Canto V: Paolo and Francesca prepared by Frances Ann V. Balino

Canto VPaolo and Francesca

Canto V:Paolo and Francesca

byDante Alighieri

Prepared by: Frances Ann V. Balino

Presentation Guide:

Poem Analysis

• Title

• Structure

• Characters

• Plot overview

• Summary

• Discussion and

Analysis• Allegorical Symbols

Context• Author’s

Biography

• Divine Comedy

Meaning

• Dante’s Divine Comedy - Inferno

• Historical/

Geographical

Context

Context

Dante Alighieri

Figure 1: Durante degli Alighieri

The Author

• He is an Italian poet whosemasterpiece The DivineComedy has exerted aprofound influence onWestern thought.

• He was born a RomanCatholic in Florence in1265 C.E.

• He entered public life in1295, later becoming oneof the six governingmagistrates of Florence.


The Author

• He repeatedly opposedthe machinations of PopeBoniface VIII, who wasattempting to place all ofTuscany under Papalcontrol, and in 1301 wasbanished from Florenceon trumped-up charges.

• He completed The DivineComedy shortly before hisdeath in 1321 in Ravenna.


The Author

De VulgariEloquentia – his political theory of the relation of the Empire and the Papacy

Figure 2: Detail of Dante Alighieri Giclee Print

The Author

Major Works:

Vita Nuova – a series of poems with prose commentary on his love for Beatrice

The Author

Major Works:


Divina Commedia –Dante’s imaginative journey through the afterlife where the part of Inferno (Hell) is Canto V: Paolo and Francesca.

The Author

Major Works:


Divine Comedy

Dante’s title for thework was simplyCommedia and it ismedieval by

definition.

“comedy” meant atale with a happyending, not a funnystory as the wordsince come to mean

Figure 3: Divine Comedy

Meaning

The Divine Comedy ismade up of threeparts, correspondingwith Dante’s threejourneys: Inferno, or“Hell”; Purgatorio, or“Purgatory”; andParadiso, or

“Paradise”.


Meaning

Each part consists of a prologue and

approximately 33 cantos. Since the

narrative poem is in an exalted form with a hero as its subject, it is

an epic poem.


Meaning

Dante’s Divine Comedy -Inferno

Inferno (Italian for "Hell") is the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th-century epic poem Divine Comedy.

It is an allegory telling of the journey of Dante through Hell, guided by the Roman poet Virgil.

Meaning

Figure 4: Dante’s DivinaCommedia

In the poem, Hell isdepicted as nine circlesof suffering locatedwithin the Earth.

Allegorically, theDivineComedy represents thejourney of the soultowards God, withthe Inferno describingthe recognition andrejection of sin.

Meaning

Figure 4: Dante’s DivinaCommedia

Historical Background

Renaissance Period


The rebirth of learning, began in

Italy in the 14th

century and influenced all Western

civilization.

Trade flourished and prosperity thrived

throughout the country.


Figure 5: Renaissance Period of Learning

two parties who had been at war

periodically since 13th century

De Monarchia in which Dante states

his belief in the separation of church

and state


Figure 6: Guelph Political Party and Ghibelline Political party war

power of church and state become

separated and tend to fail to give

guidance to the society

leaders of the church need to take

an civil oath ordered by the

Concordat


Figure 7: Leaders of the church taking their civil oath

Poem Analysis

Canto V: Paolo andFrancesca is the secondcircles Hell are thoseovercome by “lust”.

Francesca da Rimini andPaolo Malatesta arepunished together in hellfor their adultery.

About the Title

Figure 8: Paolo and Francesca

Francesca was married to Paolo's brother, Gianciotto("Crippled John").

Francesca's shade tells Dante that her husband is destined for punishment in Caina--the infernal realm of familial betrayal named after Cain, who killed his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8)--for murdering her and Paolo.

Title


About the Title

Structure

It is an epic poem tellingthe story of Dante’sjourney to Hell.

It is composed of 14,233lines that are dividedinto three canticas –Inferno (Hell),Purgatorio (Purgatory)and Paradiso (Paradise)each consisting of 33cantos.

Figure 9: Francesca Da Raminiand Paolo Malatestacene

Structure

Each verse schemeused “terza rima” ishendecasyllabic (linesof eleven syllables)with the linescomposing tercetsaccording to therhyme scheme aba,bcb, cdc, ded….


Structure

The structure of thethree realms follows acommon numericalpattern of 9 plus 1,total of 10: 9 circles ofthe Inferno, followedby Lucifer containedat its bottom for Hell.


Structure

Characters

Minos: Legendary King of Crete who occupies the threshold of the

Second Circle and assigns places to the

damned.

