Dante’s Inferno – Canto XIX – XXVI Summaries

You can read the previous summaries here: Canto I – X ; Canto XIX – XXVIII  

(Lawrence Edward – 1992)

Canto XIX: The third pouch of eighth circle contained the sinners of Simony, people who buy or sell sacraments or positions in church. They were punished in a narrow round pit in an upside down position: head inside and feet protruded in the air, while the soles were endlessly on fire. Dante saw that one soul was burnt in redder flame than the others; who turned out to be Pope Nicholas III. Dante thought the punishment befitted him, but the pope foresaw that there would be many of corrupt popes would suffer the same or even more.

Canto XX: In the fourth pouch Dante saw a train of people walked endlessly in procession with their head twisted backward. They were punished from using unholy power to foretell the future. Magicians such as Michael Scott were included here, as well as Diviners.

Canto XXI: It was extremely dark in the fifth pouch, a pit with boiling substance usually used for repairing ships in Venetia. Then suddenly a black devil appeared, it grabbed a soul and plunged it to the pit. It was a punishment for barrators. Every time the souls rose to the surface to breath, the Malebranche (the devil) would seize them downward again. Virgil negotiated with the devils to be let pass and to guide them because one of the bridges had been broken, although Dante was terrified of their escort.

Canto XXII: Although the souls only appeared in short moment, Virgil was able to ask one of them, a domestic servant of King Thibault who received bribe. Then there’s a small chaos, and when the devils left them, Dante and Virgil could continue their journey.

Canto XXIII: Dante began to fear of what the devils would do as they had made them angry. Suddenly they heard the devils came, Virgil grabbed Dante and carried him in his breast while ran to the sixth pouch where the devils could not go without leaving their post. Then they saw group of people wore mantles with hoods, lined with lead, which created heavy burdens for them. They were punished for hypocrisy. One of them was crucified—he was Caiphus (Caiaphas), a Jewish high priest who had provoked the Pharisees to kill Jesus. His father in law—Annas—and the others of the council were also punished in the same way. One of the sinners then showed the way to proceed to next pouch.

Canto XXIV: The journey to the seventh pouch was very challenging. Dante was once so weary, but Virgil kept encouraging him to move on. They came on the bank full of monstrous serpents biting naked souls who were running ceaselessly full of fright. A man named Vanni Fucci got bitten on the neck, then caught fire and burnt to ashes; he was reborn from the ashes (like phoenix), only to be chased again by the serpents. He was being punished for thieving; he robbed a sacristy. In anger that Dante witnessed him, the sinner foretold a political fall in Florence.

Canto XXV: Fucci accursed God, and being entangled by the serpents. Then three spirits appeared, and suddenly a six feet long serpent attacked and bit one of the souls until the soul and the serpent merged into one creature. While the two other souls were watching this, a serpent came and bit one of them. The soul and the serpent were transfixed at one another, then they interchanged each other’s form; the soul became serpent and the serpent transformed into the soul.

Canto XXVI: Dante and Virgil reached the eight pouch, an area where there were only flames, and with each flame the fire carried a soul. Ulysses and Diomed from Trojan War were among the souls in the fire. Ulysses finally confided to Virgil how he had overcome his desire to sail to the western countries and how the ship had finally sank by a great storm.

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Dante’s Inferno – Canto XI – XVIII Summaries

Following Canto I to X, these are the summaries of eight more cantos of Dante’s Inferno.

Canto XVIII - The Eight Circle

Canto XI: The seventh circle of Hell was divided to three parts, each was smaller than the previous one, and they were dedicated for violence sin: violence against neighbors, against oneself, and against God. The next circle would be for fraudulent (hypocrisy, flattery) sin, while the ninth circle punished people with betrayal sin. When Dante asked why people within Dis were punished more severe than them outside, Virgil explained that incontinence offended God least than malice and bestiality. He explained too how usury was also a sin because it’s when people made money unnaturally. With that, Dante and Virgil descend the crag deeper.

Canto XII: They arrived at the first ring of seventh circle which contained a river of boiling blood. The sinners of violence against neighbors were boiled there and every time a soul wanted to rise from the river more than it was allowed—according to his sin—a group of Centaurs on guard will shoot them with arrows. A Centaur called Nessus guided Dante around, and he showed some great souls like Alexander (the Great?), Dionysius, and Attila (the Hun?) who lived in the deepest part of the river because of they were tyrant.

