Canto XXXII - Sarah Scarano

Canto XXXII

Circle: nine

Round: (1) Caina and (2)Antenora

Sin: Compound Fraud: (1)The Treacherous to Kin and (2)The Treacherous to Country

Punishment: (Round 1) The sinners stand in the frozen river, Cocytus, covered in ice up to their neck. They are also permitted to bow their heads to protect themselves from the freezing wind. This also makes it possible for them to cry without their eyes freezing shut. (Round 2) The sinners in round two must also stand in the river up to their necks but they are not permitted to bow their head.

Retribution: The ice symbolises the fact that the sinners denied love of their friends, which in turn robs them of the warmth of love. Therefore, they will spend eternity in the cold river just as they spent their life in the "cold" without love.

Key Sinners: (Round 1) Alessandro and Napoleone Degli Alberti are brothers who were so frozen to each other that their hair started to grow together. Dante was told about Alessandro and Napoleone by Camicion de' Pazzi. Camicion spoke to Dante about other sinners in that round in the river and said that he was waiting for his companion, Carlin. (Round 2) In round two, Bocca Degli Abbati was accidentally kicked, quite hard, in the face by Dante. Bocca screamed curses at Dante and refused to give his name. As a result, Dante pulled chunks of hair off the mans head, showing a more intense brutality to Bocca, than to any other sinner. After retreating from Bocca, Dante discovered two more sinners that were connected; but this time, one was chewing on the other mans neck. The story of why is in the next canto.

Summary: Dante and Virgil enter the ninth circle and find themselves walking across the river Cocytus. A sinner tells Dante to watch where he walks and Dante realizes that the sinners in this circle were frozen up to their necks in the river with their heads bowed. He then comes upon Alessandro and Napoleone who are stuck together. A man named Camicion informs Dante that Alessandro and Napoleone are brothers and then informs Dante of other sinners in the first round called Caina. Then Dante enters the second round, Antenora, where the sinners are also in ice up to their neck, but they are not permitted to bow their head causing their tears to freeze their eyes shut. As Danted is walking, he accidentally kicks a man named Bocca in the face. They get into an argument and Dante rips out fist-fulls of the mans hair and as he walked away. As he is leaving, he sees two men attached and one gnawing on the others neck.

Questions:

"Just so the livid dead are sealed in place/ up to the part at which they blushed for shame/ and they beat their teeth like storks" (lines 34-37)

(1) What is the above quote describing?

(2) Why do you think Dante reacted so violently towards Bocca when he would not reveal his name?