Dante's Inferno | Canto 34 Summary & Analysis

[Music] canto 34 is the final canto of Inferno Virgil and Dante are getting close to the King of Hell himself it's evening our strong wind is blowing dante becomes afraid and thinks the cold wind is being caused by a windmill they passed more sinners and virgil tells dante to stop they have reached disks Dante sees Satan his torso towering above the ice waist below it he has three faces and three pairs of wings flapping causing the wind he chews a sinner in each mouth Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus brutus and cassius both of whom betrayed Julius Caesar all three men are chewed shredded but he never got all six of Satan's eyes and tears rushing out and a bloody froth comes from his mouth he displays no other sign of emotion virgil climbs down satan's body gripping frozen Tufts of his hair with Dante hanging on to him Satan does not notice them they reach Satan's hip and it feels as if they are climbing upward again Dante has confused everything seems to be upside down instead of Knight it is now morning they stop in a cave and Dante asks for an explanation virgil explains that they have passed through the earth Satan fell to earth from heaven his impact caused a pig to form this became hell Lucifer or Satan was lodged in the center of the planet Virgil and Dante follow a stream to a slope they climbed upward to the Earth's surface and Dante can see the stars the three betrayers being chewed by Satan is consistent with Dante's inclination to mix Christian figures with those from Greek and Roman history and mythology Satan does not explain his circumstance or express any emotion perhaps dante means to show that while many of the other sinners are touched by evil they remain human pure evil contains no traces of humanity sin ways people down thus Lucifer's presence at Earth's core is symbolic the land in the southern hemisphere were Satan collided with earth gathered together pulling into a mountain this is Mount purgatory which Dante will climb in purgatory Oh Virgil and Dante emerge from hell Dante is no longer in a dark wood they are headed back toward the bright world the stars are evidence of God's presence he has more ahead of him and the end of the poem suggests that Dante is no longer lost [Music]

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Keywords: dantes inferno, Inferno Canto 34, Inferno, Dante's Inferno, inferno canto 34 summary, Dante, dante's inferno, divine comedy

Id: 4gtg-ZOs0kU

Length: 2min 53sec (173 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 04 2017