The epigraph comes from the Inferno of Dante's Divine Comedy (XXVII, 61-66). Count Guido da Montefeltro, embodied in a flame, replies to Dante's question about his identity as one condemned for giving lying advice: "If I believed that my answer would be to someone who would ever return to earth, this flame would move no more, but because no one has ever returned alive from this gulf, if what I hear is true, I can reply with no fear of infamy." 3. ...

• Word Count: 6460
• Approx Pages: 26
• Grade Level: High School

This hellish atmosphere of the room leads him to relate it to Dante's Inferno as if he is having a "journey through hell."3 Hawthorne's reference to the Inferno may be deliberate; through it he shows the romantic point of view toward culture. ...

• Word Count: 9442
• Approx Pages: 38
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School