Characters

Figure 10: “Minos”

Those Guilty of the Sin of Lust:

Include Lancelot, Cleopatra,

Achilles

Characters

Figure 11: Lancelot, Cleopatra and Achilles

Francesca and Paolo: Adulterous

couple killed by Francesca’s husband,

Gianciotto da Verruchio

Characters

Figure 12: “Paolo and Francesca in Inferno”

Plot Overview

The Canto V was dividedinto four parts: first 8lines (1-24) shows us thejudge of the damnedMinos, that parody ofjudgement (he judgeswith his tail, not hishead), to whom thesinners eagerly confesstheir besetting sin.

Figure 13: The soul of Francesca and Paolo

Plot Overview

The second movement(lines 25-51) shows us thespirit of the place, theswirling and conflictingwinds of passion in whichwe see an impliedhierarchy of birds,starlings and cranes,which will be completedlater in the doves towhich Paolo andFrancesca are compared.


Plot Overview

The third section is Virgilpoint out the great starsof love. All this serves toremind Dante that hetoo was nearly lost, hadlost the right path, thatDante’s own life wasnearly lost to Godthrough lust.


Plot Overview

The fourth part of theCanto is itself dividedinto 5 movements


Plot Overview

Summary

Summary

As they descend into the second circle ofHell, Dante notes that it’s a little smallerthan the first circle. (This is because Hellis shaped like a funnel, with eachsuccessive circle shrinking a little.)

There, the huge bull-likejudge Minos appears, looming over agreat crowd, out of which eachindividual steps forward to have his say.

1

2

Summary

Dante explains that Minos judges where allsinners go by twining his tail into coils. Thenumber of coils determines which circle thesinner goes into.

The very ugly Minos pauses his perpetualdissing of sinners long enough to warnDante and Virgil to be careful whom theytrust.

Virgil shoots back with a "God protects us"line, but we can see right through him. He’sas scared as Dante.

3

4

5

Summary

On that note, they come to the edge of a cliffand see a hurricane-strength whirlwindbuffeting the souls of the Lustful (promiscuous,impulsive).

Virgil, trying to show off, names a bunch of thesouls trapped there: Semiramis, Dido,Cleopatra, Helen of Troy, Paris, Tristan…

Dante compares them to birds like starlings,cranes, and doves because of their helplessnessagainst the wind and because of thecacophonous cries they emit.

6

7

8

Summary

Star-struck by such names, Dante feels sorry forthem and calls out to a couple, wanting to talkto them.

They approach and the female soul speaks.She’s really polite and talks in a highfalutin’style, as if she’s stuck in the rhetoric of courtlylove. She thanks Dante for being so kind as tospeak nicely to her, then tells her story.

9

10

Summary

She’s Francesca da Rimini, an Italian (fromRavenna) and, in terms of blood, something like aprincess. During her life, she was forced into aloveless political marriage with a guy calledGianciotto Malatesta.

However, she fell in love with her husband’syounger brother Paolo and had an affair with him.When Gianciotto discovered their adultery, hekilled them both. (Yes, he’s in a deeper level of Hell,Francesca tells us.)

11

12

Summary

Dante is so moved by the unfairness of it allthat he starts crying. He tends to do this a lot.And he asks how exactly she fell in love.

Francesca says that one sunny day, she andPaolo were innocently reading a book. Butnot just any book. This one portrayed theknight Lancelot being hopelessly smitten byQueen Guinevere.

13

14

Summary

When they get to the part where Lancelot kissesArthur’s queen, Paolo and Francesca followedsuit and shared a passionate kiss. We know it’spassionate because "all his body trembled" andon that day they "read no more."

15

Francesca blames the book for her sin, calling ita Gallehault (the character in Arthurian legendwho encourages Lancelot in his forbidden affairwith Guinevere).

16

As Francesca concludes her story, her soulmate Paolo bawls his eyes out.Dante, the deepest fibers of his soul stirredto the extreme by their tragic story, passesout, as if dead.

17

Summary

Discussion and

Analysis

Discussion and Analysis

The further one descends into Hell, the greater thesins represented and the greater theirpunishment. Whereas those in the First Circlemerely sigh, those in the Second Circle are cryingout with woe. Minos, a legendary judge of theunderworld, hears the confessions, but he doesnot forgive the sin; rather he decides which areaone must go to in order to receive the deservedpunishment for the sin.


The Second Circle is the place in which carnal sinnersreside. It is the first punishment area for sins ofincontinence. Those who do not exercise will power gohere; the sins they commit are sins of lust, or sins of theflesh. These carnal sinners are thrust about forever bywinds.

Among the souls, Virgil notes “the mistress of Babylon.”“Babylon” could refer to the ancient city of Babylon in AsiaMinor or to the great tower where Scripture says thatmany languages began. (The construction of the tower wasa result of a desire for or a lust for power.)


