Dante Test Flashcards
(117 cards)
1
Q
Ancient Greece
A
around 5th century BCE
Age of Reason
2
Q
The Middle Ages/ The Medieval Period
A
- “Dark Ages” Early Middle Ages 500-1000 CE “Romanesque”
- Late Middle Ages 1000-1500CE “Gothic”
- Renaissance “Rebirth” 1500 CE
- Age of Faith
- Dante’s Inferno 1320
3
Q
The Divine Comedy
A
By Dante Alighieri (Italian)
1265-1321 (very late middle ages)
“The Way Up Is The Way Down”
4
Q
“The Way Up Is The Way Down”
A
Heraclitus (can’t step in same river twice/ everything flows) - suffer before wisdom
5
Q
Why is The Divine Comedy genius?
A
- Italian Homer
- 14,000 lines, strict rhyme scheme
- what it means to be human - temptation/ struggles
- analogous to life
- often referred to/ quoted/ copied
6
Q
“Abandon all hope ye who enter” - Canto III
A
- on gates of Hell
- you had choice so no mercy
7
Q
Who was Dante?
A
- Italian poet from Florence
- 1265-1321
- His greatest work The Divine Comedy
- One of the greatest masterpieces in World Literature
8
Q
What makes The Divine Comedy so extraordinary?
A
- Incorporated Greek/ Roman mythology, math, astronomy/ science, Greek/ Roman philosophy
- Universal Struggle
- Sacred Three
- “Terza rima” Rhyme Scheme
9
Q
Universal Struggle
A
Our struggled as well as Dante’s struggled for salvation in a world of temptation
10
Q
Sacred Three
A
- Inferno = 33 canti + 1 Introduction (cantos)
- Purgatory = 33 canti
- Paradise = 33 canti
Total = 100 canti/ chapters
11
Q
“Terza rima” Rhyme Scheme
A
- aba, bcb, cdc
- all 14,000+ lines
- word choice was perfect - why it’s so difficult to translate
- Translator either maintains the rhyme scheme or focuses on the content - both are very difficult to do well
12
Q
Dante’s Contributions
A
- Wrote in the language of the people - Italian not Latin
- Created over 100 words - invented from Latin now a part of modern Italian
- Controversy with the church
13
Q
Wrote in the language of the people - Italian not Latin
A
- (IN DEFENSE OF THE VULGAR - vulgar meaning spoken tongue)
- 1930s - no national language- Mussolini makes Italian national language - sense of national pride
14
Q
Controversy with the church
A
- Hegemony over people
- Church concerned that Dante chose Virgil, a virtuous pagan, to be one of his central guides
- Responsible for bringing REASON to Dante’s world
- Church concerned that more people could read Dante’s work than the Bible - minimize the role/ influence of church
15
Q
First Time Readers
A
- Enjoy narrative (story)
- Read it again and again
- Takes a lifetime and still allusions are difficult to understand
- Many levels
- Literal - theme of journey/ odyssey
- Metaphorical
- Moral
- Mystical
- Symbolically redemption of ALL humankind
16
Q
What is The Divine Comedy?
A
- 14,000 lines - written in first person
- Complex
- Opens night before Good Friday in 13000
- Concludes the following Thursday
- Journey of redemption in 7 days
- Takes place during church’s most sacred time of year - death/ resurrection of Jesus Christ
- INFERNO (first part) - takes place from Thursday to Easter
17
Q
Three Guides
A
- Virgil - guide through Hell
- Beatrice
- St. Bernard
18
Q
Virgil
A
Roman poet in Hell and up to Mt. Purgatory
- Represents light of natural reason - without divine inspiration (before Christ)
- Virgil - it was believed he foretold the birth of Christ
19
Q
Beatrice
A
- Ideal woman for Dante - takes him through Paradise
- Plays most powerful role - represented pure love, unrequited love
- “Virgin Mary”
- Sends Virgil to Dante, so he can reach salvation in Heaven
20
Q
St. Bernard
A
- Another guide in Paradise
- Monk and writer - admired by Dante
- Man of words; eloquent (politically)
- Aligned with Dante’s view about role of church
- Spoke out against fraud in the papacy
21
Q
Why is it called a Comedy?
