Dante divides hell into two halves, Upper Hell (or Incontinence), and Lower Hell (or Malice). Incontinence is the refusal to use reason to moderate a natural instinct, like love or hunger. An indivdual committing an act of malice, on the other hand, has no intention to do good, and thus is immune to reason.

Just above and outside of Hell is the circle of the Uncommitted, who are denied entrance into the underworld. Upper Hell itself is divided into five circles:

• Circle 1~Limbo~
  

  which contains the virtuous pagans, is not part of Incontinence; Its inhabitants used reason throughout their lives. They're not being punished. They get to talk about philosophy for eternity.
  

  
  
  
• Circle 2:~Lust~
  

  Their punishment consists in being forever whirled about in a dark, stormy wind. The band of souls being punished in the wind for their lust, and certain shades of royal figures seen in a formation that resembles that of flying cranes.

  
  
  
• Circle 3:~Gluttony~
  

  The shades in this circle are the gluttons, and their punishment fits their sin. Gluttony, like all the sins of Incontinence, subjects reason to desire; in this case desire, without reason; they are sunk in slime, the image of their excess. The warm comfort their gluttony brought them in life here has become cold, dirty rain and hail.

  
  
  
• Circle 4:~Avarice~
  

  The Miserly and the Prodigal, linked together as those who misused their wealth, suffer a joint punishment. Their material wealth has become a heavy weight that each group must shove against each other, since their attitudes toward wealth on earth were opposed to each other. Each of the two groups completes a semicircle as they roll their weights at each other; therefore together they complete an entire circle.

  
  
  
• Circle 5:~Wrath and Sloth~
  

  Mired up to thier waists in the bog are the WRATHFUL, who constantly tear and mangle each other.
  Beneath the slime of the Styx, are the SLOTHFUL; the bubbles on the muddy surface indicate their presence beneath.

Lower Hell (Malice) is divided into two halves, Violence and Fraud. Violence is sometimes called bestial malice, because even animals can commit acts of violence. Fraud, on the other hand, necessitates the abuse of reason, so it is restricted to humans. Since our ability to reason is, according to Dante, what separates us from animals and makes us in God's image.

fraudulent acts are worse (lower) than violent ones. Heresy is also included in Lower Hell (just below the walls of Dis). The City of Dis was the name given by the Romans to Pluto, God of the Underworld. Dante applies the name to Lucifer, but he also applies the name to the pit-city at the base of which Lucifer is forever fixed.

The walls of the City of Dis mark the division between upper Hell and ‘lower Hell’, and between the sins of Incontinence and those of Violence.

Beyond are Envy and Pride. Within the walls of the city there are the rebellious angels who, with their leader Lucifer, were cast into Hell after their abortive attempt to gain control of Heaven. These rebellious angels tried to deny Christ entry to Hell by barring the principal gate, but it was forced open by Him and will remain open for eternity.

Circle 6:~Heresy~


Heresy is more serious than those caused by weakness of the flesh but somehow less serious than willed premeditated sins of Violence and Fraud; it is a sin of the intellect and a state of being, not a source of sinful action (Fraud, Violence). Therefore it is between Incontinence and Violence. There is great irony in the fact that those who believed that the death of the body meant the death of the soul suffer as their punishment the entombment of their living souls.



Circle 7:~Violence~

• The first section of Violence is violence against others.
  
• The second section of Violence is violence against self or suicide.
  
• The third section of Violence is violence against God and God's creation Nature.
  
  

Fraud, the lower half of Lower Hell, is (like everything else in the Inferno) subdivided. Simple Fraud (circle eight) consists of deceiving someone with no particular connections to the sinner.

Complex Fraud (circle nine) involves deceiving someone who has a special trust in or bond with the sinner.

Circle 8:~Malebolge~


The Eighth Circle of Hell (Simple Fraud). Simple Fraud is subdivided
into ten malebolge (evil pockets), with a wide range of types of fraud.


 
• The first Malabolgia are Panderers and Seducers.  
• The second bolgia are Flatterers.  
• The third bolgia are Simonists.  
• The fourth bolgia are Soothsayers.  
• The fifth bolgia are Barrators.  
• The sixth bolgia are Hypocrites.  
• The seventh bolgia are Thieves.  
• The eighth bolgia are Pagans.  
• The ninth bolgia are Sowers of discord.  
• The tenth bolgia are Falsifiers.
  
  Circle 9:~Cocytus~
  The Ninth Circle of Hell, Cocytus (complex fraud or betrayal).
  Cocytus consists of four concentric circles.
   
• Caina- Are those who betrayed their kin in murder.
• Antenora- Where sinners are frozen up to their necks.
• Tolomea- Where those who betrayed their guests and associates are condemned.
• Giudecca– Where Lucifer is half frozen in ice gnawing on the three worst sinners of all mankind,
  those who betrayed their benefactors: Judas Iscariot, Brutus and Cassius.