Circle 3: Canto 6

Question 1

Circle 3:

Answer 1

Gluttony

Question 2

‘You Florentines…

Answer 2

‘You Florentines called me Ciacco’

Question 3

‘I tell you no more…

Answer 3

‘I tell you no more and I no longer answer you’

Question 4

Circle 3: Gluttony

Answer 4

Cerberus, a doglike beast with three heads, guards the third circle of Hell and mauls the spirits punished here for their gluttony. The shades, writhing in much, are unrelentingly pounded by a cold filthy mixture of rain, sleet, and snow that makes the earth stink.

Question 5

Cerberus

Answer 5

Cerberus’s appearance, such as his red eyes, greasy black beard, large gut, and clawed hands, perhaps link him to the gluttonous spirits who suffer in the third circle. Virgil throws a fist full of dirt in the mouths of Cerberus to abate them and allow them passage.

Question 6

Ciacco

Answer 6

Ciacco was respected in polite Florentine society for his eloquence and agreeableness.

Question 7

Contrapasso

Answer 7

Contrapasso is a term most commonly attributed to Dante’s Inferno. It describes the relationship between sin and the resulting justification in Hell. The literal definition is the ‘counter-strike’ or the ‘counter-suffering’