Canto XIII: Dante arrived at the second ring, in a dusky wood with gnarled trees; he heard cries but did not see a single soul. When Dante plugged a twig from a trunk he heard cry of pain and blood trickled from it. The trunks were actually souls who had committed violence against themselves (suicide). The soul was a loyal advisor to Frederick, who committed suicide because his envious colleagues slandered him. The soul told Dante that when a soul left its body, it was thrown into the forest and germinated as a sapling. When it’s time for them to reunite with their bodies, they could never reunite completely because they had discarded it willingly. A bush near there which was ‘attacked’ by a man and a dog cried in pain. It appeared to be another soul who had been a Florentine and witnessed the making of St, John the Baptist to be Florence’s patron replacing Mars (Roman god).

Canto XIV: Dante gently gathered the scattered leaves back to the bush; then with Virgil he proceeded to the third ring, the place for souls with violence against God sin. Rain of fire flakes poured ceaselessly onto the sands burning it, while the souls lied or sat or went about continually. The soul of Capaneus was there because he had besieged Thebes and held God in disdain. Then they reached a red river and Virgil told Dante how all the boiling red river and water on Hell was once formed.

Canto XV: Now they were at the second zone of the third ring, which was for sodomites (violence against nature). A soul, Brunetto Latini, recognized Dante and conversed with him. He cursed the avaricious people of Fiesole and foretold that Dante would receive Fortune, but Dante said let the Fortune do as she pleased.

Canto XVI:  Three souls recognized Dante as their countrymen, their whole bodies were burnt by flames. Florence they had lived once was now become arrogant. Dante departed with the three souls, and came near the dark water. Virgil Dante to take off his cord belt and he lowered one end down to the dark water; then a monster appeared and climbed the cord up to them.

Canto XVII: The monster had human head but serpent trunk. While Virgil was persuading the monster to take them down, Dante proceeded to see people sit under rain of fire with emblazoned purse hung on their neck who refused to talk. The monster flied them down and disembarked them at the bottom of the abyss.

Canto XVIII: Dante and Virgil eventually arrived at the eight circle of Hell called Malebolge. The circle had outside wall that shaped a round pit at the center, with ten ridges between the wall and the pit, forming ten pouches where naked soul were punished for their fraudulent sin. They ran to one side to another of the pouches while the demons beat them with scourges every time they nearly reached any side. This first pouch was for Panders and Seducers. Among the sinners was Jason who abandoned Medea in Greek mythology. Dante and Virgil then crossed to second pouch where they found people plunged in human excrement. It appeared that the pouch was for punishing flatterers.

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In Cold Blood

When first reading this book’s title, I thought this Truman Capote’s non-fiction story would cover about cold blooded murderer(s). In a way it was, but it was not only about murder and murderer(s); more than that, this book reminds me of how human can be cold blooded in everyday life. In short, you don’t have to kill someone to be cold blooded.

Capote wrote this story from a true case happened in a small town called Holcomb in Kansas in 1959. Two paroled ex-convicts murdered Herbert Clutter—a successful farmer—with his wife, a son and a daughter. A friend in jail has told one of the murderers—Richard Hickock—that he had once worked with Clutter family, a wealthy farmer who kept a safety box in the house. The friend told him all the details of the house, and using this, Dick invited Perry Smith—another ex-convict—to join him in a robbery plan.

When Capote heard about this murder, he went to Kansas to do interviews and researches about the case, helped by his childhood friend, author Harper Lee. Capote then wrote the story by revealing little by little every small detail of both Clutters and the murderers-to-be, simultaneously. This is one aspect that made this book very interesting. Unlike any other crime novels, you’d from the beginning who would be the victims and who would be the killers. The only question would be the motive; as from the beginning you would see that the victims and the killers didn’t have any relation whatsoever.

This detail revealing of the lives of each characters intensified my emotional involve of the story. The Clutters—especially Nancy the daughter—has had a wonderful life, full of hopes. And they all must endure a horrified experience before they were killed. I could sense how unfair it was, that you have done many good things in life and were, perhaps, about to harvest the fruits, then suddenly two robbers entered your house and killed you almost out of nothing, knowing that all your beloved ones were killed or about to be killed too at the end. There’s hollowness there….