A
- Originally called “The Comedy” (“la Commedia”
- Boccaccio - writer later added Divine to honor Dante
- Begins TRAGICALLY, but ends HAPPILY (opposite of tragedy)
- Written in vernacular (Italian) - the language of “low” comedy as opposed to “high tragedy”
22
Q
What do I need to know about Dante’s life?
A
- Personal life and writing greatly influenced by politics of late 13th Century Florence
23
Q
Power Struggle
A
White Party (Dante’s) vs. Black Party
- White = supported independence of Florence from strict papal (and Roman) control
- Black = willing to work with Pope in order to restore power
- By 1301 - Blacks (Pope Boniface - put him in Hell) were in control and as a leader of the White Party - Dante was exiled (sentenced to death - ran/ exiled)
24
Q
Dante’s Solution
A
- To write THE INFERNO (1307-1314)
- Pope Boniface + other characters in Dante’s life are placed in Hell
- Hell to Dante - state of world as seen by an exile whose experience has taught him no longer to trust world’s values
25
Time Frame
Dante’s writes THE INFERNO in 1312
Sets THE INFERNO in 1300
- So, he allows his characters to speak “prophetically” about “what is to come”
26
Contrapasso
- Not contrapposto
- Punishment fits the crime
- Rigid system of Divine justice
- Expression of Dante's faith
- Justice
- Power
- Love
- Wisdom
27
Dante's Characters = Human
- Struggle with their own sin = INFERNO
- Long to be freed from it = PURGATORY
- Can envision divine embrace = PARADISE
28
Relevance to Today
Our world is different than 14th Century
- Human progress
- Renaissance
- Enlightenment
- Industrial, Scientific, Technological Revolutions
- All this has given us potential to use what we have for the greater good
- Still have
- political intrigue
- betrayal among politicians
- war
- violence
- dishonest business practices
- loss of faith in time-honored institutions
- Renders us vulnerable to forces of evil
29
The Goal
- To remove those living in this life from the state of misery and lead them to the state of happiness
- From Maturity to Innocence
30
Sins for vestibule, limbo, and 4 levels
```
Vestibule = apathetic
Circle I (Limbo) = unbaptized infants and virtuous pagans
Circle II - V = sins of incontinence ( lack of self- control)
Circle VI = sins of violence
Circle VII (malebolge) = simple deceit
Circle IX = treachery
```
31
Hell's Shape
Cone shape
- Satan's fall onto Earth
- ease of sin - give in to gravity
- easy to fall, hard to climb/ recover
- losing control = opening/ gateway
- "slippery slope"
- Top - common/ bigger/ lost control - all but some loose control
- 3 sided: God/ Jesus/ Spirit - inverted/ perversion of "holy triangle"
32
Vestibule
Passage/ hall antechamber between outer door and interior parts of house or building
33
Limbo
A region on border of hell o heaven, serving as the abode after death of unbaptized infants and the righteous who died before the coming of Christ
34
Placement of Apathetic
Dante put apathetic, unbaptized infants, and virtuous pagans here, because it is of no fault of their own
35
"Virtuous pagan" = oxymoron?
"Virtuous pagan" is not an oxymoron, because you can live a good life without knowing about Christ
36
4 levels of sin
The 4 levels of hell from top to bottom are sin of incontinence, sin of violence, simple deceit, and treachery
- less will - chose wrong until lost choice
37
Incontinence
Lacking in moderation or self- control, especially of sexual desire
Ex. lust/ gluttony
38
Violence
Rough or injurious physical force, action, or treatment
| Ex. suicide/ murder
39
Deceit
The act or practice of deceiving; concealment or distortion of the truth for the purpose of misleading; duplicity; fraud; cheating
Ex. flattery/ hypocrisy
40
Treachery
Violence of faith; betrayal of truth; treason
| Ex. defectors/ back stabbers (full choice)
41
Incontinence- first level?
- most innate
- triggered by almost purely overindulged survival instinct
- losing control = gateway
42
Violence - second level?
