This illustration concerns the next canto, XIII, which we'll go over on Monday. (You won't have to include the XIIIth canto in your parallel allegory).Don't forget to read the introduction and the notes.
For your parallel allegory, think in terms of finding someone/something to represent the centaur(s) who make sure the murderers don't raise themselves from the boiling blood any more than they're allowed to--I'm not saying this will be easy. One of the centaurs leads Dante and Virgil to the shallowest part of the stream, and takes Dante on his back over the stream at that point. Some equivalents of the killers themselves would be also be good. At the beginning of the canto,, Dante and Virgil encounter the minotaur and get by him. Both the minotaur and the centaurs are half-beast, half-human (because people who commit violence against others are acting like beasts).
In lines 1-9 and 31-45, the story of Jesus coming down into hell after his death but before his resurrection is again referred to. It caused an earthquake in hell.
In lines 10-27, Dante and Virgil encounter the minotaur, a character in a Greek myth. See notes.
EVERYONE: if the question I have for you is too hard, don't worry. Give it a try; you're allowed to give up after giving it a try.
1. Elana, Laura, Yenna: in lines 39-43, Virgil alludes to the philosophy of Empedocles. Please see note at the end, try to explain what is going on in these lines.
2. Demi, Savannah, Heather: Why do you suppose the various monsters and guards (Charon, Minos, Plutus, Phlegyas, the fallen angels who guard the city of hell, and now the Minotaur and the centaurs) are so hostile toward Dante and Virgil? (14-15, 22-26, 58-63)
3. Sang Eun, Kai, David: Why is the story of Hercules, Dejanira, and Nessus appropriate to this canto/circle of hell, beyond the fact that Nessus happens to appear in this canto? (67-69, and note).
NOTE: Chiron the centaur you may know from the Disney movie versionof Hercules. He's the one who trains Hercules to be a hero.
4. Christy, Brianna, Emily: as the note tells us, Chiron, the leader of the centaurs, is presented more positively than most of the other citizens of hell. What do you think? ((76-100)
5. Ji Yoon, Sung Kun, and Nick: Compare this canto to the other cantos in which sinners are being seriously punished. Is it different in any way, or in what particular ways is it the same?
14 comments:
In lines 39-43, Virgil alludes to the philosophy of Empedocles. Please see note at the end, try to explain what is going on in these lines.
Virgil says that the last time he came to this part of Hell it was before Christ was crusified and before he came down into Hell to free those in Limbo. The ground shook when Christ came down, like it was all finally crunching together, like the world would if the things of the world felt love. If they loved each other, they would want to be close, and would all squish themselves together. This would happen in Hell, too, so if it seemed that the universe felt love, it was like the end of the world was coming and everything was crushing together. Maybe a fault closed or opened violently in Hell, but there was definitely an earthquake.
Compare this canto to the other cantos in which sinners are being seriously punished. Is it different in any way, or in what particular ways is it the same?
This Canto is quite similar to all the other Cantos, in terms of punishment methods. That is to say, the punishment fits the crime, but with an ironic or fitting twist. For example, the murderers are boiled in the which they spilled, the lustful are buffeted and taken up by a great wind (just as obsessive love is a great storm), et cetera. Dante manages to capture the reality of the crime, and give the culpable their appropriate punishment.
yeena sung
1.Elana, Laura, Yenna: in lines 39-43, Virgil alludes to the philosophy of Empedocles. Please see note at the end, try to explain what is going on in these lines.
I agree with Laura. This line is telling the reader that the ground shook when Dante walked, which also happened when Jesus broke into Hell. The lines are saying that Jesus is a symbol of unstoppable love and that it was so strong that it made the cracked and inharmonious hell to harmonize together. I thought that hell showed inharmonious features such as the ground because if the soil were in harmony, it would stay steady and smooth. However, the ground of hell is cracked and is very dry, showing that it doesn’t contain any harmony. When Jesus came, there was an enormous force and atmosphere of love and harmony around him that affected Hell to become more harmonious, making the ground to collapse because it couldn’t restrain itself.
Why do you suppose the various monsters and guards (Charon, Minos, Plutus, Phlegyas, the fallen angels who guard the city of hell, and now the Minotaur and the centaurs) are so hostile toward Dante and Virgil?
I think the various monsters and guards are so hostile towards Dante and Virgil because they're jealous. Dante and Virgil are going to heaven which is a paradise instead of hell. The guards and monsters must be thinking you already have so much why do we have to share our world with you too? Also this is a really rare thing, a living human going to hell, so they might just not be used to change since hell is sooo repetative. The same punishment over and over again and all.