On the other hand, it was also troubling to read how ordinary and innocent little boys could have transformed into cold blooded killers. And this part is actually the most interesting of all. Here Capote took us to realize that a cold blood killer hasn’t grown up by himself; he was created by a complex collaboration of parents, friends, relatives, neighbors, educational and religious institutions, and most of all, society. In short, all of us have our shares of responsibility in building the humanity.

Human’s mind is probably the most complicated thing in the world. Every information, sense and experience that one receives during the whole life would be kept in mind, and each combination of them would give different results. Only by breaking down one’s history of life, we can understand one’s thoughts and impulses. It’s easy to stick a ‘cold blood’ label to a killer, but it would be much more difficult to understand why he has no feeling at all while committed the murder. If a cold blood killer is a product of humanity, then we could not put the blame only on the killer, but everyone who had been related to him.

Then again, from this story, I was amazed at how easy people put death penalty verdict to the killers. People always want to take a shortcut to be released from their problems: ‘There are cold blooded killers over here, fine, just put them in death penalty, and there would be two less dangers in our neighborhood’—case closed. Do they realize, that by sentencing the death penalty, they have become cold blooded killers themselves? The only difference between Dick Hickock-Perry Smith and people in the judiciary is, that Dick and Perry committed the murder against law, while the others did it legally by the law.

In the end, an interesting question must be asked after reading this book, who is the real victim here? I must say that both the Clutters and the killers were all victims. The first were killed by the killers; the later were killed by the systems.

Four and a half stars I granted this book—I read the Indonesian translation, and despite of the good writing from Capote, the translation is poor, and this is really annoying.

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I read Bentang Pustaka-Indonesian translated version

This book is counted for:

Baca Bareng BBI 2013: (May - 20th or 21st century classics)

8^th book for 2013 TBR Pile Challenge

3^rd book for 2013 TBRR Pile Mystery Reading Challenge

55^th book for 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

6^th book for New Authors Reading Challenge 2013

44^th book for The Classics Club

Romeo Montague in Romeo and Juliet: Character Thursday (64)

Romeo was born in one of the most respectable and wealthiest families in Verona around Middle Ages, when family feud and vendetta coloured many Italian cities’ society and culture. As the only son of Montague, I guess the family expected much from Romeo to continue their generations of feud with the Capulet. From the scenes in this play, it seems that quarrels that led to blood-shedding have almost become everyday’s story in the streets of Verona. So Romeo must have been very familiar with the atmosphere of violence within his family and friends.

From the beginning I could see that he was a young man with a tender heart who read many poetry books. Maybe his love to Rosaline is a way for Romeo to actualize his ideas of love from the books he read. Maybe he didn’t actually and truly love the girl, and that’s why her image slipped so quickly from his mind when he met Juliet. If his love to Rosaline was a puppy love, now his love Juliet was a true and much deeper one.

Romeo’s weakness was perhaps his impulsiveness and the lack of emotion control. It’s clearly showed from how his anger of Mercutio’s murder led him to take avenge to Tybalt. Either he was too young to make consideration or the violent culture where he has grown up led him to that sudden impulse. I believe if Romeo had considered the matter just a few minutes before killing Tybalt, he might remember his plan to make peace with the Capulets because he loved Juliet. Maybe his consideration would prevent the blood-shed. But I doubt whether that would mean much, as killing adversaries seemed to be ordinary business between the two feud Houses.

Leonard Whiting in 1968 movie adaptation

Romeo’s impulsive manner also appeared when he bravely sneaked into Juliet’s garden just to see his lover, while his presence—if detected—would mean death! In the last scene, when Romeo was very sad by the news that Juliet was dead, did not look for confirmation of the news, and just took it as a truth before killing himself. Here I think Romeo was a man who was controlled by his emotion, and when emotion compelled him, his mind would be numbed.

But if Romeo did not die young, I think he would live a very difficult life anyway. By that quality of sentimental heart, Romeo would be torn between family’s expectation and his conscience. Maybe Romeo should have been born as a female in that situation, rather than a male! :P

That is my Character Thursday of this week, an analysis of book character of my choice, who is yours?... Just put your post URL in the linky below. Do you like to join us in discussing characters from books you read? See the details of Character Thursday first.

