Dante’s Inferno Study Guide
1.List or draw a diagram of the first 7 circles of hell?
2. How many cantos (total) are there? What are they symbolic of?
------The cantos, 100 in all, are written in three-line stanzas in a verse form known as
terza rima, which Dante himself created. To Dante, the number three had deep spiritual
meaning. It suggested the divine mystery of the three persons in one God.
3. What does Dante represent in The Inferno?
-----Dante is the main character in his comedy as a traveler who stands for all humanity.
4. Basic Questions (for use with passages on the test)
What is a metaphor?
What is alliteration?
What is imagery?
What is personification?
What is a simile?
Canto 7: The "dance" and "hymn" of the prodigal and the misers compared to Charybdis (22 and on)
Canto 8: Phlegyas compared to "one who ... anger" (20-21)
Canto 9: Angel from heaven compared to a snake and the damned compared to frogs (76-84)
Canto 12: The Minotaur compared to a bull that was just sacrificed (22-24)
Canto 16: Three Florentines compared to "champions, naked, oiled..." (22-27)
Canto 17: Usurers compared to dogs in summer (49-51); Dante's fear on mounting Geryon (85-90);
Geryon compared to an exhausted falcon (127-136)
*Consider why Dante might be relying so heavily on similes to convey his message.
5. In your own words, describe the inscription on the Gates of Hell and Dante’s
difficulty comprehending it.
General Questions for Review:
Canto 3: What relationship is becoming established between Dante and Virgil in this
canto? Describe how they interact and talk to each other.
Dante is confused and curious about the sufferers – Virgil answers many questions,
especially that these people place no hope in death for they had no faith in life Dante is
eager to know everyone and Virgil tells him to be patient, he will know as they proceed
Dante calls Virgil master – and Virgil says not to be be frightened – God has willed
Dante’s passages
Canto 5: When Dante meets the lovers Paolo and Francesca, he is obviously filled with
compassion for them. Why do you suppose that's the case? Also, is being compassionate
the same thing as taking their side? Why or why not?
“no greater sorrow then thinking back to a happy time when in misery –
Canto 6: Again, how is the punishment (this time of the Gluttonous) poetic rather than
just strict and proportionate? Consider, for example, the physical setting at the opening of
the canto: the rain and mud.
From lines 103-115, Dante asks his guide Virgil what will happen to the sinners after the
"last sentence" (the Last Judgment following the Second Coming of Christ to earth) is
pronounced. What do you make of Virgil's response -- what is going to happen to the
sinners?
Body and soul will be reunited and their sins more intense
Canto 7: Why is it logical that the avaricious or greedy and the angry should be
condemned to the form of punishment that they now suffer?
Opposite directions – role weights in semi-circles
Do you see any change in Dante's attitude regarding his perceptions and treatment of the
damned? -------“intent on watching…” (1323)
Canto 8: What effect on Virgil does the fallen angels' brazen resistance have? Dante and
Virgil are trying to enter the City of Dis, but the angels fiercely guard the entrance.
-------The angels wanted to know who without death could enter and only wanted
Virgil to enter
FORGET YOUR FEAR – no one can hinder your passsage – one so great has
granted it
He talked to them separately and they ran away scared – Dante could not hear what
he said
Canto 10: Why is the heretics' form of punishment fitting? What is the nature of any
heretic's offense, and how is that offense reflected in the punishment of being partially or
entirely entombed in a burning receptacle?
a
person holding an opinion at odds with what
is generally accepted.
-------Inability of the damned to see the present, although they can see the future •
Canto 11: What does the narrator ask Virgil about God's design or purpose in structuring
Hell as he has done? How does Virgil explain and help us understand the stages of the
remaining journey in the process?
Three smaller circles full of cursed spirits – of every malice that earns hate in heaven,
injustice is the end, for force or fraud brings harm to other men – most hated by god –
read the bottom of page 1333-1334
FRAUD EATS AWAY AT THE CONSCIENCE
Why is fraud such a terrible, unnatural offense, so that a species of it is punished all the
way down at the bottom of Hell?
Canto 12: How does Dante react when he gets his first look at lower Hell? This canto
marks a transition point in the story.---------What was there would repel ALL eyes –
collapsed boulders, bloody boiling rivers, SUCH GRIEF ETERNALLY!
Canto 13: Why are the suicides turned into trees in this canto? Why do you suppose
suicide would be a mortal sin -- what is the logic in punishing people who commit
suicide?
Canto 17: How does Dante describe the usurers' punishment? How do their actions
reflect the nature of their earthly sins?
a person who lends money
high rates of interest.
at
unreasonably
How does Dante call attention to the dangerousness of his transition to lower Hell?
Discuss this question by paying attention to the ride that Virgil and Dante take on the
monster Geryon.
Canto 16:
Behold the beast who bears the pointed tail,
Who crosses the mountains, shatters weapons, walls!
Behold the one whose stench fills all the world!
So did my guide begin to speak to me,
And then he signaled him to come ashore
Close to the end of those stone passageways.