The Divine Comedy MCQs

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Author: Nasir Iqbal | Assistant Professor of English Literature

The Divine Comedy MCQs
Updated on: October 21, 2025
Estimated Reading Time: 17 min

The Divine Comedy MCQs

1. How many major sections, or canticles, make up the Divine Comedy?

A. Two
B. Four
C. Three
D. Five

C. Three (Inferno, Purgatorio, and Paradiso)
The poem is an epic journey through the three realms of the afterlife: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise.

2. What is the total number of cantos in the entire Divine Comedy?

A. 99
B. 100
C. 101
D. 150

B. 100
The structure consists of an introductory canto, followed by 33 cantos for each of the three sections.

3. How many cantos are in the Inferno?

A. 33
B. 100
C. 34
D. 30

C. 34 (One introductory canto plus 33 others)
The Inferno contains 34 cantos, as the very first canto of the poem serves as its introduction.

4. How many cantos are in Purgatorio and Paradiso respectively?

A. 34 each
B. 33 each
C. 30 and 33
D. 34 and 33

B. 33 each
Both Purgatorio and Paradiso have 33 cantos, creating a symmetrical structure reflecting the Holy Trinity.
5. Who does the speaker in Canto 1 address as his “teacher, lord and law”?

A. Ovid
B. Homer
C. Lucan
D. Virgil

D. Virgil
Dante chooses the Roman poet Virgil, author of the Aeneid, as his guide through Hell and Purgatory.

6. Virgil will guide the speaker through what kind of space?

A. A temporary space
B. An eternal space
C. A tranquil space
D. A confined space

B. An eternal space
Virgil offers a journey through the “eternal space” of Hell, where the punishments last forever.

7. What will the speaker initially hear and see on the journey?

A. Souls content to hope in fire
B. Shrill cries of desperation and mourning spirits
C. Blessed choirs
D. A worthier soul than Virgil

B. Shrill cries of desperation and mourning spirits
Virgil’s first promise is that Dante will witness the suffering of the damned in Hell.

8. The speaker recalls the “sire of Silvius” travelled to immortal realms. Who is this?

A. Saint Paul
B. Virgil
C. Aeneas
D. Saint Peter

C. Aeneas
Dante refers to Aeneas, hero of Virgil’s epic, who visited the underworld. Silvius was his son.

9. How does the speaker feel about his fitness for the journey?

A. He is undoubtedly fit.
B. He believes he is worthy.
C. No one could think he is fit for it.
D. He is as fit as Aeneas or Saint Paul.

C. No one could think he is fit for it.
Dante feels unworthy, stating, “I am not Aeneas, am not Paul,” and doubts his ability.
10. Who is the “blessed, so beautiful” lady Virgil heard?

A. Maria
B. Marcia
C. Beatrice
D. Minerva

C. Beatrice
Beatrice, Dante’s deceased love and spiritual ideal, descends from Heaven to ask Virgil for help.

11. What is Beatrice’s primary motivation?

A. Divine command
B. Love
C. Consolation
D. Justice

B. Love
Beatrice explicitly states that “Love has moved me,” showing her divine love for Dante as the mission’s source.

12. Why does Beatrice feel no dread in Hell?

A. She is protected by Virgil.
B. She was created by the grace of God.
C. She is too beautiful to be harmed.
D. She does not fear death.

B. She was created by the grace of God.
As a blessed soul, she is made by God in such a way that the misery of Hell cannot touch her.

13. What warning is written on the gate of Hell?

A. “Welcome to the eternal realms”
B. “The path to glory is within”
C. “Surrender every hope you have”
D. “All who enter here are lost”

C. “Surrender every hope you have”
The famous inscription “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” marks the entrance to the Inferno.

14. What is the condition of the souls who lived without honour or ill fame?

A. The deeply sinful
B. The proud
C. The indifferent/worthless mob
D. The envious

C. The indifferent/worthless mob
These are the neutral souls who chose neither good nor evil, rejected by both Heaven and Hell.
15. Who is the old man piloting a boat, yelling “Degenerates! Your fate is sealed!”?

