In the year 1300 AD, on Good Friday, Dante finds himself straying from the right path and entering the Dark Wood of Error. From this place, he sees the Sun shining on the Mount of Joy, which represents Divine Illumination. Dante tries to climb the mountain but is stopped by three creatures that symbolize worldly vices: the Leopard represents Malice and Fraud, the Lion represents Violence and Ambition, and the She-Wolf represents Incontinence. Just as he starts losing hope, the shade of the Roman poet Virgil appears to him, symbolizing Human Reason.
Virgil, sent by Beatrice from Heaven, guides Dante to follow a challenging path through Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven to overcome the beasts. By journeying through these realms, Dante can recognize and renounce sin before basking in God’s divine light. Agreeing to the task, Dante embarks on the journey with Virgil. They enter Hell through its Gate inscribed with the famous warning: “Abandon all hope ye who enter here.” In the Vestibule, they witness the torments endured by opportunists and those who remained neutral in the Rebellion of the Angels.
The individuals mentioned in the text do not have an official place in either Hell or Heaven, as their actions during their lifetimes were neither good nor bad enough to earn them a spot in either realm. Forever, they are destined to chase after a banner that is always just out of their reach, while also being stung by wasps. The wounds caused by these stings produce blood and pus that serve as a feast for worms and maggots. It should be noted that the punishments in Inferno are always a fitting consequence for the sins committed by the sinners. The presence of wasps represents the sinners’ guilty consciences, while worms and maggots symbolize their moral filth. The Poets hope to be transported across the river Acheron by Charon, the boatman. However, Charon realizes that Dante is still alive and therefore refuses to grant them passage. After Virgil presents a compelling argument for Dante’s case, Charon reluctantly agrees to ferry them across. Dante, overwhelmed by fear, faints and only regains consciousness when he finds himself on the opposite bank.
Upper Hell is divided into five circles, each progressively smaller and containing fewer sinners than the previous circle. The first circle, called Limbo, is reserved for those who committed the least serious sins. It is where unbaptized children and virtuous pagans are placed. Among the souls in Limbo is Virgil, who lived a decent life but died before Christ’s arrival (according to Dante’s belief, acceptance of Christ was a requirement for entry into Heaven). In Limbo, these souls are not tormented but are condemned to spend eternity without hope. Dante and Virgil remain in Limbo to converse with other renowned poets from the ancient world.
(Dante must have possessed immense pride to imagine himself walking alongside Homer and Ovid.) Upon entering the second circle, the Poets encounter Minos, the beast who judges and assigns damnation to each soul according to their appropriate level of Hell. However, Virgil manages to persuade him to allow their passage. (Dante frequently combines pagan mythology with Christian beliefs within his depiction of Hell.) Subsequently, they witness the tormented souls of the carnal, who are perpetually swept about by tempests, just as they allowed their rationality to be overcome by passion during their lives. It is here that they encounter Paolo and Francesca, who were murdered by Francesca’s husband before they had a chance to repent for their sin of adultery. Upon hearing their tragic story, Dante faints once more. After regaining consciousness, Dante and Virgil proceed into the third circle, where revolting snowstorms and freezing rain descend and form slush beneath their feet. Cerberus, the three-headed dog, stands guard over the souls of the gluttonous as he chews on them.
In this passage, Ciacco, one of the gluttons, who is from Florence like Dante, prophesizes Dante’s future exile. It is later revealed that the damned have the ability to see into the future, but are unable to perceive present events. This implies that their powers will be useless on Judgement Day, the last day. Moving forward, the monster Plutus guards the fourth circle, but Virgil successfully persuades him to allow Dante and himself passage. This suggests that Human Reason can always triumph over any hellish obstacle. The fourth circle is inhabited by hoarders and wasters who are in a perpetual state of conflict with one another. The reason they find themselves in Hell is because their obsession with wealth caused them to extinguish the divine light within them.
