Dante's Satan
Encyclopedia
In Dante’s Inferno, Satan
is portrayed as a giant beast, frozen mid-breast in ice at the center of Hell. Satan has three heads and affixed under each chin are pairs of bat-like wings. As Satan beats his wings, he creates a cold wind which continues to freeze the ice surrounding him, and the other sinners in the Ninth Circle. The winds he creates are felt throughout the other circles of Hell. Each of his three mouths chew on Judas
, Brutus
, and Cassius
. Scholars consider Satan to be “a once splendid being (indeed the most perfect of God’s creatures) from whom all personality has now drained away.” Satan, also known as Lucifer
, was formerly the Angel of Light and once tried to usurp the power of God. As punishment, God banishes Satan out of Heaven to an eternity in Hell as the ultimate sinner. Dante illustrates a less powerful Satan than most standard depictions; he is slobbering, wordless, and receives the same punishments in Hell as the rest of the sinners. In the text, Dante vividly illustrates Satan’s grotesque physical attributes.
Unlike many other circles of Dante’s Hell, these sinners remain unnamed. Even Dante is afraid to enter this last circle, as he nervously proclaimed, "I drew behind my leader’s back again.”
Uncharacteristically of Dante, he remains silent in Satan’s presence. Dante examines the sinners who are “covered wholly by ice/, showing like straw in glass- some lying prone/, and some erect, some with the head towards us/, the others with the bottoms of the feet; another like a bow bent feet to face.”
This circle of Hell is a complete separation from any life and for Dante, “the deepest isolation is to suffer separation from the source of all light and life and warmth.” Satan's punishment is the opposite of what he was trying to achieve, power and a voice over God. Satan also is in many ways, “the antithesis of Virgil; for he conveys at its sharpest the ultimate and universal pain of Hell; isolation." It is Virgil, Dante's guide through hell, who tells Dante “that the inhabitants of the infernal region are those who have lost the good of intellect; the substance of evil, the loss of humanity, intelligence, good will, and the capacity to love." Satan stands at the center because he is the epitome of Dante’s Hell.
“He wept with all six eyes, and the tears fell over his three chins mingled with bloody foam. The teeth of each mouth held a sinner, kept as by a flax rake: thus he held three of them in agony."
“I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of assembly on the heights of Zaphon; I will ascend to the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.”
This immediately backfired on Satan for he was no match for God. God sentenced him as a betrayer and banished him from Heaven. Dante uses this idea to create a physical place Satan created after his impact with the earth. According to Dante, the pit the Pilgrim climbs down to reach the center of Hell is literally the hole that Satan made when he fell to earth. The extra earth formed Mount Purgatory on the other side of the earth. As in his descriptions of Satan, Dante draws from the Bible, but adds much of his imagination to the text. He creates a fantastic story that is often construed as Christian doctrine, but differs in several fundamental ways.
When looking at the way Dante portrays Satan
in comparison with early Renaissance depictions, it can be seen how unique his idea was and how much of an effect it had during the time. As opposed to the popular conception of the era, which viewed Satan as an all dominating beast of Hell, Dante gives the portrayal of Satan as just another victim of Hell's tortures. He places Satan trapped within the ice, stripped of voice and power and thus sets forth a new conception of who and what Satan is. With the understanding that during the time of the Renaissance many messages of the society were depicted through the art
work (the art work reflected the society and the society reflected the art work) it can easily be seen how much of an effect Dante’s literary image of Satan had on the Society. The demonstration of this effect can be seen in the comparison of three paintings done during the Renaissance era. The first is the work of Giotto di Bondone
(1267–1337), the Last Judgment
found in the Arena Chapel in Padua
, and the other two are the works of William Blake
(1757–1827) and Nardo di Cione
(1350–1357). Giotto gives Satan a very dominant role in Hell and portrays him to be most violent and gruesome. His depiction of Satan is representative of the popular conception before Dante and is in great contrast with the other two images of Satan. In both Blake and Cione's work it can be seen that Satan is given three heads, each of which are consuming a body, just as Dante expressed in the Inferno. The other characteristics that these two artists draw from Dante's Satan is that Satan’s lower body portion is strictly confined and he is given less power than he is in Giotto’s Last Judgment. A clear depiction of Dante's nine circles of Hell is also found in Cione's work, represented in the Cappella Strozzi of the Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Through this art-work and others of the Renaissance period, one can discover how much of an influence Dante had in the understanding of Satan and Christian theology
.
