Also called Satan, Beelzebub, and occasionally even Dis, Lucifer was an angel who led a rebellion against God. God then created hell to imprison Lucifer and his fallen angels. Lucifer is even larger than the giants Dante sees in the eighth circle of hell, and is found in the ninth circle, where his three mouths devour Judas, Brutus, and Cassius. Dante and Virgil climb up Lucifer's gargantuan body to exit hell.
Lucifer Quotes in Inferno
The Inferno quotes below are all either spoken by Lucifer or refer to Lucifer. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Note: all page numbers and citation info for the quotes below refer to the Penguin Classics edition of Inferno published in 1950.
Canto 34
Quotes
Each mouth devoured a sinner clenched within,
Frayed by the fangs like flax beneath a brake;
Three at a time he tortured them for sin.
Related Characters:
Dante (speaker), Judas, Lucifer, Brutus and Cassius
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire Inferno LitChart as a printable PDF.
Lucifer Character Timeline in Inferno
The timeline below shows where the character Lucifer appears in Inferno. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Canto 31
...and safely deposits the two poets in the ninth circle of hell, where Judas and Lucifer are held.
(full context)
Canto 34
Virgil informs Dante that they are now approaching Lucifer, once the fairest of angels before he rebelled against God. As they walk along, Dante...
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Lucifer's upper body sticks out of the ice and Dante says that Lucifer is even larger...
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Lucifer has wings larger than any ship's sails that Dante has ever seen. The flapping of...
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...seen all of hell. They wait until an opportune time and then climb up onto Lucifer's monstrous body. Dante holds tight to Virgil as they make the perilous climb up Satan's...
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...passed beyond the center of the earth to the southern hemisphere. After climbing up to Lucifer's head, Virgil had to climb back down the other side of him to go back...
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Dante describes a cavern as far from Lucifer through the earth as Lucifer is from the earth's surface where Dante started (in other...
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