Study guide #3 culture and poems

Study guide timeline

Canto 32

Canto 32

Summary:

         In the bottom of the well Dante and Virgil find themselves on a huge frozen lake. They are in the first ring of the ninth circle. It is call Caina. In the circle, Dante hears the soul cry out to him; telling him to watch were he is walking or else he might step on their heads. The ice is so thick and frozen that the water no longer feels like water but glass. The sinners are in the ice and the ice reaches up to their chin. Their teeth chatter from the cold. Dante compares the sinners to frogs. Dante says that the sinners keep their head down as they complain about the cold. Dante notices two sinners with their heads against one another. Dante asks who they are, and in order to look at Dante they bend their necks back and look up to him. Dante realizes that their mouths are frozen shut and all they do is bang their heads against one another. A sinner speaks up and identifies the twins as Bisenzio brothers. The brothers killed each other over politics. He also names a few other sinners who are there for killing a family relative. Some names are Mordred(betrayed his father, King Arthur), Foccaccia (killed his cousin), and Sassol Mascheroni (also killed a relative). After naming a few sinners, he tells Dante who he is and he says that he is Camcion de Pazzi. He murdered a kinsman for political power. As Dante moves on to the second circle, Antenora, he accidently kicks a sinner right in the face. The sinner immediately curses at him and says, "Why’d you kick me so hard? Are you here to revenge Montaperti?" Dante, in a rude manner, asks the cursing sinner who he is. The sinner in returned ask Dante who does he think he is going around kicking sinners thinking that he is alive? Dante says that he actually is alive and can give him worldwide fame in the real world. The sinner surprisingly says that he doesn’t want fame; he just wants to be left alone. Dante loses it and grabs he sinner’s neck threatening him to identify himself. Dante says he will pull off every single hair off his head until he identifies himself. The sinner is not intimidated by Dante threat, so Dante actually follows through the threat and starts pulling his hair out. As the poor sinner is screaming in pain, another sinner says Bocca shut up! Finally Dante knows his name and Dante tells Bocca that he will ruin his reputation in the real world. Bocca does not care; he just wants “the shame of his fellow sinners to be remembered, Buoso da Duera, Beccheria, Gianni dei Soldanieri, Ganelon, and Tebaldello as traitors to their country or party.” When Dante leaves Bocca he comes across a Ugolino head chewing on Ruggieri’s head.  Dante tells them that he will bring their story back to the real world, as long as they tell him about it. That’s the end of this chapter.

Sin:

The sinners in the first circle are those who are treachery to there family. That’s why it is called Caina, because it pertains to the bible story to where Cain killed his brother Abel. In the second circle, Antenora are those who are traitors of their country- named after Antenor, who helped defeat Troy (even though he was Trojan).

Punishment:

The sinner’s bodies were stuck under the ice, with only their head above the ice.

Contrapasso:

I guess it is because the sinners are so cold blooded and heartless in the real world that they have to spend their whole eternity being stuck in a frozen lake.

 

Characters:

Bisenzio brothers- they were the sinners that killed each other over politics. Their mouths were frozen shut.

Mordred- betrayed his father, King Arthur

Foccaccia- killed his cousin

Sassol Mascheroni -also killed a relative

Camcion de Pazzi -He murdered a kinsman for political power.

Bocca- he was the sinner that Dante argued with. He was a traitor against his country

Discussion Questions

1.   For being in the deepest part of hell, do you think that the punishment is harsh enough for the sinners?

2.   Why was Dante so rude to the sinner?

3.   Do you think Dante would go to hell if he died right now? If so, what level?

Multiple choice:

1.   Where are Virgil and Dante?

a.    First ring of the 7^th circle

b.   First ring of the 9^th circle

c.    First pit of the 8^th circle

2.   What does Dante see first?

a.    Satan

b.   Two human heads

c.    Minos

3.   Can the first people Dante see speak?

a.    yes

b.   no

4.   What is the punishment of this level?

a.    Stuck a lake of fire

b.   Stuck a lake of water

c.    Stuck in a frozen lake

5.  What sinner does Dante speak to first?

a. Benzio brothers

b. Camcion de Pazzi

c. Bocca

Canto 31

Canto 31

Summary:

Dante talks about Virgil’s tongue and compares it to Achilles’ lance. “Achilles’ lance has the power to heal any wound it inflicts simply by touching it again.” Dante and Virgil are finally head out of the 10^th bolgia and walk towards the pit in the center of the eighth circle. In the mist and fog Dante thinks he sees tall towers and thinks it’s a city. Virgil then tells him that they are not towers but giants. As he gets closer to the pit he comes to realize that they really are giants, and becomes filled with fear. Since the giants are so big, there upper bodies pop out of the central pit, and their lower bodies are inside ninth circle of hell. Dante becomes more terrified as they get closer to the giants. Dante is thankful that those creatures do not exist in the real world. Dante compares the giants face as a bronze pine cone in St. Peter. He said that his upper body was so big “that three Frieslanders standing on the rim, one on another, could not have reached his hair” (pg. 259-60).  Virgil named 6 giants, Nimrod, Ephialtes, Briareus, Antaeus, Tityos, and Typhon (Giants will be explained in the character section).  When they finally reach Antaeus, Virgil uses his words to persuade Antaeus to take them down to the ninth circle. Virgil tells Antaeus that Dante is still alive and he can make people remember you in the real world. Just like everyone else in hell, Antaeus wants to be remembered on earth. So he gently takes Dante and Virgil down to the ninth circle.

