Reading Dante

Which Circle of Dante's Inferno Matches You?

Eight questions, four possible circles, and no theological standing whatsoever. For readers, not for the record.

This one is for fun, and it is worth saying plainly: Dante's circles sort what people did, not what they are like. Nothing below is a judgement on anyone, and the poem would not recognise the question.

What it can do is point you at the passage. Each of the four results links to the canto where those souls actually appear, read line by line in the Italian.

  1. Question 1 of 8

    Your greatest vice, if you're honest:

  2. Question 2 of 8

    Pick a way to spend eternity:

  3. Question 3 of 8

    How do you handle being wronged?

  4. Question 4 of 8

    Your ideal debate partner:

  5. Question 5 of 8

    What would your enemies say about you?

  6. Question 6 of 8

    Pick a guiding philosophy:

  7. Question 7 of 8

    Virgil offers to guide you through one circle. You pick:

  8. Question 8 of 8

    Pick a word for your downfall:

The four circles this quiz can land on

Limbo — the first circle

Thoughtful, reasonable, and a little too careful to fully commit. Dante's first circle is the one place in Hell with no torment at all: its souls are there for what they lacked, not what they did. Virgil is among them, and tells Dante so himself.

Inferno IV

→ Read Virgil's Confession — Inferno, Canto 4

The second circle — the lustful

You feel everything at full volume and let it carry you. The second circle's storm never rests, and the two souls Dante stops to speak with there get the most sympathetic hearing anyone in Hell receives — which is exactly what seven centuries of readers have argued about.

Inferno V

→ Read Francesca da Rimini — Inferno, Canto 5

The fifth circle — the wrathful

You don't simmer, you erupt, and you don't hide it. The wrathful tear at each other on the surface of the Styx — and when Dante loses his own temper at one of them, Virgil embraces him for it. It is the one moment in the Inferno where anger is praised.

Inferno VIII

→ Read Filippo Argenti in the Mud — Inferno, Canto 8

The eighth circle — the fraudulent

Cleverness is your instrument, and Dante reserved ten stone ditches for cleverness turned to deception. He also knew the risk personally: the eighth circle is where he puts the great persuaders, and he is careful to show how much he admires the one he most condemns.

Inferno XVIII–XXX

→ Read The Ulysses Problem — Canto XXVI

For entertainment. Dante sorted souls by what they did, not by temperament, and this quiz has no standing in the poem or anywhere else.

If you would rather be tested on the poem

There are two quizzes with right answers: the Inferno quiz, twenty questions on Cantos I–X, and the nine circles quiz, on which level takes which sin.