Name _______________________________
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Inferno
Study Guide
Rationale – This study guide contains questions and vocabulary for each section of the reading, as well
as a character list and possible essay questions for the unit. We can go through some of these questions
in class, but we certainly won’t go through them all. I will not check this study guide for a grade. It is
here for your use. These questions also won’t appear word for word on the test. Expect some of the
study guide material (including vocabulary words and essay questions) to appear on the unit test.
Canto I – The Dark Wood of Error
Vocabulary – Write a definition and sentence for each vocabulary word. The page from Inferno on
which the word is found is included.
Vocabulary
Word
Page
#
Fraud
1
Arduous
1
Miser
2
Part of
Speech
Definition
Sentence
Character and Place List – Write a short description for each character or place.
(1) The dark wood –
(2) Leopard –
(3) Lion –
(4) She-Wolf –
(5) Dante –
(6) Virgil –
(7) Beatrice –
Short Answer – Compose a short answer for each question.
(8) How old is Dante at the beginning of the poem?
(9) Why is Dante lost?
(10) What did Virgil write? When did he live?
(11) Where shall Virgil guide Dante first? Second?
(12) What is the third place Virgil will take Dante but cannot go himself? Why is this?
Canto III – The Vestibule of Hell/The Opportunists
Vocabulary
Word
Page
#
Tumult
6
Goad
6
Loathsome
6
Blasphemy
7
Part of
Speech
Definition
Sentence
Character and Place List – Write a short description for each character or place.
(13) The Opportunists –
(14) Pope Celestine V –
(15) Charon –
(16) Limbo –
(17) Acheron –
(18) “Abandon all hope ye who enter here.” Where is this quote written?
(19) How are the souls being tortured in this canto?
(20) Where do the other damned souls gather? Why?
(21) Why won’t Charon let Dante pass? How does Virgil help Dante get past Charon?
(22) What happens to Dante at the end of Canto III?
(23) What message does this canto give to those who cannot or will not make a commitment to God?
What is Dante saying to those people?
Canto V – The Carnal
Vocabulary
Word
Page
#
Bestial
9
Grotesque
9
Depravity
11
Perilous
12
Swoon
12
Part of
Speech
Definition
Sentence
Character and Place List – Write a short description for each character or place.
(24) Minos –
(25) The Carnal –
(26) Dido –
(27) Cleopatra –
(28) Helen –
(29) Paolo and Francesca –
(30) Who stands at the entrance to the second circle of hell? What does this person do? How is this
encounter similar to the encounter with Charon?
(31) What sinners reside in the second circle of hell? What is their punishment?
(32) List four of the souls that Dante and Virgil see within the second circle.
(33) By what power is Dante told to call Paolo and Francesca to speak to him?
(34) What is the truth behind Francesca saying, “The double grief of a lost bliss / is to recall its happy
hour in pain?”
(34) Where is the person who killed Paolo and Francesca going to go when he dies? Why?
(35) Why is the punishment within this canto appropriate?
(36) What happens to Dante at the end of Canto V?
Canto XXXIV – Circle Nine of Hell: Cocytus
Vocabulary
Word
Page
#
Converge
14
Dexterity
15
Entwine
16
Part of
Speech
Definition
Sentence
Character and Place List – Write a short description for each character or place.
(37) Judecca –
(38) Cocytus –
(39) Satan(Dis) –
(40) Judas Iscariot –
(41) Brutus –
(42) Cassius –
(43) What do the poets see at the beginning of Canto XXXIV?
(44) Who are the sinners in this last area of hell? What is their punishment?
(45) Who is the last area named after?
(46) Describe Satan or Dis as Virgil calls him.
(47) What is important about Satan having three faces?
(48) Who are the three sinners Satan contains in his mouths?
(49) How do Virgil and Dante get out of hell?
(50) What do Virgil and Dante see at the end of Inferno? What could it symbolize?
Essay Questions – These questions require analysis and reflection after reading the play. Take time to
compose your ideas about them, because you will need to create an essay response for the test.
(51) What are the similarities and differences between What Dreams May Come and Inferno?
(52) How is Dante’s journey an allegorical tale about redemption?
(53) How are the characters in Inferno symbolic and what do they represent?
(54) Explain the reasons and placement of people in Dante’s vision of Hell.