This would be situated in Canto XXXII, between lines 123 and 124.
I then saw, from some distance, a woman,
one contorted (1) most unnaturally.
Whedon (2) implored me onward to see her.
“Do you know her face?” my teacher asked me.
I did indeed recognize her from life,
a woman I knew better than passing well (3).
As we drew nearer her fate became clear:
she was so twisted because she was made
to reach inside herself, with both her hands.
grasp it, from above and below, pulling,
rending it in two as she screamed aloud.
We watched as she carried out her painful task,
Promethean (4) and grisly. She spoke not,
as her hand, down her throat, tore at her heart.
with fury. One hand pulled her heart from her ass.
“You who betrayed the one who loved you most.” (5)
Not in lustful deeds, but deceitful words (6)
did _____ so betray, and forever
would her own heart be broken by her hand.
1. Probably a very deliberate choice of words, as contortion was, in fact, one of her most well-known hobbies.
2. The guide replacing Virgil for this brief foray, one Joss Whedon. While a great genius, he has doubtless found himself in hell, not least for saying in an interview, when asked if there was a God, “Absolutely not. That's a very important and necessary thing to learn.”
3. Well, I suppose Dante didn’t, but work with me here.
4. For stealing fire from the gods, Prometheus was chained to a rock and every day his liver was
eaten by an eagle. Having your heart eternally torn out bears some similarity.
5. _______, famously left her fiancee and long-time girlfriend literally one day after discussing buying nicer engagement rings. The list of her betrayals thereafter is long and colorful.
6. Unlike many betraying lovers, she did not cheat, but instead twisted her own words and herself, lying about her feelings and intentions, and so she is not condemned to the circle for the lustful but instead the one for traitors.
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