Dante, lost in a dark wood at midlife, is led by the poet Virgil and then by Beatrice through Inferno, Purgatorio and Paradiso, tracing the soul’s journey from sin to beatitude.

Inferno

Dante meets Virgil at the edge of Hell and passes the gate:

Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch' intrate.

They descend the nine circles, seeing sin in its fixed, final form.

  • The lustful (e.g. Francesca da Rimini) swept forever by storm.
  • The gluttonous, misers and wasters, trapped in grotesque parodies of their desires.
  • The wrathful choking in the Styx.
  • The heretics (like Farinata) in burning tombs.
  • The violent in boiling blood or transformed into thorny trees.
  • The fraudulent (e.g. Ulysses, flatterers, hypocrites, thieves) punished with fitting counter-images of their deceit.
  • Traitors such as Count Ugolino gnawing the skull of his betrayer.

At the frozen pit, Lucifer is locked in ice, chewing the worst traitors. Dante and Virgil climb past Satan’s body and emerge under the stars:

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