​The Sowers of Discord

Where?

• edge of the Ninth Bolgia looking down at the mutilated souls

sin committed?

•  to separate what God had meant to be united

Monsters?

• a demon with a bloody sword  that hacks and tears bodies

​Punishment?

• after they are hacked, the souls are forced to carry their crumbling bodies around the pit
• their wounds heal during the process but get hacked again after the body completely heals
• each soul is mutilated according to the degree of the sin committed

Sowers of Religious Discord

• Muhammad and his cousin Ali
• Muhammad- cleft from crotch to chin for creating Islam
• Ali- cleft from topknot to chin for causing the schism between Sunni and Shiite

Sowers of Religious Discord

• Pier Da Medicina- clipped and knicked
• Curio- tongue cut off
• Mosca Dei Lamberti- arms lobbed off

Sowers of Discord between Kinsmen

• Bertrand De Born- carries his head separated from his body for causing Henry to rebel against his father Henry II

Simile

•  " It held the severed head by its own hair, swinging it like a lantern in its hand" (Ciardi 231)

Most Powerful image

• "And when it stood directly above us it raised the head at arm's length toward our bridge the better to be heard, and swaying thus" (Ciardi 231).

Relation to the allegory of the story?

• Dante finds that these sinners want to be remembered in the world but the others above them in Hell do not want to be recognized
• Dante is surprised that these sinners are some what "proud" of what they had done