The story of Dante has also been depicted by the metal band "Iced Earth" in their album "Burnt Offerings", which clearly outlines Satan as Dante did.
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
is portrayed as a giant beast, frozen mid-breast in ice at the center of Hell. Satan has three heads and affixed under each chin are pairs of bat-like wings. As Satan beats his wings, he creates a cold wind which continues to freeze the ice surrounding him, and the other sinners in the Ninth Circle. The winds he creates are felt throughout the other circles of Hell. Each of his three mouths chew on Judas
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was, according to the New Testament, one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. He is best known for his betrayal of Jesus to the hands of the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver.-Etymology:...
, Brutus
Marcus Junius Brutus
Marcus Junius Brutus , often referred to as Brutus, was a politician of the late Roman Republic. After being adopted by his uncle he used the name Quintus Servilius Caepio Brutus, but eventually returned to using his original name...
, and Cassius
Gaius Cassius Longinus
Gaius Cassius Longinus was a Roman senator, a leading instigator of the plot to kill Julius Caesar, and the brother in-law of Marcus Junius Brutus.-Early life:...
. Scholars consider Satan to be “a once splendid being (indeed the most perfect of God’s creatures) from whom all personality has now drained away.” Satan, also known as Lucifer
Lucifer
Traditionally, Lucifer is a name that in English generally refers to the devil or Satan before being cast from Heaven, although this is not the original meaning of the term. In Latin, from which the English word is derived, Lucifer means "light-bearer"...
, was formerly the Angel of Light and once tried to usurp the power of God. As punishment, God banishes Satan out of Heaven to an eternity in Hell as the ultimate sinner. Dante illustrates a less powerful Satan than most standard depictions; he is slobbering, wordless, and receives the same punishments in Hell as the rest of the sinners. In the text, Dante vividly illustrates Satan’s grotesque physical attributes.
- The Emperor of the kingdom dolorous / From his mid-breast forth issued from the ice; /And better with a giant I compare / Than do the giants with those arms of his; / Consider now how great must be that whole, / Which unto such a part conforms itself. / Were he as fair once, as he now is foul, / And lifted up his brow against his Maker, / Well may proceed from him all tribulation. / O, what a marvel it appeared to me, / When I beheld three faces on his head! / The one in front, and that vermilionVermilionVermilion is an opaque orangish red pigment, similar to scarlet. As a naturally occurring mineral pigment, it is known as cinnabar, and was in use around the world before the Common Era began. Most naturally produced vermilion comes from cinnabar mined in China, and vermilion is nowadays commonly...
was;
Description of the Ninth Circle
Dante’s Hell is divided into nine circles, the ninth circle being divided further into four rings, their boundaries only marked by the depth of their sinners' immersion in the ice; Satan sits in the last ring, Judecca. It is in the ninth circle where the worst sinners, the betrayers to their benefactors, are punished. Here, these condemned souls, frozen into the ice, are completely unable to move or speak and contorted into all sorts of fantastical shapes as a part of their punishment.Unlike many other circles of Dante’s Hell, these sinners remain unnamed. Even Dante is afraid to enter this last circle, as he nervously proclaimed, "I drew behind my leader’s back again.”
Uncharacteristically of Dante, he remains silent in Satan’s presence. Dante examines the sinners who are “covered wholly by ice/, showing like straw in glass- some lying prone/, and some erect, some with the head towards us/, the others with the bottoms of the feet; another like a bow bent feet to face.”
This circle of Hell is a complete separation from any life and for Dante, “the deepest isolation is to suffer separation from the source of all light and life and warmth.” Satan's punishment is the opposite of what he was trying to achieve, power and a voice over God. Satan also is in many ways, “the antithesis of Virgil; for he conveys at its sharpest the ultimate and universal pain of Hell; isolation." It is Virgil, Dante's guide through hell, who tells Dante “that the inhabitants of the infernal region are those who have lost the good of intellect; the substance of evil, the loss of humanity, intelligence, good will, and the capacity to love." Satan stands at the center because he is the epitome of Dante’s Hell.
“He wept with all six eyes, and the tears fell over his three chins mingled with bloody foam. The teeth of each mouth held a sinner, kept as by a flax rake: thus he held three of them in agony."
