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Dante

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Submitted By katrinayk
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Pages 10
Katrina Ramos
Professor Perrone
LAC 1000C: Italian
December 2011

Dante’s Inferno: A Detailed Look Into Canto XXIV, Lines 1-57

Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy is an allegorical epic novel describing Dante’s journey through the Inferno, to Purgatorio and finally to Paradiso. The purpose of this journey, particularly the journey through the Inferno, is to expose people to the recognition and rejection of sin (Casagrande). Dante, being that he is human, must first pass through the Inferno to witness the sinners and their according contrapasso, before he can enter Purgatorio towards his final pursuit to Paradiso. The Divine Comedy is a metaphorical journey of bringing the light of God to the darkness of human sin.
In Canto XXIV (24) of the Inferno, Dante and Virgil have made their way to the eighth circle of Inferno – “The Malebolge” – and are in the process of making their journey through the 10 pits of Circle 8 (Mahfood). Being the second to last circle in the inferno, the circle of the sinners who commited fraud and theft in their early life (Dante Worlds), the contrapasso witnessed here is more terrifying than what Dante and Virgil have seen during their journey previously.
To provide some background information to Canto XXIV, the previous happenings of Canto XXIII (23) should be provided: Virgil is leading Dante through the pits, or bolgia, of Circle 8 when he remembers a bridge connecting the sixth and seventh pit. Virgil asks the circle’s monster-keeper, Malacoda, if the bridge is still intact, to which Malacoda confirmed in reply. At the end of Canto XXIII, however, Virgil and Dante realize that Malacoda has deceived them – the bridge is no longer intact and they now have to climb a treacherous and rocky pathway in order to pass through the rest of the Malebolge (Dante Worlds). Dante opens Canto XXIV with a metaphor that reflects upon his and

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