Two famous women are residents of the SecondCircle: Cleopatra (the Egyptian queen and lover ofAntony and Julius Caesar) and Helen (wife of KingMenelaus of Sparta and prisoner of Paris of Troy).The men include Achilles (Greek warrior killed bythe Trojans by promising him the hand of a Trojanwoman if he would join their cause), Paris (Trojancaptor of Helen), and Tristran (lover of the wife ofKing Mark of Cornwall and killed by King Markupon his discovery).


Francesca talks of how she and Paolo had read ofthe love of Sir Lancelot and Guinevere. The bookthey read tells of Galleot who serves as a go-between for Lancelot and the Queen. Like thecharacters in the book, Francesca and Guinevereyielded to sins of lust.

The punishment of sins of the flesh is to continue toexperience the sin; the sinners drift in the wind andremember the love. Because of the choices which theymade, the lustful will never experience redemption andpeace.

Allegorical Symbols

Inferno represents the Christian soulseeing sin for what it really is.

three beasts represent three types of sin:the self-indulgent, the violent, and themalicious.

three types of sin also provide the threemain divisions of Dante's Hell: Upper Hell,outside the city of Dis, for the four sins ofindulgence (lust, gluttony, avarice, anger);

Allegorical Symbols

Added to these are two unlike categoriesthat are specifically spiritual: Limbo, inCircle 1, contains the virtuous pagans whowere not sinful but were ignorant of Christ

The circles number 9, with the addition ofSatan completing the structure of 9 + 1 =10.

Allegorical Symbols

Canto VPaolo and Francesca

Prepared by: Frances Ann V. Balino

Dante Alighieri

FROM the first circle I descended thus

Down to the second, which, a lesser space

Embracing, so much more of grief contains,

Provoking bitter moans. There Minos stands,

Grinning with ghastly feature: he, of all

Who enter, strict examining the crimes,

Gives sentence, and dismisses them beneath,

According as he foldeth him around:

For when before him comes the ill-fated soul,

It all confesses; and that judge severe

Of sins, considering what place in Hell

Suits the transgression, with his tail so oft

Himself encircles, as degrees beneath

He dooms it to descend. Before him stand

Always a numerous throng; and in his turn

Each one to judgment passing, speaks, and hears

His fate, thence downward to his dwelling hurl’d.

“O thou! who to this residence of woe

Approachest!” when he saw me coming, cried

Minos, relinquishing his dread employ,

“Look how thou enter here; beware in whom

Thou place thy trust; let not the entrance broad

Deceive thee to thy harm.” To him my guide:

“Wherefore exclaimest? Hinder not his way

By destiny appointed; so ’tis will’d,

Where will and power are one. Ask thou no more.”

Now ’gin the rueful wailings to be heard.

Now am I come where many a plaining voice

Smites on mine ear. Into a place I came

Where light was silent all. Bellowing there groan’d

A noise, as of a sea in tempest torn

By warring winds. The stormy blast of Hell

With restless fury drives the spirits on,

Whirl’d round and dash’d amain with sore annoy.

When they arrive before the ruinous sweep,

There shrieks are heard, there lamentations, moans,

And blasphemies ’gainst the good Power in Heaven.

I understood, that to this torment sad

The carnal sinners are condemn’d, in whom

Reason by lust is sway’d. As, in large troops

And multitudinous, when winter reigns,

The starlings on their wings are borne abroad;

So bears the tyrannous gust those evil souls.

On this side and on that, above, below,

It drives them: hope of rest to solace them

Is none, nor e’en of milder pang. As cranes,

Chanting their dolorous notes, traverse the sky,

Stretch’d out in long array; so I beheld

Spirits, who came loud wailing, hurried on

By their dire doom. Then I: “Instructor! who

Are these, by the black air so scourged?” “The first

’Mong those, of whom thou question’st,” he replied,

“O’er many tongues was empress. She in vice

Of luxury was so shameless, that she made

Liking be lawful by promulged decree,

To clear the blame she had herself incurr’d.

This is Semiramis, of whom ’tis writ,

That she succeeded Ninus her espoused;

And held the land, which now the Soldan rules.

The next in amorous fury slew herself,

And to Sichæus’ ashes broke her faith:

Then follows Cleopatra, lustful queen.”

There mark’d I Helen, for whose sake so long

The time was fraught with evil; there the great

Achilles, who with love fought to the end.

Paris I saw, and Tristan; and beside,

A thousand more he show’d me, and by name

Pointed them out, whom love bereaved of life.

When I had heard my sage instructor name

Those dames and knights of antique days, o’erpower’d

By pity, well-nigh in amaze my mind

Was lost; and I began: “Bard! willingly

I would address those two together coming,

Which seem so light before the wind.” He thus:

“Note thou, when nearer they to us approach.

