Dante's Divine Comedy

Who is the guardian of the Second Circle? (lines 4-12) What larger role does he play in the functioning of Hell? How does he play out that function on an individual basis? What connections to Greek mythology does Dante make in line 4?

Minos

He is the judge who assigns the damned to the appropriate level of Hell.

He “weighs all the sins and sends the wicked down according to how far he winds his tail.” (lines 5-6).

Minos is one of the three judges in the Greek mythological afterlife. [The other two are Aeacus – a son of Zeus and grandfather of Achilles, known for his sound judgment, and Rhadamanthys – son of Zeus and Europa (whom Hera turned into a cow when she caught her and Zeus together), and known for his contributions to law and governance.]

[NOTE line 4 in Italian: “Stavvi Minòs orribilmente, e ringhia” (“Horrible Minos grunts there like a bull.) Some hear the frightening growl of a beast in the alliteration of “r’s.” If so, this is an example of onomatopoeia.]

Look again at lines 16-24. What is Minos’ advice to Dante (lines 18-20)? How does Virgil answer Minos (lines 21-24)? Which epic convention comes into play in Virgil’s words?

“beware!/Watch how you enter and in whom you trust?/Don’t be fooled by the broad and easy gate./”

What gate is “broad and easy”?

Matthew 7:13 - “Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it.”

The gate of Hell, which stands open at all times because it was opened by Christ when He descended into Hell.

“Enough! Why must you shout?/You shall not bar him, for he comes by fate./No questions—only know that this is willed/where power is power to do whatever it will.”

Consider lines 25-30. What two types of imagery does Dante use once more to create the milieu of Hell? Do you see a familiar example of synesthesia in these lines? Do you make anything else of these lines?

Auditory (lines 25-27) and visual (lines 28-30)

Synesthesia: “It is a place where all light is struck dumb” [Compare to phrase to the one in Canto I, line 60.]

Describe the punishment of the lustful in detail (lines 31-45). How is lust a corruption of reason (lines 37-39)?

A “hellish cyclone” eternally sweeps them around the circle, beating and buffeting them. Esolen speculates that each time their irresistible journey takes them by the point at which they entered the circle, they are reminded of their dreadful first experience of the pain there. Like all the others sinners in Hell, they have “no hope for rest, or even lesser pain.” (lines 44-45)

Reason, instead of overruling passion, makes excuses (rationalizes) instead.

Dante captures the haphazard movement of the souls in the grip of the whirlwind in the very language of line 43 in Italian.

What epic convention occurs twice in lines 46-49? How does each contribute to the tone and visual imagery of this scene? Which epic convention occupies lines 52-69? How do the names included enhance your understanding of the sin of lust?

Two epic similes appear, following one upon the other. In both cases, Dante creates the similes involving birds: starlings and cranes. They also offer a clear image of the sinners moved by the winds.

Lines 52-69 constitute a catalogue. Almost all of those named died a violent death: Semiramis (killed by an illegitimate son), Dido (suicide), Cleopatra (suicide), Helen (in one tradition, she is hanged on the island of Rhodes), Achilles (died from an arrow shot by Paris), and Paris (shot by an arrow from Philoctetes bow that once belonged to Heracles).

This is an OPEN QUESTION.

How do you understand Virgil’s instructions to Dante for summoning Paolo and Francesca (lines 76-81)? Do you see anything ironic in the epithet in lines 82-84?

The “love that drives them on” is God, not their own lust.

The sin of Paolo and Francesca is lust. However, the words “turtledoves,” “the loving call,” “the sweet dovecote” all seem incongruent given that this all plays out in Hell.

How does contrapasso apply to the punishment of the lustful? That is, how does their punishment reflect the sin of lust? What does the location of the Second Circle reveal about the sin itself?

The whirling winds evokes the sweep of passion. As they themselves were willful, they deny the freedom of the will. Therefore, they have not even the will to resist the winds that tumble them. Appropriately, the sinners experience something analogous to what they chose in life. They surrendered control of themselves to their passions, and now, as if to unveil and make clear to them what they once embraced, a strong wind drives them about and steals their freedom. They are like very small birds caught in a windstorm.

Lust is punished at a higher level than any of the other sins of incontinence. Esolen writes, “since the human body is worthier than is food or material wealth, immoderate enjoyment of its delights is less grave a sin than is gluttony or avarice; hence lust is punished on this upper ring.”

Do you agree with Francesca’s philosophy of love as expressed in line 100-107? What does Dante’s response to her words reveal about him (lines 108-120)? (Remember that Francesca and Paolo are judged worthy of Hell.) What is your response to Francesca’s words in lines 121-126? Though Francesca’s story of her fate (lines 127-138) may sound romantic, what wrong lies within it? How might she and her paramour have done otherwise? How is Francesca’s account of her and Paolo’s lust (lines 127-138) similar to Adam and Eve’s responses when God asks them to explain why they have violated His command?

“Love, which allows no loved one not to love, seized me with such a strong delight in him/that, as you see, it will not leave me yet” As Esolen says in his note, “Francesca assumes not only the human will’s primacy but its irresistibility.”

Dante seems to be going along with Francesca that love itself is to blame for their lust. Her pain moves Dante to pity.

Francesca claims that recalling happiness in a time of misery causes the greatest of all possible griefs. However, she did not actually desire to resist the temptation.

Dante makes the point that once they read of Launcelot and Guinevere kissing, they stop reading. If they had continued, they would have read of the humiliation that adultery brought to the Arthurian couple. Further, in Hell Paolo and Francesco are with each other eternally – exactly what they wanted in life. Francesca’s love is idolatrous. The one thing she loves exclusively in the world is Paolo rather than the God who created her. Francesca did not love too much; she loved too little.

Like Adam, Francesca blames Paolo for kissing her and even the book for prompting the kiss.

It is noteworthy that Francesca’s account of her and Paolo’s adultery and deaths is much in the style of Dante’s earlier, romantic poetry. The poetry in her lines is extremely high and delicate. Woven into these lines are quotations from and paraphrases of the authors whom the young Dante had read and imitated during the days of his own loved poetry. For example, Francesca’s speech in lines 100-108 employ ANAPHORA, beginning each tercet with the word “Love,” emphasizing that that passion was responsible for her and Paolo’s damnation. Consider that her argument here is almost identical to the words of one of Dante’s friends, Guido Guinizelli: if you truly have a noble heart, and someone falls in love with you, you cannot help but return his or her love.

Once more Dante faints (line 142). What does his fainting reveal about him now?

Again, he feels pity for someone damned. In other words, he thinks God’s punishment may have been too much.