Canto Xiv - Dante and Virgil

Canto XIV begins with Dante and Virgil arriving at the border of the third subcircle which is the seventh circle of Hell. As they continued walking they make references to the sand being very hot, having "broad flakes of fire", and they came up on a giant that Virgil identified as Capaneus. Capaneus is viewed as a warrior with a lot of pride. Capaneus' significance in understanding Inferno is due to the fact that his character highlights one of the important concepts in the Inferno; a person will have the same characteristics that sent them to Hell. In other words, Capaneus will act the same way in Hell as he acted while he was still living.

In Canto XIX, the main characters Dante and Virgil are in circle VIII. The sinners in this circle are guilty of making profit out of sacred things or sodomy. The sinners that carried this guilt used their powers for their personal welfare as well as financial achievements. Their powers were used in the church. The sinners have a reversal baptism, in that their feet were burned with their head being put down in a pit and feet hanging out. The Pope Nicholas III was very corrupted in that the flames that was at his feet burned with a high intensity and was very bright. Dante detests the church as he believes that the church is too corrupt. Dante states that the current Pope Boniface VIII takes part in simony. He claims that Boniface would accept the contributions made to the church and in exchange he would give entrances to Heaven, thereby deceiving them.

In Canto XXVII, Dante and Virgil is in the eighth circle of hell. He talks to