Canto 6

Sam DoescherNovember 10 2007

 

New Characters

• Ciacco-(means Pig) was a political figure in Florence who lived while Dante was alive.

• Cerberus-three-headed dog who guards the entrance to the underworld

• Plutus-mythological god of the underworld and god of wealth and guardian of the 4th circle aka. the great enemy

Circle 3

• In canto 6 Dante is in the 3rd circle which is that of Gluttony. The punishment in this circle is Filthy rain ,very cold weather and the dead souls being tormented by Cerberus. In this level Dante meets Ciacco.

Ciacco

• Ciacco was a political figure in the time that Dante was alive. When Dante meets Ciacco he tells Dante a few premonitions like how his party will lose power in Florence within 3 years. He also asks Dante to talk about him when he returns to Florence because he wants to be remembered.

Florentine Politics

• Florence was politically divided between two rival factions known as white and black Guelph's.

• Dante, a white Guelph, was part of the city government that made this decision

• Six hundred leading white Guelph's (Dante among them) were forced into exile.

• The black guelphs prevailed because they were supported by Charles of Valois, a French prince sent by Pope Boniface VIII

Last Judgment

• Virgil tells Dante that Ciacco will not rise again until the "sound of the angelic trumpet" and the arrival of the "hostile judge"

• According to the accepted theology of Dante's day, souls would be judged immediately after death and would then proceed either to hell (if damned) or purgatory (if saved); this judgment would be confirmed at the end of time

• In canto 6 we also learn with Dante-character that souls of the dead will be reunited with their bodies at the end of time.

Virgil feeding Cerberus