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