Potiphar's Wife

Potiphar's Wife is a figure from the biblical Book of Genesis who appears among the Falsifiers in the Tenth Bolgia of Malebolge, the eighth circle of Dante Alighieri's Hell. She is one of the shades punished for the sin of false accusation, a category of fraud that Dante's Inferno treats with particular severity. Her inclusion in this circle, alongside other notorious liars and forgers, underscores the poem's moral framework in which sins of the tongue and of deceit are severely condemned.

Identity and Background

Potiphar's Wife is the unnamed spouse of Potiphar, an Egyptian captain of the guard, who falsely accused the Hebrew servant Joseph of attempting to seduce her after he rejected her advances. In the biblical account, she used a piece of Joseph's clothing as false evidence, leading to his imprisonment. In Dante's Inferno, she is grouped with other figures whose sins involved deception through speech or action, including the false coiner Master Adam of Brescia and the Greek spy Sinon of Troy. Her presence in the Tenth Bolgia places her among the most contemptible of the fraudulent, those who falsified words, deeds, or identities.

Punishment and Condition

In the Tenth Bolgia, Potiphar's Wife suffers from a burning fever that causes her to emit a continuous, visible vapor, described as smoke rising from a wet hand in winter. She lies near Master Adam, who identifies her as "the false woman who accused Joseph" and notes that she, like Sinon, suffers from "acute fever" that produces this reek. The punishment reflects the contrapasso principle: just as her false accusation caused Joseph to suffer unjustly, she now endures an unending, tormenting heat that parches her body and distorts her appearance. The feverish condition also symbolizes the burning nature of her lie, which continues to consume her.

Role in the Narrative

Potiphar's Wife appears during Dante's encounter with Master Adam, who is himself punished for counterfeiting Florentine florins. When Dante asks about the two figures lying near the false coiner, Master Adam identifies them as Potiphar's Wife and Sinon. The two engage in a bitter quarrel, trading insults about their respective crimes. Potiphar's Wife is silent during this exchange, but her presence as one of the pair highlights the theme of mutual recrimination among the damned. Virgil rebukes Dante for becoming absorbed in their petty dispute, reminding him that such base entertainment is unworthy of a pilgrim on a divine journey.

Thematic Significance

Potiphar's Wife represents the sin of calumny—false accusation that destroys reputation and leads to unjust punishment. In Dante's moral universe, this sin is particularly grave because it perverts the truth, which is the foundation of justice and social order. Her placement among the Falsifiers, rather than among the lustful or the violent, emphasizes that Dante considers the deliberate distortion of truth through speech to be a form of fraud, a sin of the intellect that corrupts human relationships. Her brief appearance, overshadowed by the more developed figures of Master Adam and Sinon, nonetheless contributes to the Inferno's comprehensive catalog of human wickedness, showing that even a seemingly minor biblical figure can serve as an exemplar of a specific moral failing.