At midnight on Good Friday, the Poets move to the fifth circle known as the Marsh of Styx. This circle represents Upper Hell and is the final one. In this marsh, the souls of the wrathful fight each other while the sullen souls remain buried under the slime. Standing at the marsh’s edge, the Poets encounter Phlegyas, who is the ferryman of Styx. Initially mistaking them for new souls to torment, Phlegyas hesitates to grant them passage but is persuaded otherwise by Virgil.
The passengers are transported to Dis, which is the capital of Hell and serves as the barrier between Upper and Lower Hell. The entryway to Dis is protected by Rebellious Angels, whom Virgil is unable to overcome due to the limitations of Human Reason in confronting Evil. Therefore, he offers a prayer for divine assistance. Virgil’s anxiety intensifies due to the presence of Three Infernal Furies, which represent feelings of regret. In order to immobilize them, he summons Medusa and instructs Dante to avert his gaze and close his eyes so as not to witness this malevolence. Virgil goes as far as using his own hands to cover Dante’s eyes for added protection.
Suddenly, a Heavenly Messenger arrives with a powerful storm that represents God’s power. The Heavenly Messenger opens the gates of Dis and then goes back to Heaven. The Poets are now able to enter the sixth circle, where the souls of the heretics (specifically, those who rejected the notion of the soul’s immortality) are detained in iron tombs heated by fires. These tombs will permanently close on Judgement Day, sealing the heretics in eternal death.
In the sixth circle, the Poets encounter Farinata degli Uberti, a political enemy of Dante who died before Dante was born. Dante engages in a political discussion with him and also encounters Cavalcante dei Cavalcanti, the father of his friend Guido Cavalcanti.
In the sixth circle, they come across rubble that used to be a cliff until it was destroyed during the earthquake when Christ died. The smell emanating from the seventh circle is so strong that they take refuge behind a tomb to get used to it. During this time, Virgil explains the different sections of Lower Hell. It is currently two hours before sunrise on Holy Saturday. (Interestingly, Virgil can track the movement of the stars, which cannot be seen in Hell because they represent God’s shining hope and virtue.) While descending the rocks, Virgil manages to deceive the Minotaur, who attempts to block their path. Inside the seventh circle, the souls of those who were violent towards their neighbors are submerged in a river of blood.
In this place, numerous tyrants and warmongers receive their punishment. The river is guarded by centaurs who intimidate the poets attempting to cross it. Nonetheless, Virgil persuades Nessus, the centaur, to transport them. Nessus places them in the second round of the seventh circle known as the Wood of Suicides. Here, souls are imprisoned in trees that are constantly devoured by Harpies, leading them to bleed.
In the Wood, there are souls of those who were violent against themselves being pursued by packs of dogs that tear them apart. Moving to round three of the seventh circle, there are blasphemers (violent against God), sodomists (violent against Nature, the child of God), and usurers (violent against Art, the child of Nature and thus the grandchild of God) who are being scalded by fire raining down on a plain made of burning sand. This unnatural rain serves as a suitable punishment for their unnatural actions. Dante walks alongside a stream flowing across the plain and engages in conversation with Ser Brunetto Latini, an author whom Dante greatly admired and learned various literary devices from. As they approach the waterfall that descends from the seventh to the eighth circle, three Florentines rush over to Dante and express their concerns about Florence’s current state of degradation. Upon reaching the top of the waterfall, Dante takes off a cord from his waist and drops it over the edge to signal the arrival of a monstrous creature.
The individual identified as Geryon, referred to as the Monster of Fraud, will carry them down the cliff. While Virgil communicates with Geryon for their safe passage, Dante observes the souls of the usurers. Dante witnesses them huddled on the brink of the fiery plain, wearing purses displaying the coats of arms of notable Florentine families around their necks. After rejoining Virgil, Dante joins him on Geryon’s back and together they soar around the waterfall and descend down the cliff.
Geryon places them in the eighth circle, Malebolge (also known as Evil Ditches), which is made up of ten bolgias. In these bolgias, those who are guilty of simple fraud receive their punishment. To help the Poets traverse the ditches, there are stone dikes serving as bridges between them. The first bolgia is where panderers and seducers are confined, enduring eternal lashes from horned demons. The souls of flatterers are submerged in excrement.
