The Case Against Francesca: Inferno, Canto V, Lines 88 - 142

Dante-the-pilgrim calls the two who are light on the wind of lust to him. When they arrive, Francesca and Paolo prove the greatest danger to the pilgrim yet.

Francesca's story of her damnation may well be a master class in manipulation. Or at least so I'll present it in this episode of WALKING WITH DANTE.

Join me, Mark Scarbrough, as I build a case against this most provocative figure who is a seducer, a flatterer, and a master manipulator. Francesca proves so oily, she escapes the pilgrim's grasp and pulls him to see the world her way--that is, a damned way.

Here are the segments of this episode:

[01:18] My English translation of this passage from INFERNO: Canto V, lines 88 - 142. And an explanation of the mechanics of this episode and the next one on this podcast.

[05:54] A little about the speaker, Francesca, including Boccaccio's (unreliable?) story about her.

[08:46] Two strange words from her speech explained: "Caïna" and "galeotto."

[11:31] The case against Francesca: five points about her that justify her sentence to hell.

[19:42] A (very) little bit about courtly love.

[22:25] More in the case against Francesca.

[29:06] And finally, a little about the two men on the scene: her lover Paolo and Dante-the-pilgrim, as well as their analogous and telling reactions to her speech.