CULTURAL STUDIES

AND MODERN LANGUAGES

UNIVERSITY OF BRISTOL

WEEK 2 BOOKS
Inferno with Dr Tristan Kay
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Dantes Inferno is one of the most famous and influential books in world literature. It is a
poem written in Italian in the first years of the 14th century and is the first of three volumes
which make up Dantes Divine Comedy. It has received over one hundred translations into
English and continues to inspire writers, artists, and readers around the world.
The Divine Comedy tells the story of a man, Dante, in the year 1300. It is a story presented
not as fiction, but as a journey that truly took place, a kind of vision of profound
importance. At the beginning of the Inferno, Dante the character finds himself lost in a
dark wood, which stands for his condition of moral and spiritual crisis. He is found in the
wood by the ancient poet Virgil. And Virgil has been sent by Dantes beloved Beatrice,
who resides in Heaven, to rescue Dante and to take him on a journey through the three
realms of the Christian afterlife: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. This journey will enable the
salvation of Dante: it will lead him from the dark wood of sin to God and to redemption.
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By travelling through the different realms of the afterlife, Dante will come to understand
the meaning and the cost of sin. Moreover, he will be able to tell a story that applies to all
of humanity. Dante believes that his world has become morally and spiritually lost, and
corrupted. And this poem is intended to be a wake-up call, so that people will come to
recognize the danger and the eternal consequences of a sinful life.
There are many reasons why the Inferno, in particular, has captivated readers for centuries.
Dantes Hell is famous for its gruesome and imaginative punishments, which correspond to
the sins that the souls committed while they were alive. For example, the lustful souls are
punished by being buffeted by a violent wind. And this reflects the way in which, while
alive, they did not control themselves, but were at the mercy of their passion. Hell is
divided into nine main circles, each associated with its own type of sin, and each featuring
its own particular punishments.
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Another important characteristic of Dantes Hell is the fact that it is populated by real,
historical individuals. Many other representations of the afterlife in this medieval period
would merely reduce different groups of sinners to types: in other words, the emphasis

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was less on the singular people and their moral choices than on the broader moral lessons
associated with the sin in question. In Dante, we find something very different. Sins are
exemplified by complex, three-dimensional personalities. What is more, these individuals
are predominantly taken from Dantes own world, and include some of its most famous,
admired, and controversial figures. We even find recent popes consigned to Hell for their
corruption and their materialism. So you can imagine how provocative and dangerous such
a poem must have been.
The Inferno is divided into 34 short cantos, each of around 130 lines, and for this course
we are going to focus on one of the most famous and intriguing ones: Canto 5. This canto
takes place in the second circle of Hell, where the lustful are punished. In the middle of the
canto we encounter its two main protagonists, Paolo and Francesca: two lovers from
thirteenth-century Italy.
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In brief, the story of Paolo and Francesca is as follows: Francesca was in a loveless,
politically-motivated marriage with a nobleman from Rimini, named Giovanni. However,
she fell in love with Giovannis more attractive brother, Paolo, and she describes in this
canto how they kissed for the first time while reading alone together. Their affair was
discovered by Giovanni, who killed them both.
Francesca tells the character Dante this story in a very moving and very eloquent manner,
winning over his sympathy and causing him to faint out of pity. But such pity and
sympathy in Hell are not necessarily good qualities, for Dante must learn to accept that
all those found in Hell are justly damned, having misused their gift of free will to sin.
The canto therefore raises a number of intriguing questions. Why is this love affair
considered by Dante the poet to be an instance of lust? Should Paolo and Francesca be
considered justly damned, when their love appears to be spontaneous and authentic? How
does Francesca describe her love for Paolo? And what is the relationship between the two
Dantes here: that is, the poet, who writes this canto and chooses to place Paolo and
Francesca in Hell, and the character or pilgrim, who responds to them so
sympathetically? In an episode of great complexity and ambiguity, these questions
continue to be debated.

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