Kira Wueger

Professor Arduini

ITAL 262 A

11 December 2023

Dante Final Project

Topic: Reference to Dante and his work in the TV series Hannibal, specifically Season 3 Episode 1: ‘Antipasto’

Project Form: Artistic Collage

My plan for this project was to use images from the show Hannibal and artistic representations from Dante to show the inspiration that I believe the show draws from Dante’s work. The man at the top of the collage is Rinaldo Pazzi, a man that appears in the show in Season 3 Episode 1: ‘Antipasto’. In this episode, Hannibal (the man who is in multiple images throughout the collage) confronts Pazzi. In this discussion, Hannibal equates him to Pazzi’s ancestor, a man guilty of avarice, or greed. This is why I placed an image representing greed next to the man. As events continue, Hannibal kills Pazzi and cooks and eats him. Hannibal is guilty of cannibalism throughout the show, and in this new stage he is no different. The irony in calling out Pazzi for his greed is that Hannibal himself expresses avarice in his consistent consumption of human flesh. As the episode continues, Hannibal gives a presentation of Dante and his works throughout his life. A new friend of his, a poet, watches in on this lecture. Hannibal specifically mentions in his lecture the punishment within the 9th level of hell, which is cannibalism (Count Ugolini chewing on the head of the archbishop). Hannibal’s friend, the poet, makes subtle hints at Hannibal’s dishonesty and proclivity for sin, in which Hannibal decides the poet to be a threat and kills him as well. Throughout this episode and the rest of the series, there are many biblical references, especially equating Hannibal with both Satan and Jesus (the imagery of him on the cross and the imagery of having antlers). In the ninth level of hell, Satan is chewing on some famous figure, Brutus and Cassius, for their sin of betrayal. After killing the poet, Hannibal eats him and this is another representation of Hannibal being satan and eating someone who had the power to betray his secrets (although the poet never indicates this to be his intention). Overall, I believe that this collage shows the imagery relationship between biblical Christianity, Dante’s work, Hannibal, and sin.

References:

http://dantelab.dartmouth.edu/reader : Poem (Petrocchi Edition); Translations (Karl Streckfuss--German, 1854, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow--English, 1867, Alexandre Cioranescu--French, 1964); Commentaries (Robert Hollander--English, 200-2007) - Inferno Cantos 31-34

https://davelafferty.com/2008/10/14/the-horror-of-cannibalism/#:~:text=Ugolino%20leads%20us%20to%20believe,involved%20in%20a%20murder%20plot. : Discussion of cannibalism and it’s relation to Dante. I used this as I was connecting Hannibal Lecter from Hannibal to Dante. Cannibalism is a huge symbolism within the show.