A. Minos
B. Geryon
C. Charon
D. Phlegyas

C. Charon
Charon is the ferryman from Greek mythology who transports the souls of the dead across the River Acheron.

16. What causes the sighs in Circle One (Limbo)?

A. Physical pain
B. Spiritual torment
C. Sorrowing, although no pain
D. Anger

C. Sorrowing, although no pain
The souls in Limbo feel no physical torment, but they sigh from the sorrow of living without hope.

17. Who are the spirits in Limbo, according to Virgil?

A. Those who sinned grievously.
B. Those who were rebels against God.
C. Those who never sinned but were not baptized or lived before Christ.
D. Those who hoped for salvation.

C. Those who never sinned but were not baptized or lived before Christ.
Limbo holds the virtuous non-Christians and unbaptized infants, including Virgil himself.

18. What is the sole punishment for the souls in Limbo?

A. Eternal damnation
B. Physical torture
C. Living in desire, but hopelessly
D. Consuming fire

C. Living in desire, but hopelessly
Their only punishment is to desire God, whom they can never see, without hope of achieving it.

19. Who did Virgil see lead biblical figures away from Limbo?

A. An archangel
B. Christ (implied)
C. Saint Peter
D. Moses

B. Christ (implied)
Virgil describes the “Harrowing of Hell,” when Christ descended to free figures like Adam and Moses.
20. Who is the “master of all those who think and know”?

A. Plato
B. Socrates
C. Aristotle
D. Democritus

C. Aristotle
Dante places Aristotle in a position of honor in Limbo, surrounded by other great philosophers.

21. Who stands at the threshold of Circle Two, judging souls with his tail?

A. Cerberus
B. Geryon
C. Minos
D. Phlegyas

C. Minos
The mythical King Minos serves as the judge, wrapping his tail around himself to indicate the soul’s assigned circle.

22. What is the torment of the souls in Circle Two?

A. Immersed in freezing rain.
B. Buried in sepulchres.
C. Dragged onwards by the swirling wind of Hell.
D. Fighting in a marsh.

C. Dragged onwards by the swirling wind of Hell.
The lustful are punished by being endlessly swept up in a dark, violent storm, just as they were by passion.

23. To which two souls does the speaker wish to talk?

A. Achilles and Paris
B. Dido and Cleopatra
C. Paolo and Francesca
D. Tristan and Isolde

C. Paolo and Francesca
Dante is moved to pity by the sight of Paolo and Francesca, two lovers murdered together.

24. Francesca says, “There is no sorrow greater than…” what?

A. “…to lose a loved one.”
B. “…to be forgotten by the world.”
C. “…to remember happiness in times of misery.”
D. “…to suffer without hope.”

C. “…to remember happiness in times of misery.”
This famous line explains that their torment is worsened by remembering their joyful, sinful love.
25. Who barks from three throats over the souls in Circle Three?

A. Minos
B. Phlegyas
C. Cerberus
D. Geryon

C. Cerberus
The three-headed dog Cerberus guards the third circle, tormenting the souls of the gluttonous.

26. How does Virgil silence Cerberus?

A. By speaking to him
B. By threatening him with an oar
C. By throwing handfuls of dirt into his throats
D. By drawing a magical sign

C. By throwing handfuls of dirt into his throats
Virgil distracts the beast by throwing handfuls of earth into its mouths, like feeding a hungry dog.

27. Who is the “tremendous foe” at the entrance to Circle Four?

A. Cerberus
B. Minos
C. Plutus
D. Geryon

C. Plutus
Plutus, the Roman god of wealth, guards the circle where the avaricious and prodigal are punished.

28. Who are the people with “tonsured scalps” that the speaker asks about?

A. All common people.
B. Clerics, popes, or cardinals who were avaricious.
C. Those with strabismic minds.
D. Those who spent without check.

