Dante, Inferno
Francesca of Rimini in the Inferno
Francesca tells Dante that love joined the pair and brought them to one death. She says that Caina awaits the person who killed them, while her companion remains inseparable from her in the storm. Asked how their love began, she recalls reading about Lancelot, exchanging glances and reaching the passage that led to a kiss. The companion weeps while she speaks; Dante collapses after hearing the account.
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In the sources
The encounter
LiteraryFrancesca tells Dante that love joined the pair and brought them to one death. She says that Caina awaits the person who killed them, while her companion remains inseparable from her in the storm.
Further detail
LiteraryAsked how their love began, she recalls reading about Lancelot, exchanging glances and reaching the passage that led to a kiss. The companion weeps while she speaks; Dante collapses after hearing the account.
Context & interpretation
This entry follows the exact supplied Thompson & Thomas edition of H. F. Cary’s translation. Figures, places and events belong to Dante’s literary vision; their assigned roles are distinguished from historical biography, other classical traditions and independently established descriptions of an afterlife.
Original passages
Source 1
Dante's Inferno
Francesca ! your sad fate Even to tears my grief and pity Amoves. But tell me ; in the time of your sweet sighs, By what,Open this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 45
Passage read against the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace normalised and original-leaf mapping checked. Plate art separately visually inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0045
- Original scan leaf
- 52
- Recorded leaf number
- 52
- Current Reader position
- 45
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Source 2
Dante's Inferno
Were love's purveyors. In its leaves that day We read no more." While thus one spirit spake, The other wail'd so sorely, that heart-struck I, throughOpen this page in the book
Passage & edition details
Location recorded at citation review: Dante’s Inferno, Cary translation; active reader leaf 46
Passage read against the exact edition’s extracted canto text; whitespace normalised and original-leaf mapping checked. Plate art separately visually inspected.
- Edition
- IMJ-0082-E001
- Reader page
- IMJ-0082-E001-P0046
- Original scan leaf
- 53
- Recorded leaf number
- 53
- Current Reader position
- 46
- Reader verification
- Source-preserving update confirmed
Illustrations
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Literary & Visionary Figures ↗
Paolo, Francesca’s Silent Companion
The companion carried with Francesca, who weeps while she tells their story.
Same subject and traditionAlberigo and the Frozen Tears
The speaker who requests relief from the ice over his eyes but does not receive it.
Same subject and traditionAlessio of Lucca among the Flatterers
The recognised speaker who attributes his place in the second ditch to excessive flattery.
Same subject and traditionBertran de Born’s Speaking Head
The head-bearing speaker who explains his division through a division he claims to have caused.