WEBVTT

00:00:07.324 --> 00:00:11.064
“Abandon all hope, ye who enter here… ”

00:00:11.064 --> 00:00:13.494
Inscribed above the Gate of Hell,

00:00:13.494 --> 00:00:17.224
these ominous words warn dark 
tidings for Dante

00:00:17.224 --> 00:00:20.924
as he begins his descent into inferno.

00:00:20.924 --> 00:00:22.914
Yet despite the grim tone,

00:00:22.914 --> 00:00:28.204
this prophecy sets into motion what is 
perhaps the greatest love story ever told;

00:00:28.204 --> 00:00:32.684
an epic journey that encompasses both 
the human and the divine.

00:00:32.684 --> 00:00:35.704
But for Dante to reach 
benevolent salvation,

00:00:35.704 --> 00:00:39.224
he must first find his way through Hell.

NOTE Paragraph

00:00:39.224 --> 00:00:43.224
This landscape of torture is the setting 
for "Inferno,"

00:00:43.224 --> 00:00:45.764
the first in a three-part narrative poem

00:00:45.764 --> 00:00:49.764
written by Dante Alighieri 
in the 14th century.

00:00:49.764 --> 00:00:52.144
Casting himself as the protagonist,

00:00:52.144 --> 00:00:56.094
Dante travels deeper and deeper 
into Hell’s abyss,

00:00:56.094 --> 00:01:01.304
witnessing obscene punishments distinct 
to each of its nine realms.

00:01:01.304 --> 00:01:09.164
Beginning in Limbo, he travels through the
circles of Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Wrath,

00:01:09.164 --> 00:01:12.533
Heresy, Violence, and Fraud,

00:01:12.533 --> 00:01:15.673
to the horrific ninth circle of Treachery,

00:01:15.673 --> 00:01:20.403
where sinners are trapped under the 
watchful eyes of Satan himself.

00:01:20.403 --> 00:01:25.905
The following two parts, "Purgatorio" and 
"Paradiso," continue Dante’s journey,

00:01:25.911 --> 00:01:28.141
as he scales the Mount of Purgatory

00:01:28.141 --> 00:01:32.271
and ascends the nine celestial 
spheres of Heaven.

00:01:32.271 --> 00:01:37.750
Written together over 10 years, these 
3 sections comprise the "Divine Comedy"–

00:01:37.750 --> 00:01:42.314
an allegorical imagining of the soul’s 
journey towards God.

NOTE Paragraph

00:01:42.314 --> 00:01:46.413
But Dante’s "Divine Comedy" is more than 
just religious allegory.

00:01:46.413 --> 00:01:51.353
It’s also a witty, scathing commentary on 
Italian politics.

00:01:51.353 --> 00:01:56.584
A soldier and statesman from Florence, 
Dante was staunchly faithful to God,

00:01:56.584 --> 00:02:00.052
but often critical of the 
Roman Catholic Church.

00:02:00.052 --> 00:02:05.252
He particularly disliked its rampant 
nepotism and practice of simony,

00:02:05.252 --> 00:02:10.438
the buying and selling of religious 
favours such as pardons from sin.

00:02:10.438 --> 00:02:13.713
Many groups took advantage of these 
corrupt customs,

00:02:13.713 --> 00:02:19.433
but few supported them as much as the 
Guelfi Neri, or Black Guelphs.

00:02:19.433 --> 00:02:21.962
This was a political and religious faction

00:02:21.962 --> 00:02:25.522
which sought to expand the pope’s 
political influence.

00:02:25.522 --> 00:02:29.632
Dante was a member of the Guelfi Bianchi, 
or White Guelphs–

00:02:29.632 --> 00:02:33.941
who believed Florence needed more 
freedom from Roman influence.

00:02:33.941 --> 00:02:36.631
As a public representative for the 
White Guelphs,

00:02:36.631 --> 00:02:39.671
Dante frequently spoke out against 
the pope’s power,

00:02:39.671 --> 00:02:42.781
until the Black Guelphs leveraged their
position

00:02:42.781 --> 00:02:46.511
to exile him from Florence in 1302.

00:02:46.511 --> 00:02:48.321
But rather than silencing him,

00:02:48.321 --> 00:02:53.971
this lifelong exile led to Dante’s 
greatest critique of all.

NOTE Paragraph

00:02:53.971 --> 00:02:56.521
Dishonored and with little hope of return,

00:02:56.521 --> 00:03:01.761
the author freely aired his grievances 
with the Church and Italian society.

00:03:01.761 --> 00:03:04.121
Writing the "Divine Comedy" in Italian,

00:03:04.121 --> 00:03:07.711
rather than the traditional Latin of the 
educated elite,

00:03:07.711 --> 00:03:13.701
Dante ensured the widest possible audience
for his biting political commentary.

00:03:13.701 --> 00:03:16.152
In the "Inferno’s" circle of the Wrathful,

00:03:16.152 --> 00:03:18.562
Dante eagerly witnesses sinners

00:03:18.562 --> 00:03:23.152
tear Black Guelph Filippo 
Argenti limb from limb.

00:03:23.152 --> 00:03:24.695
In the circle of Fraud,

00:03:24.695 --> 00:03:29.995
Dante converses with a mysterious sinner 
burning in the circle’s hottest flames.

00:03:29.995 --> 00:03:33.171
He learns that this is Pope Nicholas III,

00:03:33.171 --> 00:03:38.231
who tells Dante that his two successors 
will take his place when they die—

00:03:38.231 --> 00:03:42.089
all three guilty of simony and corruption.

NOTE Paragraph

00:03:42.089 --> 00:03:46.069
Despite the bleak and sometimes violent 
imagery in "Inferno,"

00:03:46.069 --> 00:03:49.579
the "Divine Comedy" is also a love story.

00:03:49.579 --> 00:03:51.479
Though Dante had an arranged marriage

00:03:51.479 --> 00:03:54.539
with the daughter of a powerful 
Florentine family,

00:03:54.539 --> 00:04:00.559
he had also been unrequitedly in love with
another woman since he was nine years old:

00:04:00.559 --> 00:04:02.620
Beatrice Portinari.

00:04:02.620 --> 00:04:08.220
Despite allegedly meeting just twice, 
she became Dante’s lifelong muse,

00:04:08.220 --> 00:04:12.355
serving as the inspiration and subject for
many of his works.

00:04:12.355 --> 00:04:17.652
In fact, it’s Beatrice who launches his 
intrepid journey into the pits of Hell

00:04:17.652 --> 00:04:20.689
and up the terraces of Mount Purgatory.

00:04:20.689 --> 00:04:23.389
Portrayed as a powerful, heavenly figure,

00:04:23.389 --> 00:04:27.569
she leads Dante through "Paradiso’s"
concentric spheres of Heaven

00:04:27.569 --> 00:04:31.771
until he is finally face-to-face with God.

NOTE Paragraph

00:04:31.771 --> 00:04:33.961
In the centuries since its publication,

00:04:33.961 --> 00:04:37.761
the "Divine Comedy’s" themes of love, 
sin, and redemption

00:04:37.761 --> 00:04:40.471
have been embraced by numerous artists–

00:04:40.471 --> 00:04:45.391
from Auguste Rodin and Salvador Dali, 
to Ezra Pound and Neil Gaiman.

00:04:45.391 --> 00:04:51.112
And the poet himself received his own 
belated, earthly redemption in 2008,

00:04:51.112 --> 00:04:55.932
when the city of Florence finally revoked 
Dante’s antiquated exile.