- more of a choice
| - triggered by heat of memories (revenge/ avenge = survival)
43
Fraud > Violence
```
Fraud
- more of a thought out decision process
- takes more intelligence
- more personal
- intent
Violence
- animal instinct
- intention, pre-decided, break trust
- clear intensions, not always pre-meditated
```
44
Treachery = worst sinner
- deceit against those who trusted/ depended on you
- owe more than you could pay
- intentional to those who love/ trust you
- hurt many who trusted you
45
Overall mention of hell
- less innate sin = more terrible consequences
| - sin against trust = worst sin
46
Purgatory's shape
Triangle/ mountain (wedding cake)
- mountain/ upward facing triangle
- "p" on forehead cleaned off w/ cleaning of dirty soul
- climb way out of sin- cleansing yourself
47
Sins in purgatory
Bottom to top: late repentant, negligent, excommunicated, proud, envious, wrathful, slothful, avaricious/ prodigal, gluttonous, lustful
48
Sins in purgatory order
- more instinctive go on top
| - sins not affiliated with love misplaced = not included (violence) b/c no redeeming value to them
49
Paradise's shape
Circle
- 9 circles = represents 9 levels of sin from Hell
- Closer to God (parallel)
- Center = "sea of light" b/c light represents purity/ goodness
- where God lives
- light emanates from source
50
Paradise Canto
- innocence/ humility - way up is way down
- describing the inhuman
- colors - "light"
- less specific - no individual sinners
- Guides are Bernard and Beatrice
51
Canto 1
- dark woods
- good Friday
- 1 week/ days week journey
- terza rima (3 rhyme) = form
- lost = Dante was exiled from Florence b/c believed in separation of church and state (white party)
- Leopard/ lion/ she-wolf = symbol of sins of incontinence, keeping Dante back
- Virgil = ancient Roman pet, reason, guide through purgatory + Hell
- Reason should control choices
- Virtuous paean - born BC
- Virgil + Dante travel to Hell
- "Abandon all hope ye who enter here" = gate of Hell
52
Canto 3
- Dante and Virgil at Gates of Hell
- Apathetic - didn't renounce
- In the following blank banner being bitten by flies
- Charon takes them/ doomed soul across River Acheron to Hell
53
Canto 4
- Limbo = unbaptized infants, virtuous paeans
- Not bad (Dante's sympathy)
- Caste w/ Greek philosophers, Homer, poets, heroes
- Nice BUT can see Heaven
54
Canto 5
- Minos judges transgressed and wraps tail to indicate level
- Lustful (1st sin, 1st level) - incontinence
- infernal hurricane - no control of passion
- lust: basic human desire (Dante felt for Beatrice)
- Francesca - cheated w/ her husband's brother
55
Canto 12
- Minotaur on shattered cliff
- Centaurs shoot souls so don't escape
- Violence - sea of blood (more you killed the more you are submerged)
- Centaurs = also pillaged and raped
- Level 2 violence
56
Canto 18
- Seducers: deceit and fraud (3: Deceit)
- whipped as run back and forth
- falterers - submerged in poop b/c full of it
57
Canto 26
- false counselors: each sinner in flame, represents conscience
58
Canto 28
- schismatic: create division btwn. people
| - sliced open - healed - resliced
59
Canto 29
- Falsifiers
- Alchemists
- Scabs, diseased - constant scratching
- Mess w/ God's jurisdiction/ nature - nature messes w/ them
60
Canto 32
- Traitors to family
- Traitors to country
- Frozen in ice up to head b/c cold -
- head down = shame
61
Canto 34
- traitor to benefactors, not forced love but voluntary
- Lucifer = frozen in ice
- 3 heads: Cassius/ Brutus = head out, Judas Iscariot = head in
62
Hell
- 9 circles
- triangle/ funnel
- slippery slope: one sin leads to another
- Bible: Satan fell - through Earth
- Triangle = holy shape - inverted = opposite
- Bigger at top = more common
- Sin = lose of free will
63
Purgatory
- Formed when Lucifer fell
- Holy Trinity
- reclaiming their holiness
- "P" = peccatum = sin of forehead until fades
- sins of incontinence, lower = no change of repentance
- acknowledge, pay penance
64
Canto 33: Paradise
- circle w/ 9 rings (mirrors Hell)
- created by God - center is throne of God
- circle = perfection, trinity, infinity
- rings = how close to God
- connection to astronomy - each circle = Greek god
- saintly throng form a rose in the empyrean
65
Three realms/ themes
- Way up is the way down
- literal: Lucifer’s fall; Dante must descend and pass through hell to then reach purgatory/heaven
- journey down up to paradise
- symbol level (messages?)
