Mrs. Luckey
Global Studies
Dante’s Inferno
Study Guide Questions/Discussion
Canto I
1. Where is Dante at the beginning of the poem? How did he get there? Can he be dreaming? Have you figured out his age yet?
2. He says he was "midway through the journey of our life." What did you understand by his choice of the word our instead of my?
3. Why does Dante need to go deep into Hell to get back on the right path? What is keeping him from the path? If his goal is to reach the top of the hill, why must he first go down to get up there?
4. "Never yet a living person left (hell) once entering." Will Dante be the first? Is he living, does he still have his body or is he too a shade?
5. Why is the poet Virgil in Hell? What keeps him from Heaven? His poem, The Aeneid is one of the roots of the Inferno. Can you tell us something about it? How does Virgil come to be Dante's guide?
Canto II
1. What is the difference between pity and mercy? Can you find examples in the opening cantos?
2. Have you experienced trepidation about our journey into Hell? How does Virgil convince Dante to continue when fear overcomes him?
3. What do you know of the three Heavenly ladies concerned about Dante's well-being? If we had read Paradiso first, would we be familiar with them? What do their names mean?
4. Who was Paul, the "Chosen Vessel"? Why is he significant to Dante now?
Canto III
5. The inscription on the Gates of Hell says that Hell was made before mankind was created. What purpose did it serve?
6. What is the banner that unites the first group Dante encounters? Is theirs a contrapasso punishment directly related to the sin? Who does Dante recognize here?
7. Is it a good sign to Dante that Charon refuses to ferry him across the Acheron? What lies on the other side? Why are the souls so damned eager to get on the boat?
Canto IV
8. How is Hell as a "city" reinforced in Canto IV? Who are the "blind" residing within the gates? What is their punishment? What is Dante's reaction to their plight. Your own?
9. Some have managed to exit this level despite the inscription on the gates. Does this suggest that more may be pardonned in the future? Who are they and how did they get out? How does Dante the Author get around the problem of naming all of the Israelites who were probably rescued?
10. How did Virgil manage to leave Limbo to go to Dante? What is the significance of Dante's "hidden question" to Virgil in this Canto? How did Virgil respond?
Canto V ~ Circle II ~ The LUSTFUL
1. What is Minos' job at the entrance to the Second Circle of Hell, where the real punishment begins? Who is he? What qualifies him for the job
2. Why is Dante interested in speaking to Francesca and Paoli? What is his reaction to her story? Do you sense that she is being truthful?
3. Why are Francesca and Paoli in the Second Circle? What is the nature of their sin? How is their punishment related to the sin?
Canto VI ~ Circle III ~ The GLUTTONOUS
4. Who is Cereberus and why is he an appropriate monster to guard the Gluttons? How does Virgil distract him in order to get by?
5. How would you describe the glutton's punishment? How are these shades portrayed? How is theirs a contrapasso punishment?
6. Did you notice that the souls in Hell can sometimes foretell the future, but cannot see the present? Who is Ciacco (what does his name mean in Italian?) ~ and what is his prophecy for Dante?
7. Can you briefly explain for us the conflict between the Ghibillines and the Guelfs (the White Guelfs and the Black), which sent Dante into exile?
Canto VII ~ Circles IV, V ~ The HOARDERS & The SPENDTHRIFTS
8. What do the two groups of sinners in Circle IV of Hell have in common? Who make up a great number of this group?
9. Do the tortures of the Hoarders and the Wasters seem appropriate to you? Why can't Dante recognize any of the corrupt clergyman he had expected to see here?
10. Do you agree with Virgil's explanation of the nature of Dame Fortune to Dante?
11. As they leave IV and approach Circle V on the border of the muddy River Styx, what sinners to Dante and Virgil see...and which ones can't they see?
Canto VIII ~ Circle V ~ The WRATHFUL & The SULLEN
1. As Dante and Virgil cross the River Styx, the soul of Filippo Argenti, one of the Wrathful, rises from the water. What is Dante’s response to this shade, and why is Virgil so pleased with how Dante acted?