Religious Significance
An interesting irony throughout Dante’s Inferno, but especially prevalent in his description of Satan, is the fact that he strays so far from classic and widely accepted descriptions of Satan in the Bible. It is a common mistake, however, to assume Dante’s version of the Devil is the same as the Christian one, even though the Inferno is, in essence, a Christian story. The qualities Satan possesses in the ninth circle do not represent the traditional beliefs of Christianity. The Bible describes Satan thus: “Like a roaring lion your adversary the devil prowls around, looking for someone to devour…” The Bible also refers to Satan as a “serpent," and a “dragon” among other descriptions. Contrary to these depictions, though, Dante creates a large, lumbering Devil who is immobile and doomed to a frozen pit and to have a bad taste in his mouth for eternity. Before Dante, Christian doctrine viewed Satan as a frightening, quick, intelligent beast that will attack the moment one lets his guard down, and Dante chooses to elect a different depiction of Satan. Despite all the Biblical disagreements, Dante’s Satan remains a common image in popular portrayals. The answer to the question of how Satan wound up in the bottom of the pit in Dante’s Inferno, lies in Christian theological history. Some interpretations of the book of Isaiah, combined with apocryphal texts, explain that Satan was cast from Heaven, and fell to earth. Satan, the angel, was caught up in his own beauty, power, and pride, and attempted to usurp God’s divine throne…“I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit on the mount of assembly on the heights of Zaphon; I will ascend to the tops of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High.”
This immediately backfired on Satan for he was no match for God. God sentenced him as a betrayer and banished him from Heaven. Dante uses this idea to create a physical place Satan created after his impact with the earth. According to Dante, the pit the Pilgrim climbs down to reach the center of Hell is literally the hole that Satan made when he fell to earth. The extra earth formed Mount Purgatory on the other side of the earth. As in his descriptions of Satan, Dante draws from the Bible, but adds much of his imagination to the text. He creates a fantastic story that is often construed as Christian doctrine, but differs in several fundamental ways.
Effects of Dante’s Satan on the Renaissance
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
in comparison with early Renaissance depictions, it can be seen how unique his idea was and how much of an effect it had during the time. As opposed to the popular conception of the era, which viewed Satan as an all dominating beast of Hell, Dante gives the portrayal of Satan as just another victim of Hell's tortures. He places Satan trapped within the ice, stripped of voice and power and thus sets forth a new conception of who and what Satan is. With the understanding that during the time of the Renaissance many messages of the society were depicted through the art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
work (the art work reflected the society and the society reflected the art work) it can easily be seen how much of an effect Dante’s literary image of Satan had on the Society. The demonstration of this effect can be seen in the comparison of three paintings done during the Renaissance era. The first is the work of Giotto di Bondone
Giotto di Bondone
Giotto di Bondone , better known simply as Giotto, was an Italian painter and architect from Florence in the late Middle Ages...
(1267–1337), the Last Judgment
Last Judgment
The Last Judgment, Final Judgment, Day of Judgment, Judgment Day, or The Day of the Lord in Christian theology, is the final and eternal judgment by God of every nation. The concept is found in all the Canonical gospels, particularly the Gospel of Matthew. It will purportedly take place after the...
found in the Arena Chapel in Padua
Padua
Padua is a city and comune in the Veneto, northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Padua and the economic and communications hub of the area. Padua's population is 212,500 . The city is sometimes included, with Venice and Treviso, in the Padua-Treviso-Venice Metropolitan Area, having...
, and the other two are the works of William Blake
William Blake
William Blake was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age...
(1757–1827) and Nardo di Cione
Nardo di Cione
Nardo di Cione , was an Italian painter, sculptor and architect from Florence. He was the brother of the more accomplished Andrea di Cione, called Orcagna, as well as Jacopo di Cione; they were important members of the Painter’s Guild of Florence...
(1350–1357). Giotto gives Satan a very dominant role in Hell and portrays him to be most violent and gruesome. His depiction of Satan is representative of the popular conception before Dante and is in great contrast with the other two images of Satan. In both Blake and Cione's work it can be seen that Satan is given three heads, each of which are consuming a body, just as Dante expressed in the Inferno. The other characteristics that these two artists draw from Dante's Satan is that Satan’s lower body portion is strictly confined and he is given less power than he is in Giotto’s Last Judgment. A clear depiction of Dante's nine circles of Hell is also found in Cione's work, represented in the Cappella Strozzi of the Santa Maria Novella in Florence. Through this art-work and others of the Renaissance period, one can discover how much of an influence Dante had in the understanding of Satan and Christian theology
Christian theology
- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...