In the third bolgia, the souls of simoniacs, who corrupted the Church for profit, are tightly packed upside-down inside tube-like holes in the ground. Their feet are scorched by the burning fire while they are forcefully pushed deeper into the holes to make room for new sinners. This method of punishment, reminiscent of how baptismal fonts were constructed in Northern Italy during Dante’s time, serves as a mockery of the sacrament of baptism. Being a devout Catholic, Dante passionately condemns these sinners before ascending with Virgil to the fourth bolgia. From a bridge overlooking the fourth bolgia, they witness the souls of fortunetellers and diviners who desired forbidden knowledge of the future. These souls have their heads turned backwards on their shoulders, forever unable to see ahead and doomed to walk backwards for eternity. Moving on to the fifth bolgia, the souls of grafters reside in a pool of boiling pitch, mercilessly guarded by demons. If these souls attempt to rise above the surface, they are viciously torn apart by grappling hooks.
Dante encounters dangerous demons during his journey, posing the only physical threat to him. This is possibly because Dante was wrongly exiled from Florence on charges of grafting. Virgil protects Dante by hiding him behind rocks while negotiating with Malacoda, the leader of the demons. Virgil secures their passage to the next bridge since the original one is destroyed. Two clever sinners trick two demons into falling into pitch, allowing Dante and Virgil to escape during the ensuing chaos. To evade pursuit by the demons, the Poets slide down the bank of the sixth bolgia for concealment.
In this passage, the Poets witness the souls of hypocrites who are burdened by their beautiful yet heavy lead robes, representing their guilt. Malacoda deceived them about a bridge, so they must climb the opposite bank to leave the seventh bolgia. As they cross the bridge, they see thieves trapped by reptiles that bind their hands and pierce their veins. Some thieves appear as humans while others take on reptilian forms. Dante watches as a reptile and human exchange forms. The eighth bolgia is inhabited by evil counselors who misused their gifts for evil and are consumed by flames.
Dante engages in conversation with a flame and discovers that it contains the souls of Ulysses and Diomede, two soldiers from the Trojan war. He listens to Ulysses recounting his final journey. Dante also talks to a lord of Romagna, lamenting the tragic conditions in that region. They proceed to the ninth bolgia where they witness the presence of the sowers of discord.
Due to the separation of what God intended to be united, individuals are attacked and torn apart by a demon wielding a bloody sword. They are categorized into three groups: those who promote religious discord (with Mohammed being the main figure), those who sow political discord, and those who sow discord among relatives.
Virgil escorts Dante across the bridge that spans bolgia ten, enabling them to witness the falsifiers. These wretched souls endure diverse forms of corruption, such as disease, filth, darkness, and stench, which mirror the societal damage caused by their falsifications during their earthly existence. The falsifiers are categorized into four groups: alchemists (who falsified substances), evil impersonators (who falsified identities), counterfeiters (who falsified currency), and false witnesses (who falsified testimony). Dante witnesses a heated dispute between two of the falsifiers, but is swiftly reprimanded by Virgil.
The Central Pit, the final circle of Hell known as Cocytus, is approached by the Poets. Guarded by half-buried Titans, these earthly passions serve as symbols for men to overcome. Assisting the Poets, one of the Titans lowers them into Cocytus on his palm. Cocytus consists of a frozen lake where souls guilty of treachery against their special bonds are frozen to varying degrees. This icy lake is divided into four concentric rings: Cana (housing the treacherous against relatives, named after biblical Cain), Antenora (for those who betrayed their country, named after the Trojan betrayer), Ptolomea (named after Ptolemaeus Maccabeus who killed his father-in-law, for treachery against guests and hosts), and Judecca (reserved for those who betrayed their masters, named after Judas Iscariot).
The center of Hell holds Satan, who is desperately flapping his massive wings to break free from the icy clamp. His three twisted faces, a deliberate mockery of the Holy Trinity, devour one sinner each – Judas, Cassius, and Brutus. In order to leave Hell, the Poets descend down Satan’s hairy sides until they cross the point of gravity and emerge at the Mount of Purgatory on the opposite side of the globe, where they can finally behold the stars.