Dante’s Inferno – Canto I – X Summaries

Inferno—the first part of The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri—is in my list of Well-Educated Mind Self-Project, and the only book in the Poem section I picked for this project. As usual, I will do several summary posts (3 or 4 posts, depends on the length of each canto), so you might see a lot of ‘Hell’ in the next several days…. :)

Here is my first post, the summary of Canto I – X (of total XXXIV cantos). Although it's not mandatory, but making this summary helps me to highlight Dante's various adventures and encounters.

Canto I: Dante arrived at a valley in dark forest but didn’t know how he ended there. He met a panther, a lion and a she-wolf, and in despair, met a shade of Virgil the Roman poet who agreed to guide him to ascend the hill.

Canto II: Dante plead to the Muses (goddesses) as fear came to him, but Virgil scolded him of being coward. He then told him that a woman in Heaven (Beatrice—Dante’s lover) had told Virgil to guide Dante. Beatrice was told by Saint Lucia, who had been acknowledged by another Lady in Heaven (Mother Mary?) who grieved at Dante’s condition.

Canto III: Dante arrived at the gate of Hell where he saw people suffered continuously from flies and wasps stung and worms—people who were neither good nor evil but just ignorant, and thus were rejected by Heaven and Hell. Dante arrived in a river bank (Ancheron) where dead people’s souls waited to be brought across to Hell by a boat—people who never feared of God.

Canto IV: Dante arrived on the verge of a deep valley. The foremost abyss (Limbo) was for people who were not sinned but had not been baptized, or who were born before Christianity (like Virgil), with the exception of some figures from Old Testament: Noah, Moses, Abraham, David, etc who had been out of Hell. Resided here also, famous poets: Homer, Horace, Ovid and Lucan. They came next to a castle with seven walls encircled by a creek, where Dante saw some great heroes from Greek and Ancient Rome: Aeneas, Hector, Caesar, Brutus, etc. and great philosophers: Socrates, Plato, Seneca, etc.

Canto V: Dante and Virgil descended to second circle of Hell where a monster called Minos judged the sinners according to their confessions to thrust them down in appropriate grades. These people were whirled round continuously by a great storm in black sea which never rested. They were lustful people such as Cleopatra, Helen, Paris, Dido and even Achilles; all were damned because of love and desire.

Canto VI: People in the third circle of Hell were tortured by eternal heavy rain, where Dante met Cerberus as the guard and whom Virgil satisfied with a handful of earth so that they could advance. It is for gluttonous people who must lie on the ground. One of them, Ciacco, foretold the political situation in Florence, and told Dante that politicians involved were in the deeper level of Hell.

Canto VII: Descending to fourth circle, Dante saw two semi circle groups of people crying in anger and pain, wheeled to the other’s end then wheeled back to another after colliding in the middle. They conducted avaricious sin by not distributing Fortune fairly, and so now must keep battling without end (corrupt clergymen were included). Dante then headed to fifth circle of Hell: a marsh called Styx where naked people covered with mud striking each other; they who were always consumed with anger. There were also the Sullen who now gurgled in the mud because they kept sighing under the sun. Finally Dante arrived on the foot of a tower.

Canto VIII: Dante and Virgil took a boat across the Styx and met Philippo Argenti—Dante’s adversary?—whom Dante was pleased to hear being attacked by people in the mire. Dante then arrived at Dis—a city in Hell—where eternal fire kindled from within. The Gates’ guards refused them to enter despite of Virgil’s plead.

Canto IX: Dante was afraid seeing that Virgil has failed. They were at the low part of Hell, far from Heaven, the sixth circle. He saw three Furies who called for Medusa to change Dante into stone. A messenger from Heaven appeared and instructed the guards to open the gate for Dante and Virgil, and he was obeyed. They entered finally a land full of tombs heated with flames within, where the heretics were.

Canto X: Among the heretics tombs was Epicurus and his followers. The soul of Farinata—political leader of Dante’s era—suddenly talked to Dante. He could see the future but not the present, and it was the Heretics’ punishment. With Farinata, Frederick the 2^nd and the Cardinal stayed also there. Then Virgil brought Dante to a valley where he would meet a soul from whom Dante would learn about his future.

