One of Dante’s shades, the soulless entities that inhabit The Inferno, initiates
Brown’s prologue with the pronouncement of “I am the Shade.” Other Danterelated references include the sinners in Inferno (“the lustful bodies writhing in
fiery rain, the gluttonous souls floating in excrement, the treacherous villains
frozen in Satan’s icy grasp”), the guide Virgil, and the abyss.
The division of the Divine Comedy into 100 cantos, with the first 34 in Inferno.
The quotation “Abandon all hope ye who enter here,” referring to the entrance to
the Gates of Hell (Canto III, verse 9).
The opening lines of Canto I. The scheming scientist Zobrist refers to these lines
to acknowledge Dante’s help in finding his “path” to save humanity.
“Midway upon the journey of our life
I found myself within a forest dark,
for the straightforward path had been lost”
“The path to paradise passes directly though hell. Dante taught us that.”
The references to Dante’s Nine Rings of Hell and to overpopulation. Malthusian
mathematics propels the reader to the first ring.
A quotation “derived” from Dante, canto 3, verses 35-42. According to several
sources, this quotation appears to have been attributed to President John F.
Kennedy. It appears at least twice in the novel—first in the preface and second
as a message and threat from the reclusive scientist Zobrist to Dr. Elizabeth
Sinskey, Director of the World Health Organization.
o “The darkest places in hell
are reserved for those
who maintain their neutrality
in times of moral crisis.”
As Langdon and Dr. Sienna Brooks are being pursued through the interior maze of
secret chambers and passageways in the Palazzo Vecchio, Langdon dec Y\