January 11, 2012

Hello All,

Today we began reviewing the Background reading we had due for today.

The following are the things we came up with as a class.

-Beatrice-represents faith, She was Dante’s first love

-Dante exiled was exiled from Florence

-In his exile he wrote the Divine Comedy

-Focuses on the number three

·      The trinity (father, son, holy spirit)

·      Rhyme scheme

·      3 parts of 33 (hell, purgatory, paradise)

·      3 days (mimics death resurrection and ascension

-Mentions Virgil (was a poet that died 19 years before Christ was born)-represents how far logic can take you.

Allegory: combined literal and figurative pictures to help the reader, of any time period, relate to the Divine comedy

** Smith mentioned that in the next few days, we will be watching videos of different people’s interpretation of hell, listen to songs, and look at pictures. A Summary-Response on the videos, pictures, songs, and background of hell will be due sometime next week.  You will need to respond to what you’ve learned and what you think of the information we are studying. Smith has not set a concrete due date. She said she would see how far we get to determine that.

Next, We did the virtual nine circles of hell. The beginning is a series of words that are supposed to represent stones that lead the way to hell. The last set of words says “Abandon all hope, ye that enter here”

It begins with the dark woods because this is where Dante began in his journey through Hell

The Vestibule is the next place he went through. Those who lived before Jesus and did not know of Jesus reside here. “The Opportunists “ are the name the souls are given here. Charon is the boatman that drives the boat, which takes you to limbo. It is the only way to get into hell. “It’s not like you can just swim across the river and get there,” said Ms. Smith.

The first circle of hell Limbo. “Virtuous Pagans” is the name given to the souls here. Poets and philosophers live here.

**Dante says hell is shaped like funnel all leading down to Satan.at the center.

Smith gave a great visual of this. She stood with her arms out to here sides. She made the picture that the beginning of hell is above her head and the center is at her waist, or Satan’s waist.

The second circle of hell The Lustful

The people that desired things and gave into temptation. The beast that resides here is Minos. He has a snake like tail, is the judge of where someone goes in hell, how many times the tail circles around Minos is the level in which the person goes in hell. **The symbol of a snake plays a big role in the bible and Greek mythology that is why Minos’ tail is a snake. It is Symbol of sin and temptation. Minos is also displeased that Dante is allowed into hell as a mortal. The souls here are caught in a constant whirlwind; just as they gave up reason to be caught up in their passions are forever caught up in the whirlwind

The third circle of hell Gluttonous

The souls are guilty of Gluttony. The people here live in feces and garbage. In their life the over indulged in eating and drinking. Therefore, due to Divine Retribution they now live in garbage and filth. The beast Cerebus lives here, the dog with three heads.  The souls are tortured and ripped apart by Cerebus.

The fourth circle of hell, The Hoarders and The Wasters

The hoarders amassed their wealth all for themselves. The wasters used up all they had on fruitless ventures and materials. The punishment is the same, great weights boulders they push upon and strain at clashing them against each other again and again for all time.

The fifth circle of hell, Wrathful.

The people hear were angry in their lifetime.  This is where the River Styx (no not the band) is. It is the whole of circle 5 in hell. Use in classical mythology as a river of the underworld. The souls are trapped in the filthy slime of Styx, violently attacking each other. Deep below the surface unseen are also the souls of the Sullen those that shut out the light of sun from their lives.

The sixth circle of hell, The Heretics.

A heretic is someone who goes against the church. They also are those that deny god’s existence the city of Dis (made up of flames) is the capital hell. It is the counterpart of the New Jerusalem in heaven. Guarding the gates of Dis are the rebellious angels, now turned from beautiful to hideous. The heretics lie in tombs made of iron and blazing hot from great flames in and around them. Virgil says that on the Day of Judgment the lids will cover and seal the tombs forever.

The seventh circle of hell, The Violent’s

There are three kinds of violence: Violence against neighbors, Violence against your self, and violence against God. In the Violence against go circle there are three kinds of violent. Violence against neighbors is on the bloody river of Phlegethon: The souls are smothered in the boiling hot river of blood, they caused blood shed, and therefore they live in blood. Violence against self is in the wood of suicides, anorexia, and bulimia. These are people who have destroyed their bodies. They’re made of wood. Birds come and eat away their leaves and they bleed. Overnight they heal. This repeats day after day for eternity. Violence against god. There are the blasphemers. Stretched out against sand feel wrath of god. A slow rain of fire from of above them. Then there are the Sodomites violent against nature. There are also the Usurers violent against art.

The eighth circle of hell, The Fraudulent

This layer is shaped like an arena

There are 10 layers, kind of like ditches.

1.     Panderers & seducers

2.     The flatterers

3.     The simoniacs: followed Simon from the bible.

4.     The fortune tellers

5.     Grafters

6.     Hypocrites

7.     Thieves

8.     Evil counselors

9.     Sower of discard

10. Falsifiers

The final, Ninth circle of hell, the treacherous: Betrayal.

(Dante considers this the worst sin because he was betrayed)

There are four parts

1.     Treacherous to kin

2.     Treacherous to their country

3.     Treacherous to their guests

4.     Treacherous to their masters

Satan is not opposed to god; rather he is opposite to Michael the Arch Angel.

Satan is no longer a beautiful angel. This Satan has three faces, six eyes, six wings and three chins. When you set these numbers side by side you get the infamous 666. He chews endlessly on sinners.

This concludes the notes for the Virtual inferno

The bell rang and we all scurried to our next class

Homework: Review these notes for Friday, and continue Last Lecture Part One!