Assignment Task:
Gustave Doré's image of Dante astray in the Dusky Wood1
Question 1: Canto I: What emotions do you think the artist wants the viewer to see in this person? Why might these emotions be important to think about at the beginning of the Inferno?
Gustave Doré's vision of Dante and Virgil in the Forest of the Suicides and Profligates2
Question 2: Canto XIII: What mood is shown in this image of Dante and Virgil approaching the harpies punishing the Suicides and Profligates in the forest?
William Blake's vision of Dante and Virgil in the Forest of the Suicides3
Question 3: Canto XIII: This is the same scene shown in the last picture but painted by a different artist. What does this artist do differently? How do these choices affect the mood of this section of the Inferno?
Gustave Doré's version of the demons threatening to attack Virgil and Dante4
Question 4: Canto XXI: How does Gustave Doré portray the demons attacking Virgil and Dante in this scene? What theme(s) are shown in this image of the demons threatening Virgil and by his ability to repel them?
William Blake's vision of Virgil and Dante fleeing the threatening demons in Canto XXI5
Question 5: Canto XXI: How does William Blake portray the demons attacking Virgil and Dante? Does this show the same message as Doré's picture of the same scene?
Gustave Doré's vision of Dante and Virgil viewing the burning souls of those who gave fraudulent advice6
Question 6: Canto XXVI: Does this image of the punishment of the fraudulent advisors support the idea that Dante is creating a place where the punishment matches the sin, also known as "poetic justice"?
Gustave Doré's vision of Virgil and Dante observing the frozen lake holding Lucifer, the three-faced king of Hell7
Question 7: Canto XXXIV: Dante structured the Inferno so that the farther down you go, the worse the sins and punishments become. What mood does the size of Dante and Virgil compared to Lucifer's image create? Does this image support Dante's judgment that betraying God, from a Roman Catholic point of view, is the worst sin anyone can commit?
Question 8: Each of these images about the Inferno presents a scene from Dante's journey through Hell. In what way did the images show increasing levels of harshness from the upper portions of Hell to Lucifer's pit?
Question 9: What were some of the ways that the artists affected how you felt about what was going on in a scene?