.
In popular culture
- In The Satan PitThe Satan Pit"The Satan Pit" is an episode in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. It is the second part of a two-part story, following "The Impossible Planet". With the TARDIS seemingly lost, Rose and the remaining humans are trapped on the base with the possessed Ood, while the planet...
, a 2006 episode of Doctor WhoDoctor WhoDoctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
, The DoctorDoctor (Doctor Who)The Doctor is the central character in the long-running BBC television science-fiction series Doctor Who, and has also featured in two cinema feature films, a vast range of spin-off novels, audio dramas and comic strips connected to the series....
encounters an enormous, demonic creature known only as The Beast, chained at the core of a planet orbiting a Black HoleBlack holeA black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
. The creature claims to be the original Satan but is wordless and demented by rage. Nevertheless he is significantly more powerful than Dante's Satan and highly intelligent. He is capable of possessingDemonic possessionDemonic possession is held by many belief systems to be the control of an individual by a malevolent supernatural being. Descriptions of demonic possessions often include erased memories or personalities, convulsions, “fits” and fainting as if one were dying...
people to do his bidding and communicating with people telepathically. He is mindless as his mind is in another human, in which form he can survive in a vacuam and break glass from afar. The Beast also has the power to read minds and play chilling psychological gamesPsychological manipulationPsychological manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the perception or behavior of others through underhanded, deceptive, or even abusive tactics. By advancing the interests of the manipulator, often at the other's expense, such methods could be considered exploitative,...
to break his enemies mentally. - The character of the Crimson KingCrimson KingThe Crimson King, also commonly known as Los', is a fictional character created by Stephen King. He is the antagonist in the novel Insomnia the main villain due to a plot twist in Black House and one of the main villains in the latter half of Stephen King's Dark Tower series.-Fictional...
from The Dark TowerThe Dark TowerDark Tower may refer to:* The Dark Tower , an unfinished novel by C. S. Lewis* Barad-dûr the fortress of Sauron in the fantasy world of J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings* The Dark Tower , a 1933 comedy by George S...
series by Stephen KingStephen KingStephen Edwin King is an American author of contemporary horror, suspense, science fiction and fantasy fiction. His books have sold more than 350 million copies and have been adapted into a number of feature films, television movies and comic books...
is similar to Dante's depiction of Satan. While built up to be the ultimate personification of evil, when the main character, Roland DeschainRoland DeschainRoland Deschain of Gilead is a fictional character, the protagonist and antihero of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. He is the son of Steven and Gabrielle Deschain and is descended from a long line of "gunslingers", peacekeepers and diplomats of Roland's society...
finally encounters the King, imprisoned at the centre of the universe, he is revealed to be gibbering, powerless, incapable of communication and ultimately pathetic. He is still terrifying however and Roland perceives him as "Hell incarnate". - In the 2010 Visceral gamesVisceral GamesVisceral Games is a video game development studio internally owned by Electronic Arts. They are perhaps best known for the critically acclaimed Dead Space series.-History:...
video game adaptation of Dante's InfernoDante's Inferno (video game)Dante's Inferno is a 2010 action-adventure video game developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 consoles. The game was also released on the PlayStation Portable and was developed by Artificial Mind and Movement...
, Lucifer is the main antagonist. He is much the same but rather than being a mindless beast, he is a cunning mastermind with a sardonicSardonicismSardonicism is the expression of derision, cynicism or skeptical humor variously through comment, gesture or writing.- Origin :...
sense of humour. Depicted as a colossal, shadowy, three-headed beast frozen in Cocytus, he manipulates the events of the game with the intent of freeing himself from Hell and taking revenge on God. Ultimately his true form is revealed to be an emaciated fallen angel with ragged wings who bursts from the stomach of the colossus after Dante mortally injures him. - In Demon Lord DanteDemon Lord Danteis the title of several horror-themed manga series written by Go Nagai as well as an anime series.During 1971, Go Nagai wrote the original Demon Lord Dante manga, which was published in Kodansha's Bokura Magazine. After its original run in 1971 from January to June, Go Nagai went on to author the...
