Interpretive Questions
Why do Dante and Virgil descend to Lower Hell on Geryon's back?
Does Dante uniformly show pity ("pietà ") towards the denizens of hell?
Why is Lucifer portrayed as a weeping demon frozen in the center of the Earth? Why are the betrayers of Julius Caesar (Brutus and Cassius) portrayed as being as wicked as the betrayer of Jesus Christ (Judas Iscariot)?
Why must Virgil and Dante ascend through the other side of the earth at the end?
Evaluative Questions
Has Dante constructed a just hierarchy of sins?
How well does Dante juggle his roles as pilgrim, judge, narrator, and poet?
What are Dante's views on Jews and Muslims (cf. cantos IV, XXIII, XXVIII)
Speculative Questions
Who was Dante's intended audience? How was the poem disseminated? Why has the poem become so wildly popular?
Who other than Virgil might have been a good guide to hell?
For Textual Analysis
V. Canto XXVI, pages 220 to 223 : the Fate of Ulysses, beginning "So when the flame had reached us, and my guide ... " to the end of the Canto.
VI. Canto XXXIII, pages 255 to 260, Tale of Ugolino and Ruggieri.
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