Then by that love which carries them along,

Entreat; and they will come.” Soon as the wind

Sway’d them towards us, I thus framed my speech:

“O wearied spirits! come, and hold discourse

With us, if by none else restrain’d. As doves

By fond desire invited, on wide wings

And firm, to their sweet nest returning home,

Cleave the air, wafted by their will along;

Thus issued, from that troop where Dido ranks,

They, through the ill air speeding: with such force

My cry prevail’d, by strong affection urged.

“O gracious creature and benign! who go’st

Visiting, through this element obscure,

Us, who the world with bloody stain imbrued;

If, for a friend, the King of all, we own’d,

Our prayer to him should for thy peace arise,

Since thou hast pity on our evil plight.

Of whatsoe’er to hear or to discourse

It pleases thee, that will we hear, of that

Freely with thee discourse, while e’er the wind,

As now, is mute. The land, that gave me birth,

Is situate on the coast, where Po descends

To rest in ocean with his sequent streams.

“Love, that in gentle heart is quickly learnt,

Entangled him by that fair form, from me

Ta’en in such cruel sort, as grieves me still:

Love, that denial takes from none beloved,

Caught me with pleasing him so passing well,

That, as thou seest, he yet deserts me not.

Love brought us to one death: Caïna, waits

The soul, who spilt our life.” Such were their words;

At hearing which, downward I bent my looks,

And held them there so long, that the bard cried:

“What art thou pondering?” I in answer thus:

“Alas! by what sweet thoughts, what fond desire

Must they at length to that ill pass have reach’d!”

Then turning, I to them my speech address’d,

And thus began: “Francesca! your sad fate

Even to tears my grief and pity moves.

But tell me; in the time of your sweet sighs,

By what, and how Love granted, that ye knew

Your yet uncertain wishes?” She replied:

“No greater grief than to remember days

Of joy, when misery is at hand. That kens

Thy learn’d instructor. Yet so eagerly

If thou art bent to know the primal root,

From whence our love gat being, I will do

As one, who weeps and tells his tale. One day,

For our delight we read of Lancelot,

How him love thrall’d. Alone we were, and no

Suspicion near us. Oft-times by that reading

Our eyes were drawn together, and the hue

Fled from our alter’d cheek. But at one point

Alone we fell. When of that smile we read,

The wished smile so raptorously kiss’d

By one so deep in love, then he, who ne’er

From me shall separate, at once my lips

All trembling kiss’d. The book and writer both

Were love’s purveyors. In its leaves that day

We read no more.” While thus one spirit spake,

The other wail’d so sorely, that heart-struck

I, through compassion fainting, seem’d not far

From death, and like a corse fell to the ground.

• Anderson, William. Dante the Maker. London:Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1980.

• Auerbach, Erich. Dante: Poet of the Secular World.Translated by R. Manheim. Chicago: University of

• Chicago Press, 1961.

• Ayearst, Morley. "Divine Comedy." Merit StudentsEncyclopedia. Chicago: Crowell-Collier Educational

• Corp., 1969, p. 28.

• Bergin, Thomas. "Dante Alighieri." EncyclopediaAmericana. Danbury, CT: Grolier, Inc., 1989, pp. 487-490.

References

• Kirkpatrick, Robin. Dante: The Divine Comedy.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.

• Kunitz, Stanley, and Vineta Colby. "Dante Alighieri."European Authors 1000-1900. New York: H. W.

• Wilson Company, 1967, pp. 210-212.

• Lambert, Walter J., and Charles E. Lamb. ReadingInstruction in the Content Areas. Chicago: Rand McNally

• Publishing Co., 1980.

• Payton, Rodney Johns. A Modern Reader's Guide toDante's Inferno. New York: Peter Lang, 1992.

References


• www.wisdomportal.com


• www.allposters.com


• www.feedbacks.com

Figure 4: Dante’s Divina Commedia

• www.sffaudio.com

Figure 5: Renaissance Period of Learning

• larvalsubjects.wordpress.com

Figure 6: Guelph Political Party and Ghibelline Political party war

• en.wikipedia.org

Photo Sources

Figure 7: Leaders of the church taking their civil oath

• en.wikipedia.org


• www.tumblr.com

Figure 9: Francesca Da Ramini and Paolo Malatestacene

• fineartamerica.com

Figure 10: “Minos”

• Metamythic.com

Figure 11: Lancelot, Cleopatra and Achilles

• www.geocities.ws

• locustandhoney.blogspot.com

Photo Sources

Figure 12: “Paolo and Francesca in Inferno”

• www.gopixpic.com


• www.danshort.com

Summary

Dante’s Inferno: A Discussion Guide By David Brucehttp://www.shmoop.com/inferno/canto-v-second-circle-summary.html

Photo Sources

Canto V: Paolo and Francesca prepared by Frances Ann V. Balino

Education

Transcript of Canto V: Paolo and Francesca prepared by Frances Ann V. Balino