Dantes Inferno Outline/Study Guide

I.

Circle One (Beginning of Sins of the She-Wolf)

a. Limbo-Virtuous Pagans
i. People: Socrates, Plato, Homer, etc
1. Punishment: No torment, just no hope
II.
Circle Two
a. The Carnal
i. People: Helen, Achilles, Francesca and Paolo, Cleopatra
1. Punishment: Swept forever in a giant tempest
a. Monsters: Minos-monster that sentences people to
the levels by wrapping his tail around himself
III.
Circle Three
a. The Gluttons
i. People: Ciacco (the Hog)
1. Punishment: Gigantic garbage dump, filth falls constantly,
stinking rain, souls lie in the icy, nasty paste
a. Monsters: Cerberus- three headed dog, stands
guard and rips them apart
IV.
Circle Four
a. The Hoarders and the Wasters
i. People: No famous people
1. Punishment: The two groups push great boulders apart,
then together, then apart constantly
a. Monsters: At the edge, Plutus menaces Dante and
Virgil, but Virgil talks him out of torturing them
V.
Circle Five
a. River of Styx- the Wrathful and the Sullen
i. People: Filippo Argenti
1. Punishment: The Wrathful fight forever in the swampy
river, the Sullen are buried in tombs underneath the water
a. Monsters: To get across the river, Dante and Virgil
ride on a boat with Phlegyes, the Boatman of Styx
i. This is the end of Upper Hell
VI.
Circle Six
a. The Heretics; City of Dis; the Fallen Angels
i. People:Farinata Degli Uberti, Cavalcante de Cavalcanti, Pope
Anastasius
1. Punishment: Sinners are trapped in fiery tombs
a. Monsters: The Three Furies and Medusa are at the
Gate of Dis; the Heavenly Messenger opens the
Gate
VII.
Circle Seven
a. The Violent and Bestial (Sins of the Lion)
Round 1: Against Neighbors
i. People: Alexander the Great, Attila
1. Punishment: buried in river of boiling blood according to
severity of sin

a. Monsters: Minotaur, at beginning of the circle, then

the Centaurs, but Virgil wins over their chief,
Chiron, and gets Nessus to help them across the
river
Round 2: Against Themselves
ii. People: Pier Delle Vigne, Lano de Siena
1. Punishment: Trapped in trees (Wood of Suicides), chewed
on and chased by Harpies
a. Monsters: The Harpies- dog-like monsters that tear
at the trees
Round 3: Against God, Nature, and Art (Blasphemers, Perverts,
Usurers,Sodomites)
iii. People: Brunetto, Capaneus
1. Punishment: trapped in burning sand; rain of fire; burned
from above and below
a. Monsters: Geryon, at crossing from 7th to 8th circle,
flies Virgil and Dante over the waterfall
VIII.
Circle 8
a. Malebolge (Evil Ditches) (Beginning of Hell of the Fraudulent and
Malicious)
-Simple Fraud
1: Panderers and Seducers
i. People: Jason
1. Punishment: must walk alongside the ditch constantly
a. Monsters: demons with lashes keeping them
walking
2: Flatterers:
ii. People: Thais, Alessio Interminelli
1. Punishment: sunk in excrement
3: Simoniacs
iii. People: Pope Nicholas III
1. Punishment: sinners immersed in pool-like crevices with
their feet out, feet are burnt according to the degree of
their sins
4: Fortune Tellers and Diviners
iv. People: TIresias, Eurypylus
1. Punishment: heads backwards, must walk backwards,
eyes blinded with tears
5: Grafters
v. People: Senator of Lucca
1. Punishment: immersed in boiling tar, torn at by demons
a. Monsters: demons with grappling hooks, leader:
Malacoda, demon minions.
6: Hypocrites
vi. People: Jovial Friars, Caiaphas
1. Punishment: wear cloaks lined with lead, trudge around
giant circle
7: Thieves

vii. People: Vanni Fucci, 5 noble thieves of Florence

1. Punishment: snakes wrapped around them, binding their
hands, they are stabbed in the neck by the serpents and
destroyed by fire and regenerated painfully
8: Evil Counselors
viii. People: Ulysses and Diomede
1. Punishment: blind and enclosed in flames
9: Sowers of Discord (religious, political, and between kinsmen)
ix. People: Mohammed, Pier da Medicina, Bertrand de Born
1. Punishment: eternally hacked by giant demons with
bloody swords, then painfully regenerate while walking
around a circle, then at the end of the circle, they are
hacked again
10: Falsifiers (Alchemists, counterfeiters, perjurers, impersonators)
1. Punishments: darkness, stench, filth, disease, shrieks, thirst
a. Alchemists:
i. People: Capocchio
1. Punishment: Scabs covering body
b. Impersonators:
i. People: Gianni Schicchi and Myrra
1. Punishment: Changed into hogs chasing others
c. Counterfeiters:
i. People: Master Adam
1. Punishment: eternal thirst, cracked tongues,
bloated bellies
d. Perjurers:
i. People: Potiphars Wife, SInon the Greek
1. Punishment: fever, smoke/heat cooking body
IV. Circle 9: Compound Fraud:
- Between Circles 8 and 9 are the Giants-Nimrod, Antaeus, etc
Round 1: Caina
x. Treacherous to Kin
1. People: Alessandro, Napoleon
a. Punishment: up to necks in ice; can bend necks
Round 2: Antenora
xi. Treacherous to Country
1. People: Bocca Degli Abbati (the one Dante treats with
savagery)
a. Punishment: heads above ice, but cannot bend
necks. Some bite at each other
Round 3: Ptolomea
xii. Treacherous to Guests and Hosts
1. People: Friar Alberigo
a. Punishment: Only half of face out of ice, tears
freeze in their eyes
Round 4: Judeca
xiii. Treacherous to Masters
1. People: Judas Iscariot (in central mouth of Satan), Brutus
and Cassius (in side mouths of Satan)

a. Punishment: buried completely and distorted in ice

i. Monster: Satan himself