- good through hard times to get to better times
- must have humility (not prideful)
- teach us what Hell was like - takes in journey so we can learn and live better
- personal adventure to save own soul
- journey from knowledge and sin to purity and innocences
66
The Way Up is the Way Down - Symbol
Literal: Lucifer’s fall; Dante must descend and pass through hell to then reach purgatory/heaven
67
The Way Up is the Way Down - Literal
Symbolic:
- must have humility (not prideful)
- journey from maturity to innocence
- something you just have to go through hell and keep going
- must know all the bad (hell) in order to gain wisdom
68
Extended Response
Politics: political exile: separation of church and state; putting his enemies in hell
Life: HE was a sinner himself; exiled; bitter; vengeful
What was the PURPOSED of his work? Teach others (wrote in Italian); saved his own soul; enact revenge; synthesize faith and reason
69
Extended Response (short)
- Go back to Dante's life
- political situation
- exile
- personal life
- lose of reason/ control
- Purpose
- wrote in Italian (language of the people)
70
Canto 1 (Review)
```
Christian Holy Day journey begins: Good Friday
Journey: 7 days.
Form/ Meter: Terza Rima
Dante: exiled from Florence
Beasts: leopard, lion, she-wolf
```
71
Canto 3 (Review)
Vestibule: apathetic
Contrapasso: following a blank banner
- The River Acheron is the river souls cross before they enter hell.
72
Canto 4 (Review)
Limbo: virtuous pagans (Virgil), unbaptized infants
Contrapasso: can always see heaven, but can't get there
73
Canto 5 (Review)
Lust is part of the first “level” or category of Incontinence
Contrapasso: Buffeted by winds.
74
Canto 12 (Review)
Sin: violence (second category or level of sin)
Centaur: cross between man and horse
Contrapasso: River of blood
75
Canto 18 (Review)
Sin: Seducers (third category or level - simple deceit)
Contrapasso: whipped
76
Canto 26 (Review)
Sin: False counselors
Contrapasso: each of sinner is flame - represents conscience
77
Canto 28 (Review)
Sin: Schismatics
Contrapasso: torn apart
78
Canto 29 (Review)
Sin: Falsifiers, alchemists
Contrapasso: disease, scabs, constant itching/ scratching
79
Canto 32 (Review)
Sin: traitors to family and country
80
Canto 34 (Review)
Sin: traitors to benefactors
- Lucifer frozen in ice
- part of fourth level - treachery against benefactors
Lucifer chewing on Judas (head first); Cassius and Brutus (feet first)
81
Hell (Review)
- 9 circles
| Sin: slippery slope; fewer and fewer (most at the top – natural)
82
Purgatory (Review)
- cleansing of sin
- "peccatum" = sin
- tiered mountain shape
- ascend mountain
83
Paradise Canto 33 (Review)
Guide = Beatrice, St. Bernard (where they reside)
- Created by God (explains shape)
- 9 circles or spheres - paralleling
9 circles of Hell
- Center = Throne of God or Eternal Light
- Perfect sphere
- Based on science/ astronomy
84
Themes
- The Way up is the Way Down
- Reason/ logical - structural device for 3 realms
- Dante: man, politics, view of religion
- Justice/ mercy
- Free will
slippery slope (relationship btwn. 4 categories of sin)
- Importance of Guide
- Maturity to Innocent
- Modern World Relevance
85
Canto V (Location and Sin)
- 2nd circle
- The lustful
- 1st Level: sins of incontinence
86
Canto V ( Contrapasso and Explanation)
- punishment = storm
- whirlwind - simulates lustful disaster
- strong wind, no rest
- storm - restlessness of lustful in physically painful way, not pleasing
87
Canto V (Important Allusions: Demons and Specific Souls)
- Semiramis - Queen of Assyria
