But, after the initial sequence describing Geryon, the narrator in Inferno 17 then “goes back” (narratologically and physically) to describe the encounter with the usurers, thus postponing the descent to the eighth circle and reminding us that we are in fact still in the seventh. We are in this way given the impression that we have already moved forward to the eighth circle: Geryon is a representation of the circle of fraud who will serve as a vehicle of transition to the eighth circle. In Inferno 17, the narrator begins by having Virgilio announce the arrival of Geryon: “Ecco la fiera con la coda aguzza” (Behold the beast who bears the pointed tail ). In The Undivine Comedy, Chapter 3, I analyze the “intercalatory structure” of the Geryon episode, referring to the complex way in which Dante uses splicing techniques to narrate the transition from the seventh circle (violence) to the eighth circle (fraud). Phaeton, Icarus, Daedalus and Arachne: all are avatars of Ulysses, the embodiment of transgression in Dante’s personal mythography.Dante’s sustained interest in Icarus’s father, the great artifex Daedalus, paired with another mythological figure who challenged the limits set for humans in her mimetic woven tapestries: Arachne.the flight on Geryon and the pilgrim’s identification with two “failed flyers” of classical mythology: Phaethon and Icarus, doomed by their reckless daring.Dante’s own family was involved in the money-lending business.Dante’s treatment of usury, like his treatment of sodomy, is culturally non-normative, since he avoids stigmatizing Jews or invoking the typical anti-Semitic rhetoric that associates Jews with usury and money-lending (for anti-Jewish iconography, see Debra Higgs Strickland, Saracens, Demons, and Jews: Making Monsters in Medieval Art, cited in Coordinated Reading).

Dante’s treatment of usury continues the indictment of the Florentine nobility from the previous canto.the arrival of Geryon, ”image of fraud”.intercalatory narrative structure of Inferno 16 and 17: Dante splices the narrative of the transition from circle 7 (violence) to circle 8 (fraud).

Dante alighieri inferno torrent