Guide through Canto VII

Summary:

            Dante and Virgil approach the fourth circle of hell and encounter Plutus. Plutus attempts to frighten the two, but Virgil protects them. He tells Dante not to be afraid, and then proceeds to insult and intimidate Plutus. After the guard steps down, Virgil and Dante continue their trek into the fourth circle of hell.

            Here is where the avaricious and the prodigal are punished. Dante goes on to say he saw more people here than he had seen in any of the other circles. The people here push giant weights around, only to collide with someone else doing the same thing. After two collided together, they would ask either, “Why do you hold?” or “Why do you toss?”

            Dante asks Virgil who these people were, to which Virgil replied saying that  they were the ones who had no control of their spending other than the two of extremes of avarice and prodigy. Dante points out that the avaricious ones he sees are all members of the clergy. Virgil adds on to say that Dante shouldn’t bother trying to recognize them, for their sins have made them unrecognizable.

            The two cut across the circle and encounter the Styx swamp. In the murky water there were people tearing each other apart. Virgil says that these are the people who gave into anger and wrath, and below the surface were the sullen ones. The people in the muck were gurgling hymns as they choked on the black slime. Dante and Virgil continue down the winding path until they reach a tower. This concludes Canto VII.

Important Quotes :

“Pape Satan, pape Satan aleppe!” (Inf. 7.1)	Still highly debated. It has been translated into several languages, and it has a new meaning each time. The meaning of it is extraordinarily controversial.
“It is willed on high, where Michael avenged the proud onslaught.” (Inf. 7.10)	This is the line that Virgil uses to ward of Plutus. It is alluding to when the archangel Michael banished all the rebel angels during Lucifer’s rebellion. He is saying that he and Dante are here with orders from heaven.
“You are gathering empty thought: the undiscerning life that befouled them makes them dark now to all recognition.” (Inf. 7.52)	After Dante says he should be able to recognize some of the avaricious sinners, this was Virgil’s response. It shows how in Dante’s hell, the punishments for the sinners is so great that it permanently changes their appearance, scarring their lives as their sins scarred God’s Earth.
‘We were gloomy in the sweet air that the sun makes glad, bearing within us the fumes of sullenness: now we languish in the black slime.’ (Inf. 7.121)	This is the hymn that the sullen sinners sing under the swamp. The hymn shows how the sinners understand the contrapasso of their punishment. The sing how they were ungrateful when the air is beautiful, and now they’re really suffering in the black muck of the swamp.

The Sinners :

The fourth circle of hell is reserved for those who were avaricious or prodigal with their wealth. These two are opposites of each other, with avarice meaning greed and prodigy meaning wastefully extravagant.

Those who dwelled in the fifth circle of hell were stuck in the murky Styx. They were accused of being wrathful or sullen. Once again, we see a parallel in the sins. The wrathful were outright violent, while the sullen were beneath the surface, sulking.

Punishment for These Sinners:

            In the fourth circle, the sinners must roll giant weights around. Once they go half way around the circle, they collide with the other sinner (the hoarder runs into the waster). They then swear at each other, turn around, and go the other way only to collide again on the other side. This punishment is similar to the one Sisyphus endured in Greek mythology.

            As for the wrathful and the sullen, they are to spend an eternity in the Styx swamp. It is a dark, disgusting, murky swamp that resembles black slime. Here, the wrathful beat up on each other, tearing at the others’ flesh. The sullen lurk below the surface, making the water bubble. They gurgle hymns because the black prevents them from forming words.

Link to Contrapasso:

            There is a very strong connection between the sins of the fourth circle dwellers and their punishment. Where the greedy did nothing but hoard their entire life, they are forced to do the same in hell. The giant weight they push is the only possession they have, and they must roll it around and protect it for all of eternity. Similarly, the prodigal ones must do the same, except they are trying to get rid of their weight. They will do anything to waste, and since the hoarders don’t understand, they want nothing to do with them. The drastic parallel in their sin creates an awful environment, adding on to their punishment.

            The wrathful in the fifth circle are forced to be utter savages for the rest of time. If that’s not contrapasso, then I might have the wrong definition. These sinners were violent and gave into hate for their entire lives. It only seems appropriate that they be stripped of all their judgment and be forced to be even more wrathful for longer.

            The same goes for the sullen; where they sulked and sighed all their lives, they are forced to do the same in hell. Under the murky water, they sing hymns about how their punishment is contrapasso. They sing how they were gloomy in the sun’s sweet air, and now they suffer in the black water.

Character Analysis:

Plutus	-Guard of the fourth circle of hell. -Represents monster of avarice. -He is the god of the wealth of the Underworld in Roman mythology (not to be confused with Pluto).
Fortuna	-She is mentioned, but plays no lead role in the canto. -She controls the distribution of ill and well being between families. -Virgil goes on to educate Dante on the extraordinarily high influence she has.

Discussion Questions :

1.      Canto VII opens up with the much debated line, “Pape Satan, pape Satan aleppe!” How did you interpret it, and why did you interpret it that way? What tone did that set for the rest of the canto? Be sure to be specific in your response, as well as reference past cantos for comparison.

2.      After receiving Plutus’s threat, Virgil responds with, “Silence, cursed wolf!” What is the significance of Virgil calling him a cursed wolf? How does this tie in with circle of hell they are in?

3.      In the fourth circle of hell, the hoarders and the wasters are punished together. How does this contribute to both of their punishments? Why do you think Dante merged the two sinners into the same circle and gave them the same punishment?

4.      As Dante and Virgil make their way through the fifth circle of hell, they hear the hymns of the sullen beneath the swamp. Why does Dante have them sing these hymns, and what is the irony of them?

Multiple Choice:

1.      Who says the first line in Canto VII?

a.       Dante

b.      Virgil

c.       Plutus

d.      Fortuna

2.      The fourth circle of hell is home to the ___________.

a.       Hoarders

b.      Wrathful

c.       Wasters

d.      Both a and b.

3.      Dante notices that all the hoarders are _________.

a.       demons

b.      clerics

c.       wasteful

d.      bankers

4.      Why do Dante and Virgil have to speed up their journey?

a.       Staying too long is forbidden

b.      Dante will be trapped in hell if they don’t

c.       The sinners are following them

d.      None of the above

5.      How do Dante and Virgil get through the fourth circle of hell?

a.       They cut across

b.      They swim across

c.       They follow a twisted path

d.      They climb over the sinners

6.      Who is in the fifth circle of hell?

a.       The Lustful and Gluttons

b.      The Hoarders and Wasters

c.       The Traitors and Murderers

d.      The Wrathful and Sullen

7.      What is the swamp that the sinners sit in?

a.       Styx

b.      Archeron

c.       Charon

d.      The Pit of Wrathful Souls

8.      The swamp is, in Dante’s words, ___________.

a.       “Darker than the most sinful night”

b.      “Much darker than purple”

c.       “Devoid of all humanity”

d.      ‘Teeming with wrath”

9.      What do the wrathful attack each other with?

a.       Hands and feet

b.      Knives and bones

c.       Heads and chests

d.      Torches and swords

e.       Both a and c

f.       Both b and d

10.  What do they sullen sing?

a.       Hymns

b.      Praise to God

c.       Praise to Lucifer

d.      Hateful poems

May Lupa flourish in the times to come.