- Dido - kills herself for lover who left
- Cleopatra - suicide
- Helen of Troy - Trojan War
- Paris - King of Troy, kidnapped Helen
- Tristan - falls in love, dies rather than bring to king
- Francesca (specific soul) and Paolo- supposed to marry Giancotto loves Paolo (his brother) - Giancotto kills them
- Demon: Minos
- judges sinners, # of tail wraps = level of Hell
88
Canto V (Thematic Connection)
Modern Day Punishment: prison = guilt: left in constant though of decision like the storm
- "Innocence" - Francesca = weakness of will b/c marriage not her decision and book set mood/ influence
- Loss of self- control
- The Way up is the way down
- Slippery sold - 1 sin leads to another, cheating led to murder
89
Canto XII (Location and Sin)
- 7th circle: the violent sin
| - 1st Chasm - violent towards others
90
Canto XII (Contrapasso and Explanation)
- violence against others
- put in river of boiling blood - depth depending on sin
- rapists, tyrants, terrorists, assassins, war crimes, etc.
- penalty: river of victims of blood
- hot: emotion
- to neck: screams
- Modern day punishment: death penalty, jail
91
Canto XII (Important Allusions: Demons/ Specific Souls)
Demons:
- Minotaur: killed Athenians
- Centaurs + Chiron: shoot those who came out to far
Specific Souls:
- Alexander the Great
* Attila, Riniera
- Dante didn't speak b/c felt he didn't need to learn anything
92
Canto XII (Thematic Connections)
- Slippery Slope- how they enter
- Violence - intellect fails
- Land slide = caused by God stepping when he brought people up to purgatory
93
Canto XVII (Location and Sin)
```
Malebolge (evil pouches)
- 8th circle
- 2 sublevels (ditches)
- pimps/ seducers
- flatterers
(10 total sublevels)
```
94
Canto XVII (Contrapasso and Explanation)
- Human trafficking
95
Canto XVII (Important Allusions: Demons/ Specific Souls)
Demons: whip = pimps/ seducers
Specific Souls:
- pimp: Jason (abandoned Medea his wife), Vendica (pimped his sister)
- falterers - full of poop: Alessia, Thas (whore of Alexender the Great - given gift and over thanked/ insincere)
96
Canto XVII (Thematic Connections)
- swearing = mix of high and low language = high and low comedy
97
Canto XXVI (Location and Sin)
- Circle 8
- Counselor of Fraud
- 8th Ring
98
Canto XXVI (Contrapasso and Explanation)
- Burning flame b/c misused gift of counsel to misdirect - flame = burn of guilt
- Modern - remove from social media- hidden from people so can't spread ideas so easily
99
Canto XXVI (Important Allusions: Demons/ Specific Souls)
- flame split on top: Ulysses and Diomedes - committed fraud in Trojan War
- Ulysses lied to crew to get them to go west = sin
- Odysseus/ Ulysses - created idea of Trojan Horse, convinced Achilles to fight knowing he'd die, Greek
- Diomedes - Greek - destroyed by Trojans/ Rome = Dante
100
Canto XXVI (Thematic Connections)
- Way up is the way down = misused influence, lose influence
101
Canto XXVIII (Location and Sin)
- 8th Circle
- Sins of Fraud
- Schismatic: a person who promotes division
102
Canto XXVIII (Contrapasso and Explanation)
- sinners cut apart b/c divided people
- Modern Day Connection: polarization, division between: political parties, rich and poor, religion, cliques, war
- Modern day Punishment
- solitary confinement
- world's quietest room
- isolation tank
103
Canto XXVIII (Important Allusions: Demons/ Specific Souls)
Demon: Geryon
- winged beast
- grandson of Medusa
- lives between 7th and 8th circle
Specific Souls:
- Mohammad: renegade cardinal/ founder of Islam - split from chin to but
