WEEK 14: The inferno; Canto 32+33

In Canto 32, this is the ninth circle of Hell in which contains people who commit sins of betrayal: such as disloyalty and dishonesty against family members, country, beneficiaries, or traitors in battle. Dante refers to be, “the bottom of the universe” that contains a multitude of many sinners, “horde of sinners beyond all others ill-begot”. Here its also divided into two regions: the first one called Caina referring to Cain in the bible, who betrayed his brother by murdered him. The second region called Antenora, intended for political people, sinners against their own country or nation. Like the Trojan Prince Antenor, that conspired with the Greeks to destroy Troy.

In Canto 33, Dante is on the final circle of Hell, here Dante encounters count Ugolino who is eating the head of Archbishop Ruggieri. Apparently they are in Hell because both committed since count Ugolino, he did a favor to Archbishop Ruggieri, but Ruggieri instead locked his four sons and Ugolino in a tower. Both Ugolino and Riggieri committed betrayal unto one another, by betraying people they know and have some sort of “alliance”. Dante also encounters Frier Alberigo, as he asks him to remove the ice from his eyes, because he wants to “let his heart weep a while before the weeping freeze his eyes again”, here Dante give us a vivid image of how these people in Hell feel. Dante is seeing the consequences of been in Hell, that even the smallest sins can get you in Hell, and all he will suffer greatly if he doesn’t change.

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