New Characters:

Giants:

Nimrod- King of Babylon. He was supposed to build the Tower of Babel but God punished him and no one can understand him.

Ephialtes- Son of Neptune and Iphimedia. He challenged the gods and obviously lost. “For taking up arms against the gods, Ephialtes’s arms are now immobilized.”

Briareus- Son of Uranus and Tellus. He also rose up against the Olympian gods.

Antaeus- Son of Neptune and Tellus. He was apparently invincible and his strength grew every time he touched earth.

Hercules killed him by lifting him up in mid air and strangling him to death.

Tityos and Typhon- sons of Tellus. “They offended Jupiter, who had them hurled into the crater of Etna, below which the Lake Tartarus was suppose to lie”(pg. 264).

Sin:

All the giants’ sin so far is rebelling against God or the Olympian gods.

Punishment:

They are ugly nasty giants and some of them are chained.

Contrapasso:

The only contrapasso I noticed is when the giants were chained. The contapasso to that is for taking arms against the gods, they are not allowed to use their arms in hell.

Sources

http://www.shmoop.com/inferno/canto-xxxi-summary.html

Dante Inferno, the small book.

Discussion Ques:

1.    What do you think about the Giants? Are they being punished?

Multiple choice:

1.   Where are Virgil and Dante going?

A.   7^th circle

B.   Central pit

C.   8^th circle

D.  6^th circle

2.   What does Dante think he see’s from a distance?

a.    Towers

b.   Giants

c.    A pit

d.   The devil

3.   Does Virgil know what is in the distance?

a.    Yes

b.   No

4.   What is really in the distance?

a.    Satan

b.   Giants

c.    Virgil

d.   Minos

5.   Is Dante scared?

a.    Yes

b.   No

c.    A little bit

6.   How many giants does Virgil name?

a.1

b.3

c.4

d.6

    7.  Who cannot speak?

         a. Nimrod

         b. Antaeus

         c. Ephialtes

         d. Tityos

    8. What giant takes Virgil down to the 9^th level?

         a. Nimrod

         b. Antaeus

         c. Ephialtes

         d. Tityos

Canto 17

       

Canto 17

         In canto 17 Dante and Virgil enter the third zone of the third ring in the seventh circle. As soon as they enter the third ring, Virgil and Dante see a disgusting looking beast named Greyon that has his tail dipped in the riverbank. Dante compares the beast to beaver. Back then people thought beavers caught their fish by sticking their tail in the water and releasing an oily substance that kills fish. Greyon has a head of a human, a body of a serpent, and two paws. As Virgil goes to talk to the beast, he tells Dante to explore the third ring by himself. Dante sees that the sinners are buried in burning sand trying to brush the flicks of flames away. He does not recognize any of the sinners, but he notice that they are wearing a purse on their neck with a coat of arms on it. The crests represent Florentine families famous for practicing usurer. “There’s a blue lion on a gold field, a white goose on a red field, and a pregnant blue sow on a white field.” While Dante was leaving, a sinner that was in the sand being tortured was being rude and mean to Dante. He told Dante to leave because he is saving that spot for his friend, Vitaliano. He was waiting for Vitaliano to get to hell and wanted him to be next to him in hell. He compares the sinners to oxen. While Dante was observing around the third ring of the seventh circle, Virgil was convincing the scary looking demon to give them a ride down to the eighth circle. When Dante joined the conversation, Virgil told him to climb on to the beast and told him that he was going to give them a ride to the next circle. Fearing the beast he still climbed on to it because he trusts Virgil. “Dante compares his fear to that of Phaethon (who lost control of his father’s sun chariot).” It was a terrible and scary flight but they survived and now entered the 8^th circle.

http://www.shmoop.com/inferno/canto-xvii-summary.html

Sins

         The sinners that are in the third ring of the 3^rd zone commit sins of usurers and violence against nature and art.

Punishments

         They are buried within the sand. They are also forced to wear and stare at the purse on their neck, bearing their family’s crest on it.

Contrapasso

         The link to contrapasso is that the sinners stole money and now they are being forced to be ashamed by looking at their family crest and knowing that they are bringing shame upon their family. By all the money that the sinners have stolen and the sins of nature they committed their shame is being recognize by wearing their family emblem.

Characters

Virgil and Dante

Greyon- the beast who carries Dante and Virgil in to the 8^th circle.

Vitaliano- the only usurer sinner that is named.

Discussion Ques.

 1.What do you think Greyon resembles and why?

2. Do you think that the purse with the family emblem has more meaning to it? Explain?

3. Can you come up with any more punishments for the usurers that can link to a contrapasso? Explain?

Multiple choice

1.   What ring are they in?

a.   1

b.   2

c.   3

d.   4

2.   What circle are they in?

  a. 6

  b. 7

  c. 8

  d. 5

3. What is the demon’s named?

  a. Virgil

  b. plutos

  c. Filppo

  d. Greyon

4. What was on the sinner’s neck?

  a. Purse

  b. Necklace

  c. Both

5. Who is the last sinner waiting for?

   a. Vitaliano

   b. Virgil

   c. His girlfriend

6. What was Virgil doing?

    a. showing virgil the 3^rd zone

    b. taking virgil around the 3^rd zone

    c. talking to the beast

7. What type of tail did the monster have?

    a. a dog

    b. a scorpion

     c. dragon tail