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Romeo and Juliet Theme Song: Play Monthly Meme May

As Baz Luhrmann’s modern adaptation is the only Romeo and Juliet’s movie I’ve ever seen, I have started to browse its soundtrack when I was preparing this month’s theme for Play Monthly Meme—a monthly meme for Let’s Read Play. One song has intrigued me when I watched the movie: Des’ree’s ‘Kissing You’—remember when Romeo and Juliet first met each other ‘through’ a giant aquarium? The song fits the scene very beautifully. However, I still thought that the song was too sweet and romantic to represent the whole play, which is in fact a tragedy. Then youtube brought me to another theme song of Romeo and Juliet…. ‘A Time for Us’.

Well…. I am always a fan of 1960-70s songs, so I know very well Andy Williams’ A Time for Us; it’s one of my favorites. What I didn’t know until few days ago was, that ‘A Time for Us’ was originally the theme song of Romeo and Juliet 1968 adaptation. Well then, perfecto! I think this song could perfectly reflect the soul of Shakespeare’s play, which he might have intended to be. Just read the lyrics, it’s simple but deeply touching… (and now makes me wanting to watch the movie!)

A Time for Us

by: Andy Williams

A time for us someday there'll be

When chains are torn by courage born of a love that's free

A time when dreams so long denied

Can flourish as we unveil the love we now must hide

A time for us at last to see

A life worthwhile for you and me

And with our love through tears and thorns

We will endure as we pass surely through every storm

A time for us someday there'll be

A new world, a world of shining hope for you and me

A time for us at last to see

A life worthwhile for you and me

And with our love through tears and thorns

We will endure as we pass surely through every storm

A time for us someday there'll be

A new world, a world of shining hope for you and me

Jordan Baker in The Great Gatsby: Character Thursday (64)

Being a rather outsider from Gatsby-Buchanans circle, Jordan Baker is one of the most interesting characters in this book—well, apart from Jay Gatsby, of course. Jordan is a professional golfer, and this makes her being in the circle of those glamorous wealthy people. She often attends Gatsby’s parties, and befriends with the Buchanans. But unlike Daisy Buchanan, she is not a kind of drama queen who is always fluttering, sighing and whispering. Jordan is firm, strong and self-esteemed (maybe her career makes her like that).

Her quality first appears when Nick arrives at Buchanans resident, where the wind blew up the white curtains, while Daisy and Jordan’s white dresses were fluttered and rippled by the breeze. I can imagine Daisy in this condition with her dreamy expression, while Jordan—through Nick’s eyes—was portrayed as “extended full length at her end of the divan, completely motionless, and with her chin raised a little, as if she were balancing something on it which was quite likely to fall.”

Later on it is also revealed through her relationship with Nick that Jordan has a tendency of cheating. That’s why she was attracted to Nick: “Jordan Baker instinctively avoided clever, shrewd men, and now I saw that this was because she felt safer on a plane where any divergence from a code would be thought impossible. She was incurably dishonest. She wasn't able to endure being at a disadvantage.” So I guess, Jordan is only attracted to Nick because with him she doesn’t have to wear her masks all the time. She might be the kind of person who always seeks for acknowledgment from others, she needs to be accepted in the sophisticated circle of wealthy and famous people. I don’t think Jordan really falls in love with Nick, she just need someone with whom she can be herself. Maybe she is a bit tired of being hypocrisy; wearing ‘mask’ all the time is a tiring job, isn’t it?

Moreover, Jordan is selfish and indifferent. We can see this when she is driving with Nick—who criticizes her of being a danger for others with her careless style of driving. But she merely says that it’s not her business, and it seems never occur to her that her driving should relevant to others than herself. I guess that’s why Jordan—despite of being a bit uneasy with Myrtle accident—keep continuing her normal life after that. Maybe the need to emerge to a glamorous life makes Jordan abandoning her own conscience. And I think Nick is right by breaking her up, she shares the amoral qualities of Daisy and Tom.

That is my Character Thursday of this week, an analysis of book character of my choice, who is yours?... Just put your post URL in the linky below. Do you like to join us in discussing characters from books you read? See the details of Character Thursday first.