, Dante's Satan is depicted as the former ruler of Sodom who refused to sacrifice his people to God's selfish idea of using Sodom and Gomorrah's population as human avatars. He seals himself in ice and is later freed by Medusa/Saeko Kodai and assumes the form of a young blonde man with six chiropteran wings. This version of Dante's Satan is shown as a wise, benevolent leader with a strong sense of freedom and justice. - In the manga series DevilmanDevilmanis a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai which originally started as an anime adaptation of the concept of Nagai's previous manga series, Demon Lord Dante. A 39 episode anime series was developed by Toei in 1972 and Nagai began Devilman as a manga in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen...
, Ryo Asuka mentions the depiction of Dante's Satan when describing the existence of demons to his childhood friend Akira Fudo. Ironically, Ryo Asuka is soon revealed to be an avatar for the real Satan, who appears as a beautiful twelve winged angel who refused to kill the demon population off because of their ugliness when ordered by God to do so there is also Zenon who has a similar look to The Divine Comedy Version being a demon with 3 faces and in The Devil Lady Manga he is traped in the Ninth Circle of Hell just like the Devine Comedy Satan. - The main antagonist of Devil May CryDevil May Cryis an action game developed and published by Capcom, released in 2001 for the PlayStation 2. Although it is the first game in the series of the same name, the events in Devil May Cry are second in the series storyline's chronological order, taking place after Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening and...
known as Mundus appears to be a homage to Dante's Satan as his three eyes represent the three heads Lucifer was depicted with in the Divine Comedy.
The story of Dante has also been depicted by the metal band "Iced Earth" in their album "Burnt Offerings", which clearly outlines Satan as Dante did.
Works cited
- Alighieri, DanteDante AlighieriDurante degli Alighieri, mononymously referred to as Dante , was an Italian poet, prose writer, literary theorist, moral philosopher, and political thinker. He is best known for the monumental epic poem La commedia, later named La divina commedia ...
. The Inferno of Dante. Trans. Robert PinskyRobert PinskyRobert Pinsky is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pinsky is the author of nineteen books, most of which are collections of his own poetry...
. New York, NY: Farrar, Straus, Giroux, 1994. - Cassell, Anthony K. "The Tomb, the Tower, and the Pit: Dante's Satan." Italica 56.4 (1979): 331-351. JSTOR. 27 Jan. 2007
- "Circle 9, Cantos 31-34." Dante's Worlds. University of Texas at Austin. 27 Jan. 2007.
- Cunningham, Mawrence S. "Satan: a Theological Meditation." Theology TodayTheology TodayTheology Today is an academic journal published by SAGE Publications for the Princeton Theological Seminary; it was formerly published by Westminster John Knox. It appears four times a year....
51 (1994). 27 Jan. 2007. - Foster, Micheal, comp. Sandro BotticelliSandro BotticelliAlessandro di Mariano di Vanni Filipepi, better known as Sandro Botticelli was an Italian painter of the Early Renaissance...
, the Drawings for the Divine Comedy. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2000. - Freccero, John. "The Sign of Satan." MLN 80 (1965): 11-26. JSTOR. 27 Jan. 2007.
- Gilbert, Allan. Dante and His Comedy. New York, NY: New York University P, 1963.
- Jacoff, Rachel, ed. Dante. Cambridge UP, 1963.
- Klonsky, Milton, comp. Blake's Dante, the Complete Illustrations to the Divine Comedy. New York, NY: Harmony Books, 1980.
- Korchak, Michael. "Portrayal of Heaven and Hell Through Art." Boston College. 27 Jan. 2007.
- Paolucci, Anne. "Dante's Satan and Milton's "Byronic Hero"" Italica 41 (1965): 139-149. JSTOR. 27 Jan. 2007.
- "Satan: an Instrument for Dante and Milton." 27 Jan. 2007.
- Scott, John AJohn A. ScottJohn Alan Scott is an English-Australian poet, novelist and academic....
. Understanding Dante. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame P, 2004. - The Holy Bible Revised Standard Edition. 1962. World Publishing Company. Cleveland.
- Vittorini, DomenicoDomenico Vittorini- Biography :Domenico Vittorini was born in Italy and then later came over to the U.S.A and taught at Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania. Domenico Vittorini has also written several books but his most famous book is a children's book called The Thread of Life.- References :...
. The Age of Dante. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse UP, 1957.