SOUNDS OF INFERNO

In the whole Comedy, but particularly in Inferno, Dante is constantly addressing our sense of hearing. Dante’s first impressions of nearly every new circle or ring or character come through the ear. As he proceeds through Hell, he concludes that his eyes are not trustworthy, whereas his ears never let him down. Hell finally reveals itself as the king-dom of voices, of similes based on aural images and of Cantos where the ear functions as the driving force of human actions and relationships. This paper analyzes Inferno in terms of its aural nature and argues in favor of reading Dante’s text aloud