INFERNO
CANTO 27
By: Derek
Frauendorfer
Summary:
After Ulysses tells of
his death and his flame dies down, Dante and Virgil hear another flame begin to
speak to them. The soul inside the flame
recognized that Dante spoke “Lombard ”, which
implies that this sinner was familiar with this form of Italian. He asks how Romagna
was fairing since he had died, for he had lived in the mountains of this
region. Dante replies with saying the
tyrants that lived there have always had war in their hearts, but no actual
open war had broken out yet. He then
goes into further detail about the cities and people until Dante finally asks
who this sinner is. Because the sinner
believes that Dante will never leave Hell alive, he tells him. The sinner is Guido da Montefeltro. Montefeltro said he was “a man of arms” and a
“Franciscan”, but his sins were not those of a lion, but of a fox. Near the end of his life, Pope Boniface VIII
came to him and said he would wash away all of his sins (including the one he
was just about to commit) if he would teach him how to destroy Palestrina. Montefeltro agreed, but the advice he gave
was invalid. When the sinner died, St.
Francis came to take him to heaven, but a demon was already in the process of
taking him to hell. The demon did not
let Montefeltro go to heaven because the demon said a sin can not be forgiven
before it has been committed because that is contradictory. It was decided that he go the Eight circle of
hell in the eight bolgia for trickery/thievery.
The flame then dies down and Dante and Virgil continue to the next
ridge.
Sin/sinners:
The
Sinners being punished here are primarily being punished for ruses and
trickery. Ulysses played a large part in
the Trojan horse scheme, and Montefeltro gave wrong information to Pope
Boniface VIII and he believed his sins could be forgiven before he even
committed them.
Punishment/Contrapasso:
This punishment
does not do a good job of connecting the sinner with their sin. The sinners in this Bolgia are in there for
their ignorance and trickery. Their
punishment is that they are constantly being burned alive due to their souls
being stuck inside a flame.
Characters:
Guido da Montefeltro:
The sinner who was tricky in life, but then got tricked by a pope into
believing all of his sins could be forgiven in advance if he told him how to
destroy Palestrina.
Pope Boniface VIII:
Known for reverting back to a very strong tie between church and state, even
when secular government was becoming more popular. He was very power hungry and was portrayed by
Dante as a liar/trickster in this Canto.
Discussion
Questions:
1. Do you think it is
fair that Montefeltro be put in hell, even thought he was doing the right thing
to go to heaven?
2. Do you think it is
likely that Dante portrayed Pope Boniface VIII so poorly because they may have
had different political agendas?
Multiple Choice
Questions:
1. Whose flame dies
down at the beginning of the canto?
A. Ulysses
B. Hercules
C. Virgil
D. Homer
2. How did the new
flame realize Dante was Italian?
A. He saw Dante’s hair
style
B. He heard Dante
speaking Italian
C. He heard from other
sinners
D. Dante told him
3. Why did the sinner
give up his name so easily?
A. He thought Dante
would never get out alive
B. He was not ashamed
C. He liked Italians
D. He was with Virgil
4. What part of Italy
A. Rome
B. Florence
C. Romagna
D. Venice
5. What is this
sinner’s name?
A. Guido da Montefeltro
B. Pope Boniface VIII
C. Dante
D. Ezio Auditore
6. What is the
punishment of this canto?
A. To be thrown into a
pit of snakes
B. To live as a dragon
C. To have your soul
be burned alive
D. To have your hands
cut off
7. Which Bolgia does
this canto take place?
A. Third
B. Seventh
C. Fourth
D Eighth
8. Who attempts to
take Montefeltro to heaven?
A. St. Francis
B. Beatrice
C. Virgil
D. God
9. Who takes
Montefeltro to Hell?
A. Unnamed demon
B. A dragon
C. Satan
D. Brutus
10. Why were
Montefeltro’s sins not forgiven?
A. Because the demon
got to his dead body before St. Francis
B. Because sins can
not be forgiven before they are committed
C. Because the pope
was not actually a pope at all
D. Because Dante did
not like this man very much
Works Cited:
Oestereich, Thomas. "Pope
Boniface VIII." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 2. New York
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