4. Christy, Brianna, Emily: as the note tells us, Chiron, the leader of the centaurs, is presented more positively than most of the other citizens of hell. What do you think? (76-100)
The Chiron is the leader of the centaurs, half men half horses, who guard those who committed violence against their fellowman. Chiron was a wise teacher in Greek mythology.I think that the Chiron is presented more positively then the other centaurs because of one obvious reason that he nursed achilles. This is stated in line 71. Now achilles to my remembrance is a hero who is looked upon as an idol. If the Chiron indeed did nurse him, then he made achilles and what he became to be, giving him this well known status and power. This is something the other centaurs might not posses or have as much as the Chiron does. Also the centaurs are the ones who carry around arrows to make sure the sinners are in their correct place. This might give them a reputation of rudeness, violence, and so on. Now if Chiron was the one who raised a hero, this gives him a more loving and calm characteristic essence versus the violence and rudeness.
4. Christy, Brianna, Emily: as the note tells us, Chiron, the leader of the centaurs, is presented more positively than most of the other citizens of hell. What do you think? (76-100)
I think that Chiron is presented more positively then then the other citizens is because he is the leader of the centaurs and this gives him a higher status. And to have achieved that status he must have done something great. And that greatness is not possessed by the other creatures which gives him a higher status and makes us see him more positively. He also nursed a great hero, Achilles, and Achilles was a very respected man. So if this Chiron helped the great Achilles, then that gives him quite a reputation and something that we would see as positive.
5. Ji Yoon, Sung Kun, and Nick: Compare this canto to the other cantos in which sinners are being seriously punished. Is it different in any way, or in what particular ways is it the same?
I agree with David, I think most fo the punishments in the cantos are similar to each other. They all relate to death and they all related to painfulness and makes me not want to go through those things. In Canto 12 it says that people were boilied for a punishment. Also in Canto 11 it says that "like suffers with like" meaning that similar crims causes similar punishments.
4. Christy, Brianna, Emily: as the note tells us, Chiron, the leader of the centaurs, is presented more positively than most of the other citizens of hell. What do you think? ((76-100)
" The one in the middle staring at his chest os the mighty Chiron, he who nursed Achilles:"
He is the leader of the centaurs and also he is half horse and half man.
Sang Eun
3. Why is the story of Hercules, Dejanira, and Nessus appropriate to this canto/circle of hell, beyond the fact that Nessus happens to appear in this canto? (67-69, and note).
This circle of hell is the place to punish the violent against their neighbors, great war-makers, cruel tyrants, and hightwaymen. Hercules belongs to one of them, because he was a great warrior or fighter. Also Nessus, he fought with Hercules and died while he was fighting. Dejanira was a wife of Hercules and she came to this circle, because she killed her husband by using Nessus' blood when her husband fell in love with another woman. She had committed a violence against her husband who is her family, thus she came to this circle. All three were involved in violence with each other, so they belonged to this circle.
Heather Rhee
Q2
A
I agree with Savannah that they are jeslous about Dante and Virgil. Dante moves the rocks while he is walking in front of the monsters. This was a thing which was only allowed for the living souls. I think the monsters got jealous about him when they saw this act. Also, the monsters didn't expected Dante and Virgil to come to their place. I think this is the other reason why the monsters were so hostiile towards them. Hell is not a place where people can visit. Dante and Virgil was some rare strangers for the monsters and this caused the monsters to stay away from them. They also have a different appearances. Dante and Virgil is normal while the monsters are having an abnormal body shapes. For example, Centaurs are half man, half horse. This differences between them might be the reason of thier antagonism.
5. Ji Yoon, Sung Kun, and Nick: Compare this canto to the other cantos in which sinners are being seriously punished. Is it different in any way, or in what particular ways is it the same?
- In the first ring of the seventh circle in Hell, people are being boiled as a punishment. The people are being boiled here because they were violent against their neighbors. For example, Alexander the Great and Dionysius takes punishment in this place. I think the punishment is similar in some ways as the punishment being held in the former stages in Hell. It is very painful and physical suffering. But as they go in deeper, the pain gets more and more harsh. Dante actually asks Virgil about the difference where these people are in and taking different sufferings. Virgil responses that the sufferings differs by the wrongdoings that one did when he was alive. So it is similar in some ways but different.
Sang Eun, Kai, David: Why is the story of Hercules, Dejanira, and Nessus appropriate to this canto/circle of hell, beyond the fact that Nessus happens to appear in this canto? (67-69, and note).
Like SangEun said, Hercules, Dejanira, and Nessus appropriate to this canto of hell because this canto punishes people who have commited violence. Hercules was a warrior and so was Dejanira. They fought with each other and Dejanira gets killed. Also Nessus is a murderer of her own hunsband.
1. Elana, Laura, Yenna: in lines 39-43, Virgil alludes to the philosophy of Empedocles. Please see note at the end, try to explain what is going on in these lines.
Quoted from the notes:
'40-42. 'the universe felt love... as some believe:' The Greek philosopher, Empedocles, taught that the universe existed by the counter-balance (discord or mutual repulsion) of its elements. Should the elemental matter feel (love or mutual attraction) all would fly together into chaos.'
Post a Comment