B. Clerics, popes, or cardinals who were avaricious.
The shaven heads (tonsures) identify these sinners as corrupt members of the clergy.

29. What is the name of the ferryman in Canto 8?

A. Charon
B. Minos
C. Phlegyas
D. Geryon

C. Phlegyas
Phlegyas angrily ferries Dante and Virgil across the marshy River Styx, the fifth circle.
30. What is the name of the city they approach in the fifth circle?

A. Rome
B. Florence
C. Dis
D. Mantua

C. Dis
The City of Dis, with its red-hot mosques, marks the boundary into Lower Hell, where worse sins are punished.

31. The Furies threaten to call Medusa to do what to the speaker?

A. Inflict pain.
B. Scourge him.
C. Turn him to stone.
D. Make him blind.

C. Turn him to stone.
The Furies call for Medusa to turn Dante to stone, a fate Virgil saves him from by covering his eyes.

32. Who is the one sent from Heaven who opens the gates of Dis?

A. Michael
B. Gabriel
C. An unnamed messenger
D. Beatrice

C. An unnamed messenger
An angelic messenger, filled with disdain for Hell, arrives and contemptuously opens the gates for the poets.

33. Who are buried in the flaming sepulchres inside the city of Dis?

A. The proud
B. The gluttonous
C. The violent
D. The master heretics and their followers

D. The master heretics and their followers
The sixth circle punishes heretics, who denied the soul’s immortality, by encasing them in burning tombs.

34. Who suddenly calls out from a tomb, recognizing the speaker’s Tuscan accent?

A. Guido Cavalcanti
B. Tegghiaio Aldobrandi
C. Farinata degli Uberti
D. Brunetto Latini

C. Farinata degli Uberti
Farinata, a great political leader from Florence and an opponent of Dante’s party, rises from his tomb.
35. What does Farinata prophesy will happen to the speaker?

A. He will achieve great honour.
B. He will escape Hell quickly.
C. He will experience exile.
D. He will understand the stars.

C. He will experience exile.
Farinata prophesies Dante’s painful exile from Florence, a central event in the poet’s own life.

36. Virgil distinguishes between harm by “force” and “deceit.” Which does he say “displeases God the more”?

A. Force
B. Deceit
C. Intemperance
D. Brutality

B. Deceit
Virgil explains that deceit, or fraud, is a sin unique to man and is punished more severely in Lower Hell.

37. Why are sins of “intemperance” punished less sharply?

A. Their sins are less severe.
B. They are not malicious, but a failure of self-control.
C. They are closer to repentance.
D. God is more merciful to them.

B. They are not malicious, but a failure of self-control.
Sins of incontinence (lust, gluttony, etc.) are punished in Upper Hell, as they lack the malice of fraud or violence.

38. Who is the “infamy of Crete” that gnaws himself in rage?

A. Cerberus
B. Geryon
C. The Minotaur
D. Plutus

C. The Minotaur
The Minotaur, a symbol of bestial violence, guards the entrance to the seventh circle (Violence).

39. Who are the souls immersed in a boiling river of blood?

A. The envious
B. The gluttonous
C. The violent against neighbours (tyrants, murderers).
D. The proud

C. The violent against neighbours (tyrants, murderers).
The Phlegethon, a river of boiling blood, is the punishment for those who were violent against others.
40. What is the nature of the wood in Canto 13?

A. A pleasant grove
B. A dark forest with hidden creatures
C. A thorny maze where souls are encased in trees
D. A burning thicket

C. A thorny maze where souls are encased in trees
This is the Wood of Suicides, where those who were violent against themselves are turned into gnarled, bleeding trees.

41. Who is the soul in the tree who held the keys to Federigo’s heart?

A. Farinata
B. Guido Cavalcanti
C. Pier della Vigna
D. Brunetto Latini

C. Pier della Vigna
Pier della Vigna was a trusted advisor to Emperor Frederick II who killed himself after falling from favor.

