soul, I have lost it in the cause of heresy," he rambles and chokes out regretfully.
Dante writes in The Inferno that those who are damned within the walls of Dis anticipate their unchaining at the time of Judgement; able to see the future but have no knowledge of the present. Remembering bible passages about the time of Judgement, Dante boldly attempts a quick dialogue with the shade.
`Sanders` Lines 97-104 "If I get this right, [Dante] all you guys down here can see the future, right? But why can't you see things happening right now?"
[War-chief] "When things happen closer in the moment, our minds are empty."
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For a small moment, I feel the need to include a distinction between The Divine Comedy vs The Divine Plan. The former is an imaginative work envisioning the afterlife, while the latter is a concept for God's desire for humanity. Confusing? That's why I whipped up this nifty infographic for better visual clarity.
In John Ciardi's translation of The Inferno, he notes a Greek philosopher, Epicurus, who wrote a belief that the achievement of happiness is the absence of pain. Assuming that the resources of human genius are all that are necessary for such an achievement, I blog to ask, "Yet, for men of religion is other aid needed? Could Zen or Nirvana be understood as a contrasted similarity?"
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It appears that the flaming walls of Dis head towards a path leading away from town aimed at a valley beyond, guiding Virgil and Dante to Circle 6.
- `Ciardi` Line 134 - And we passed deeper yet into the city of pain, along a track that plunged down like a scar into a sink which sickened us already with its stink.
- `Sanders` Line 135 - Even though we were high up, the putrid smell from below made us gag.
Deposit 1 Soul
CANTO XI, CIRCLE 6
The sixth circle is geographically described as a great jumble of rocks that had once been a cliff but fell into rubble as a result of an earthquake that shook Hell when Christ died. So fetid is the air rising from under these rocks that the poets are forced to take a small respite against some cooler granite stones until they can adjust to the stench. During this brief pause the pair study a circle of broken boulders that form somewhat of a lid over an open sore-like crevasse... leading underground... to Hell and the foulness of its sins.
- `Ciardi` Line 30 - [Virgil] Below are three descending rounds of crueler torments.
- `Sanders` Line 15 - There are three more circles all similar to the ones we just came through.
Their surroundings remain barren and blazing and smaller in circumference than were the Circles of Upper Hell.
- `Ciardi` Line 115 - ...and there beyond us runs the road we go, down the dark scarp into the depths below.
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Classifications of Sin in Lower Hell
- Circle 7 - Violence
- Circle 8 - Fraud
- Circle 9 - Malice
Supposedly, it's a continuous conflict between and within the last three circles of Lower Hell. In Dante's geography, the bottom of Hell is the center of the Earth, where the stars are not visible, nor are they remembered by the deceased, who tend to degrade harshly within the tortures of this reality.
The descriptions and terms Dante refers to as a place in the middle of Earth's core are beyond weird; they're intriguingly gory and it is this part of The Inferno where IT, GETS... GOOD!
Circle VI (The Violent)
This community features suicides and destroyers of self, Seducers, Hypocrites and Alchemists.
Circle VIII (Fraud and the Fraudulent)
Pagans, Flatterers, Thieves, and Treachery against country, i.e., a variety of experimental sins against God.
Circle IX (Malice)
Inhabited by sinners described as Perverts, Fortune Tellers, Sowers of Discord and those who identified with unnatural sex practices.
The residents of these lower circles suffer worse and increasingly grotesque mutilations to their physical/spiritual bodies and mental capabilities; rendering many insane and horrified in a state of permanent terror. Dante reports how oddly these particular Sinners standout.
Naturally, my interest began to rise up as a reader when I arrived at the back end of The Inferno. Coincidently, it was nearly a month later after finishing this book when a movie titled "Errementari" appeared in my Netflix suggestions.
Translated as "The Devil and The Blacksmith", I took it as a personal clue from the Universe to put the literature aside to chew on this foreign horror film.
The makeup effects are stunning with frighteningly impressive demon CGI's and scenes located in a Circle or two. A handful of recaps about this Spanish horror film exist on YouTube.
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At this time, you may well feel free to email me at AmberleeCoyote@gmail.com
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