Reading Notes: Dante's Inferno, Part A

Paolo and Francesa by Mosè Bianchi c. 1877 (Wikipedia)

- Canto 5 of Dante's Inferno has Dante and his guide Virgil meeting and speaking with Paolo and Francesca. Virgil and Dante are traversing through the second circle of hell, which contains carnal sinners. Paolo and Francesca had engaged in an adulterous affair in life.
- Dante's Inferno is the first section of the Divine Comedy. A poem that follows the author as he is guided through heaven, hell, and purgatory. The Inferno is the section about hell. It is told in the first person.
- Francesca da Rimini was from the city of Ravenna. She was a contemporary of Dante Alighieri, the author of the Divine Comedy. Francesca was married to Giovanni Malatesta, and he was handicapped. It was an arranged, political marriage. During the marriage, she fell in love with his younger brother, Paolo, and engaged in an affair with him. They were discovered by her husband and he murdered them both.
- I think that the story of Francesca and Paolo's affair would be a good inspiration for a story. Many variations could be told based on it. In the Inferno, she tells Dante that they fell in love while reading the story of Lancelot and Guinevere. It acted as a catalyst to their affair. But, unlike Lancelot and Guinevere, their affair was physical in addition to being emotional.

Bibliography: "Canto 5," Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline. Web source.