- Ali: divided Islam into Sunnis and Shiites - split from chin to forehead
- Pier de Medicina: spread rumors to turn them against themselves - broken face, pierced through, cut nose off at brow, one ear gone
- Curio: bribed Caesar to betray Pompey, influenced Caesar to cross Rubicon - tongue cut out
- Mosca de' Lamberti: split families by incited murder - hands chopped off
* Bertran de Born: split King Henry II and Prince Henry - head severed, lit like lantern, leads sinners
104
Canto XXVIII (Thematic Connections)
- Justice/ Mercy - no mercy for those who caused death of others
- Slippery slope - act of schism (betrayal of people's relationships), violence on larger scale
- Way up is way down: abusing influence leads to chaos, loss of influence and control
105
Canto XXIX (Location and Sin)
- 8th circle
| - 10th pouch/ malebolge
106
Canto XXIX (Contrapasso and Explanation)
- suffered w/ disease/ scabs - forever itch
- mess w/ nature - now being messed w/
- alchemy: trying to control what you shouldn't: itch = loss control
- deceive the senses
- Guelphs vs. Ghibelline (church vs. secular)
107
Canto XXIX (Important Allusions: Demons/ Specific Souls)
- Falsifiers: alchemists (witchcraft), impersonators, counterfeiters, false witnesses - mess w/ natural order of God
Specific Souls:
- Geri del bella - killed in feud, Dante's father's counsins, not avenged (9th)
- Girffalina - tricked Albera af Siena he could teach him to fly - performing alchemy - burned for heresy
- Cap acchine - Sienese - alchemists and mimic (false)
108
Canto XXIX (Thematic Connections)
```
Modern Day
- cult: Heaven's Gate
- Punishment: prison (taken away from natural world) (systematic/ controlled/ not free)
Themes
- separation of church and state
```
109
Canto XXXII (Location and Sin)
- 9th Circle
- Caina, Cocytus - after Cain and Abel
- Caina/ Coytus: frozen lake
- Antenora
110
Canto XXXII (Contrapasso and Explanation)
- Frozen w/ necks turned down
- Can't move
- Can speak (tell names) and butt heads (butted heads in life)
- Sin: betrayal to family/ friends/ country
111
Canto XXXII (Important Allusions: Demons/ Specific Souls)
- Bocca degli Abarto - betrayed in war
- Count Ugolino - betray town
- Tydeus and Melanippus - Tydeus ate Melanippus skull
- Antigone: Eteacles and Polynices fought for power = intertwined
112
Canto XXXII (Thematic Connections)
- Slipper slope: anger/ greed
| - tell each other's names: Beltroy (cont. to sin)
113
Canto XXXIV (Location and Sin)
- 9th Circle
- Judecca (sins of betrayal/ treachery)
- Traitors to lords/ benefactors
114
Canto XXXIV (Contrapasso and Explanation)
- Satan fell from heaven - center of earth
- His wings flap - cold
- Frozen: ultimate sin = sameness for eternity
- Betray benefactor (open love/ voluntary) = greatest sin
- Cold hearted = frozen, chewed = painful
115
Canto XXXIV (Important Allusions: Demons/ Specific Souls)
- "Vexilla regis..." - "The banners of the kings Hell..."
- Satan/ Dis/ Lucifer (3 faces/ mouths) - in ice lake waist deep, ugly
- Judas Iscariot = center mouth, leg visible
- Brutus/ Cassius - heads stick out, left and right mouth
116
Canto XXXIV (Thematic Connections)
- Separation of church and state (Judas)
- The way up is the way down - go down Lucifer to get up to heaven
- Modern - imprison - men
- Darth Vader
117
Purgatory (sheet)
- no biblical reference (1st Pope created to cleanse sins and indulgence: buy way to heaven) (Martin Luther = angry, corrupt/ separates)
- mountain - opposite shape of Hell
- "Peccatum" (means sin) - "p" on forehead as you climb until sin fade/ paid for and reach heaven
