Question

Analyze the setting that Dante develops in Canto IV. Examine how 1) the choices he makes to describe the setting and 2) the characters he places in this setting affect the reader’s understanding of the First Circle of Hell, Limbo. Be sure to use specific details from the text to support your ideas.

Answer 1

1) In Canto IV of "Inferno", Dante descends into Limbo, the First Circle of Hell. He tries to fix his eyes in order to know the place where he is. 'Limbus' in latin means edge, borger, margin. Dante chooses pictorical and musical elements to describe the setting. He distinguishes sounds: «Here, as mine ear could note, no plaint was heard / Except of sighs, that made the eternal air / Tremble, not caused by tortures, but from grief». It's a place of «shadowy sadness», «dark and deep and murky». It's a «blind world» beacuse here lie men and women that never knew the light of hope that is Christ. The pale faces of Virgil and other characters reveal the anguish of knowing the they will never enjoy the presence of God. Eventhough, near the end of the Canto IV, Dante characterizes this circle as serene in comparisson with climate with storms and where no light shines that is properly Hell.

2) According to medieval theologists, this was the place where babies whithout being baptized rested. Also, this place exists for patriarchs, virtuous people whose only fault was not to be baptized. For his time, Dante was daring, because he gave more importance to figures like Aristotle and Homer than to the unbaptized infants. Some of the characters the Dante places in Limbo are easily known, like Aristotle, Democritus and Homer. He names many biblical figures, such as Noah, Abel and Moses. Dante meets many characters from Greek and Latin tradition. Naso and Lucan are some examples. Other characters are mythological: like Hector or Electra. There are also a muslims: Saladin, Avicenna and Averroes. This many characters make difficult to understand this circle, since they imply numerous traditions: poetry, philsophy, mathematics, heroes.