Notes

THE DARK WOOD
Dante is 35 when he wakes up in a dark forest. He is cold and scared when he sees light (Divine Light) from the sun (God, Heaven, Human Perfection) shining down onto a hill. He climbs the steep hill at incredible speed but is stopped by Malice/Fraud, Violence/Ambition, and Incontinence. A spirit poet, Virgil (Human Reason), appears before him and says his only passage out of the forest is through hell. This takes place under Aries (the medieval tradition of where the Creation occurred), at the dawn of a Good Friday, during Easter Season, and when the moon was full and the sun was in equinox.

NINE CIRCLES OF HELL
0. The Vestibule of Hell
The Opportunists are those who did neither good nor bad in their time and are chased around in a pit of maggots and worms, constantly chased around by hornets and wasps.

1. Limbo
Virtuous people who have lived and died before Christ, including all philosophers. Mohammad, Moses, and various other religious figures born before Christ were taken to heaven when Christ came through hell. Surrounding Limbo is a river that Dante walks across effortlessly. He is welcomed into the company of the Virtuous Pagans, but he must go on.

2. Lust
Those who have fell to an excess of love - the carnal. They are buffeted around in a cyclone of wind, the least of punishments. Dante speaks to some of them and passes out with pity as hears them being punished for their love.

3. Gluttony
Those who have fell to an excess of consumption - the gluttons. They lie in disgusting slush with dirty ice rain, and Cerberus munches on them. Cerberus is portrayed as a 3 headed ravenous beast, a good symbol for the Gluttonous. As they make their way to the 4th circle, they are stopped by a beast who takes the role of Plutus, the god of wealth. Virgil (human reason) shows himself more powerful than hell's rages.

4. Greed
Those who have fell to an excessive desire for material items and money - the greedy. They are split into two factions - Hoarders and Wasters. They are shackled to large boulders and weights and clash them against each other, rolling back and pushing forth. They scream "Why do you hoard!" and "Why do you waste!"

5. The Wrathful and Sullen (Styx)
Those who bore hatred toward others in their life, and are stuck in the marshlike slimy boiling River of Styx, constantly fighting each other under the water, some experiencing more pain than others.
As they stand on the shore, Phlegyas, the Boatman of Styx, furiously races across the water towards them, thinking he's found new souls to torment but sees living Dante and Virgil. He howls with rage, but once again Virgil (human reason) shows himself more powerful than hell's creatures.

6. Heresy (Dis)
These are rebellious angels, the evilest creatures, who rebelled against god. They do not let Virgil pass by, showing Human Reason not having the full power to make their way through hell. As they panic at the closed gates of Dis (the next large section of hell, where all of hell's flame and fire is kept). Three Furies appear, adding to their fear, symbols of Remorse. The angels threaten to send Medusa, who is evil too wicked to be observed safely. Suddenly, a storm approaches, and a large wind is blown from a singular source - an angel from heaven walking through. In hell, Divine Aid has seen purely as an unstoppable force - storms preceded his arrival, the souls of the damned cry and scream in fear, and his face is the face of scorn. He looks nor left nor right and simply touches the gate and it blasts open for Dante and Virgil.

They make their way through a field of flaming tombs, each packed with souls of the damned who did not believe in Christianity. They believed in no life after death, and are thus packed in flaming tombs to suffer eternal death. On judgment day, the lids of the tombs will close and they will be eternally trapped.