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NOTES ON THE INFERNO

KNOW THE SIGNIFICANCE, LITERALLY AND SYMBOLICALLY, AND / OR ALLEGORICALLY OF

THE FOLLOWING BEINGS IN THE POEM.

1. Virgil Virgil serves as Dante's guide through Hell. The real Dante was a poet who lived in northern Italy

during the Roman era. Virgil was regarded as the greatest Roman poet, and his classic, the Aenid which tells

of the mythological journey of a group of Trojan survivors after the fall of Troy as they journey from theirhomeland to Italy, where they found the City of Rome. Virgil has been condemned to Hell because he

worshipped the old pagan gods, and lived before the time of Christ and so had no possibility of Redemption.

The spirit of Virgil has been ordered to be Dante's guide. Throughout the journey, Virgil is a useful guideand companion to Dante but is sometimes powerless to protect Dante from the real dangers of the Inferno.

Some critics regard Virgil as an allegorical representation of reason, as opposed to faith in God, and his

inability to protect Dante from the dangers of Hell symbolizes the ineffectiveness of pure reason comparedto belief in Christ. The choice of Virgil as a guide is significant because prior to his entry into Hell, Dante

aspires to be like Virgil

2. Virgin Mary, Beatrice, Lucia, Rachel Beatrice is a young woman, and Dante's true love. She is pure of heart

and has been allowed to enter Heaven. Dante is distraught by her loss and at the beginning of the Inferno, hehas become lost (literally and metaphorically). In the depth of his despair, Dante is contemplating suicide.

Beatrice saves him by asking an angel to send Virgil to Dante and allowing Dante to make the journeythrough Hell, Purgatory and Heaven which corresponds to Dante's spiritual ascent from the depths of sin to

redemption. Beatrice is not present in most of the Inferno, but she is Dante's personal guide through

Purgatory and Heaven.

3. Celestine V

4. Charon

5. Minos

6. Paolo and Francesca

7. Cerberus

8. Ciacco, the Hog

9. Plutus

10. Dame Fortune

11. Phlegyas

12. Furies, Medusa

13. Theseus

14. Filippo Argenti

15. Farinata degli Uberti

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16. Minotaur

17. Chiron and Nessus

18. Guy de Montfort

19. Pier Delle Vigne

20. Capaneus

21. Old Man of Crete

22. Ser Brunetto Latino

23. Boniface VIII

24. Geryon

25. Jason

26. Nicholas III

27. Malacoda

28. Caiaphas

29. Vanni Fucci

30. Cacus

31. Ulysses and Diomede

32. Count Guido Da Montefeltro

33. Mahomet

34. Bertrand de Born

35. Geri de Bello

36. Myrrha

37. Potiphars Wife

38. Sinon the Greek

39. Nimrod

40. Antaeus

41. Count Ugolino

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42. Archbishop Ruggieri

43. Judas Iscariot, Brutus, Cassius