2. What do you think about Dante thanking God for granting his wish to see the weeping wretch further tortured and punished? Compare this to the pity he felt for the sinners in higher circles?
3. Why is it so much more difficult this time for Virgil to get Dante through the city gates of Dis, the capital of Hell? Were you stunned when Dante appealed directly to us, his readers to consider his feelings when Virgil left him alone at the gate? (line 94)
Canto IX ~ Gates of Dis ~ The Furies, Medusa
4. Why does Virgil tell Dante of his previous journey into the lower, darker circles of Hell?
5. The bleeding, wailing Furies manifest themselves. Why do they want to call Medusa? Who is Medusa? What is Virgil's warning to Dante?
6. What is the "hidden meaning" behind the "veil" that covers Dante's verses? How does your translation describe this?
7. How does the Heavenly Messenger open the gate of Dis? He speaks to the rebellious angels, but has no word for Dante and Virgil. Why doesn't he speak to them?
Canto X ~ Circle VI ~ The HERETICS
8. Why were Epicurus and his followers considered heretics? How does the sin of Heresy compare with those of Incontinence in the previous circles? What is the contrapasso punishment for heretics?
9. What question does the second shade Dante meets in this circle ask regarding his son, Guido? How does Dante know Guido? What is Dante's response to him? What sin has put the shade in this circle? What is his punishment?
10. Dante questions Farinata about his gift of prophesying the future. What is Farinata’s answer when Dante asks him why the shades do not seem to know what is going on in the world of the living? Does his response satisfy Dante's unexpressed wish that he was keeping from Virgil?
Canto XI The Circles of Hell ~ The Lesson
1.What are the three categories of Hell Virgil describes to his pupil while waiting for the stench of Circle 7 to subside? Can you find the logic in the division? Why are the Incontinent placed outside the walls of Dis? Why are the Fraudulent at the very bottom?
2. Two sinful cities are mentioned by Virgil, Sodom and Cahors. What can you find about Cahors?
3.What is the significance of Virgil's answer when Dante asks him to "untie the knot"? (Usury?)
Canto XII ~ The VIOLENT~ Against Neighbors
4. What are the three rings within Circle VII?
5. What is the history of the Minotaur who tries to prevent Virgil and Dante from entering? Why are Minotaurs and Centaurs assigned guardians of this ring?
6. How does Virgil get Dante past the Minotaur? How does Chiron (head of the Centaurs) know that Dante is not dead?
7.What is Dante's reaction to this first circle of lower Hell? What is the contrapasso punishment for those who are violent against neighbors? Did you recognize anyone here?
Canto XIII ~ Circle VII ~ The VIOLENT (Against Self)
8.Why have the Suicides been turned into trees? What purpose do the Harpies in their branches serve? What is Dante's reaction?
9. What will the Suicides do with the bodies they reclaim on Judgment Day?
10. Why are the Squanderers pursued to their punishment? Why are they here and not in Circle IV with the Wastrels? (Who is Jacomo da Sant'Andrea?)
Canto XIV, Circle VII ~ The VIOLENT ~ Against God, Nature, Art
1. Why does burning sand seem appropriate for those who are violent against God, Nature, and Art? Do you understand the punishment of the Blasphemers and how it relates to their sin?
2. Does the disdainful Blasphemer, Capaneus seem at all repentant?
3. As the Inferno continues, Virgil seems more and more human, as well as very concerned for Dante’s well being. What evidence do you find in this canto?
4. What is significance of the Old Man of Crete and his tears? Is he Dante's creation?
Canto XV, Circle VII ~ The VIOLENT ~ Against Nature (Sodomites)
5. Did you note Dante's use of simile and metaphor to convey the nature of the sinners in this group? What is their contrapasso? Doesn't it resemble that of the Lustful in Circle II?
6. Brunetto Latino was important in shaping Dante’s thought. Why is he here with the Sodomites? What is his prediction and his advice for Dante?