42. What will happen to the bodies of the suicídes on Judgement Day?

A. They will be freed.
B. They will be loosed from the trees.
C. Their bodies will swing from the trees.
D. They will be transformed permanently.

C. Their bodies will swing from the trees.
Because they rejected their bodies in life, they will never be reunited with them, but will hang them on their branches.

43. Whom does the speaker recognise on the burning sand, despite his “singed features”?

A. Farinata
B. Pier della Vigna
C. Brunetto Latini
D. Guido Cavalcanti

C. Brunetto Latini
Dante is shocked to find his revered teacher, Brunetto Latini, among the sodomites (violent against nature).

44. What sin are Brunetto and his companions punished for?

A. Avarice
B. Gluttony
C. Sodomy
D. Heresy

C. Sodomy
They are punished for violence against nature, forced to run endlessly on burning sand under a rain of fire.
45. What does the speaker wear around his waist that Virgil asks him to remove?

A. A rope
B. A belt of rushes
C. A braided cord
D. A sword belt

C. A braided cord
Virgil uses Dante’s cord to summon Geryon, the monster of fraud, from the abyss.

46. Who is the “hero” in the second ditch, punished for seduction and deceit?

A. Hercules
B. Achilles
C. Jason
D. Ulysses

C. Jason
Jason, the Greek hero, is punished in the first bolgia of Circle 8 for seducing and abandoning women.

47. Who does the speaker initially mistake the suffering Pope for?

A. Pope Nicholas III
B. Pope Clement V
C. Pope Urban VI
D. Pope Boniface VIII

D. Pope Boniface VIII
The soul is Pope Nicholas III, who mistakenly thinks Pope Boniface VIII (still alive in 1300) has already arrived.

48. What “harm” does the speaker accuse Emperor Constantine of causing?

A. His persecution of Christians.
B. His pagan beliefs.
C. The “dowry” of temporal power he gave to the first rich Pope.
D. His failure to unify the Empire.

C. The “dowry” of temporal power he gave to the first rich Pope.
Dante blames the “Donation of Constantine” for corrupting the Church by mixing spiritual and worldly power.

49. What is the torment of the souls in Canto 20?

A. They cannot speak.
B. They are constantly turning.
C. Their heads are twisted backwards.
D. They are buried upside down.

C. Their heads are twisted backwards.
The sorcerers and diviners, who tried to see the future, are punished by having their heads twisted backward.
50. Who are the two souls within the “cloven-crested flame”?

A. Achilles and Odysseus
B. Jason and Medea
C. Ulysses and Diomedes
D. Ajax and Hector

C. Ulysses and Diomedes
The two Greek heroes are punished together in one flame for their fraudulent counsel, like the Trojan Horse.

Brief Overview

The Divine Comedy is an epic poem by the Italian poet Dante Alighieri. It describes Dante’s own journey through the three realms of the afterlife: Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise. The poem is a religious allegory about the soul’s path to God.

The first part, “Inferno,” begins as Dante is lost in a dark wood. He is rescued by the Roman poet Virgil, who becomes his guide. Virgil leads Dante down through the nine circles of Hell, where they see sinners being punished in ways that fit their crimes.

Next, they climb Mount Purgatory in the “Purgatorio.” This is a place where souls must be cleansed of their sins before they can enter Heaven. As they climb its seven terraces, Dante learns about sin and virtue and is slowly purified.

Virgil, a pagan, cannot enter Heaven, so he leaves Dante at the top. Dante’s lost love, Beatrice, becomes his new guide for “Paradiso.” She leads him up through the nine spheres of Heaven, where he meets saints and angels.

His journey ends with a final, blinding vision of God. Dante is overwhelmed by love and understanding. The poem shows his complete spiritual transformation from being lost in sin to achieving divine salvation.

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