Canto XVI, Circle VII ~ The VIOLENT ~ Against Nature (Sodomite-Warriors)
7. Who are the three shades running from "our perverted city"? Which city? Why is Dante surprised to see them here?
8. Why does Virgil tell Dante they deserve his respect? Why does Dante grieve for them? What do these shades request of him?
9. What was Tegghiaio Aldobrandi's wish for Dante? Did it come to pass? What does he say is Dante's gift?
Canto XVII, Circle VII ~ The VIOLENT ~ Against Art (Usurers)
10. Is usury a sin of violence or fraud? What is the conatrapasso punishment for the squatting usurers?
12. Why is Geryon, the personification of Fraud, here in this Circle? Do his facial features surprise you? Or not?
MALEBOLGE ~ Circle VIII Simple Fraud
Canto XVIII
Bolgia I - Panderers, Seducers
1. How do you picture the topography of this circle? Is it as treacherous as Circle VII - or worse? (what does Maleborge mean?)
2. Is the punishment the same for both types of Sinners?
3. Dante asks Venedico C., "how did you get yourself in this mess?" (What does your translation say?) What did he do? Have we met any sinners who were hiding their faces before this?
Bolgia II ~ Flatterers
3. How is the punishment for Flatterers appropriate? Who was Thaïs? What was her sin?
Canto XIX, Bolgia III ~ The Simoniacs
5. Who was Simon Magus? Does Dante meet him here in this circle?
6. What is the sin of Simony? Can you describe the contrapasso nature of the punishment for this sin?
7. Whom does the first fast-kicking shade think Dante might be? What does this shade tell Dante when he learns he is not the one he expected?
8. Why does Virgil approve of Dante's lack of pity and angry outburst against these sinners?
9. How do you think the Emperor Constantine may have corrupted the Papacy?
Canto XX, BolgiaIV ~ Fortune Tellers, Diviners, Magicians
10. What details describing the punishment of the seers are especially degrading? Why don't any of these shades speak to Dante?
11. How does this canto differ from all the rest? Following Virgil's scolding and Dante's apology, does Dante have anything more to say in this canto?
12. Are any of the shades mentioned here Dante's contemporaries? Who was Tiresias? Why is his daughter, Manto, mentioned? What is the significance of her story?
Canto XXI, XXII
Bolgia V - The Grafters
1. It is said that Dante is at his coarsest in Bolgia V & VI. Can you cite examples of his grotesque humor? How does this reflect his attitude towards Graft?
2. How do Grafters compare with Simonists? Why is their punishment appropriate? (What are "grappling hooks"?) What is your impression of the Malbranche? What is the combined effect of the shipyard/cooking similes and these fiends?
3. What is the big earthquake referred to here? What effect does it have on the landscape of the Malborge? Is it ironic that Virgil must now suspend Reason and trust Grafters? What is Dante's state of mind?
Canto XXII
4. Where do you see evidence of Dante's battlefield experience? Why does he mention it here in connection with the "army" of the Malbranche?
6.Who are the "Italians" who represent Graft in this Bolgia? What was their sin?
7. How does the Navarese repeat the sin for which he is consigned here in the first place? Is this the first time we have seen a sinner actually performing the sin?
8. Do you see the role of devils and sinners interchanging here? Do you think we will see more of this as we descend towards the bottom? What is the irony in the last scene as Dante and Virgil leave their "escorts" behind?
Canto XXIII, Bolgia VI ~ The Hypocrites
9. What is the story of the frog, the mouse and the hawk? Why is Dante still fearful?
10. How did the two escape to Bolgia VI with the bridge out? What is the relationship between Dante and Virgil at this point?
11. How do you imagine the "painted people", the Hypocrites? How is their contrapasso appropriate for their sin?
12. Who are the two shades Dante meets in this Bolgia? Why are they here?
13. How is the other shade, Caiaphas, a Hypocrite? How does his punishment compare to the others in Bolgia VI?
14. How does one of the Hypocrites tell Virgil he can exit the banks of the Bolgia? Does Virgil trust the Hypocrite this time?