Dante's Inferno

But Virgil comes to the poor, powerless Dante. He will never really do anything alone from this point on, which is good because in order for Dante to understand and learn he must have a teacher, t here must be some authority for Dante. There is a grey hound that is mentioned (canto 1, line 78-88, Alighieri). I think that this grey hound is Virgil, because he represents the savior of Dante. He is said to represent intellect, and in Dante's mind that is what is needed to be reasonable, and reason conquers all desires and weaknesses.

There are many similarities between Dante’s The Inferno and Virgil’s The Aeneid, be it their characterizations or descriptive imagery, but foremost in their ideas of what the afterlife consisted of. Each each epic hero in the works here have descended in to the depths of hell, with The Inferno depicting Dante’s descent into the depths of hell and with Virgil in Book VI of The Aeneid depicting Aeneas’s decent into hell. It can be argued that although different, the knowledge acquired by each character’s descent was equally important to accomplishing their greater tasks at the ends of their journey. Had their descent into hell been skipped their outcomes would have concluded in a different way because their voyages to Hell each played a crucial role in the advancing each narrative.

Dante made it through many different obstacles and layers of hell, but he could not of made it through his journey without Virgil. The character in the book is being alluded to the Roman poet Publius Vergilius Maro. Maro believed and wrote a legendary piece of literature that stated the mission to civilize the world under divine guidance. He not only wrote about these ways of life but he did his best to

The Inferno is a tale of cautionary advice. In each circle, Dante the pilgrim speaks to one of the shades that reside there and the readers learn how and why the damned have become the damned. As Dante learns from the mistakes of the damned, so do the readers. And as Dante feels the impacts of human suffering, so do the readers. Virgil constantly encourages Dante the pilgrim to learn why the shades are in Hell and what were their transgressions while on Earth. This work’s purpose is to educate the reader. The work’s assertions on the nature of human suffering are mostly admonition, with each shade teaching Dante the pilgrim and by extension the reader not to make the same mistakes. Dante views his journey through hell as a learning experience and that is why he made it out alive.

Virgil is an effective teacher. Throughout the cantos Virgil is described as a wonderful guider who was very motivated to assist Dante. Virgil wanted Dante to learn about the nine circles of hell and the type of punishment being served to different souls. For example in Canto one Virgil mentions "Soul in fire and yet content in fire" (I.112). Additionally, Virgil has a non-philosophical educational approach since he does not ask Dante any question but only explains everything to him. For example, Virgil describes the characteristics of Beatrice fully stating “She tracks down all, kills all, and knows no glut” (I.92). Virgil is also a very consistent educator because when Dante “soul’s ruin” he appears in order to provide hope to Dante. Furthermore, the core strength of Virgil styles of teaching is he explains all details in a comprehensive manner to Dante.

Virgil- Beatrice sends Virgil to Earth to retrieve Dante and act as his guide through Hell and Purgatory.  Since the poet Virgil lived before Christianity, he dwells in Limbo (Ante-Inferno) with other righteous non-Christians.  As author, Dante chooses the character Virgil to act as his guide because he admired Virgil's work above all other poets and because Virgil had written of a similar journey through the underworld.  Thus, Virgil's character knows the way through Hell and can act as Dante's knowledgeable guide while he struggles alongside Dante

In Dante’s Inferno, the relationship between Dante the Pilgrim and Virgil the Guide is an ever-evolving one. By analyzing the transformation of this relationship as the two sojourn through the circles of hell, one is able to learn more about the mindset of Dante the Poet.  At the outset, Dante is clearly subservient to Virgil, whom he holds in high esteem for his literary genius. However, as the work progresses, Virgil facilitates Dante’s spiritual enlightenment, so that by the end, Dante has ascended to Virgil’s spiritual level and has in many respects surpassed him. In Dante’s journey with respect to Virgil, one can see

At the sight of the deformed souls, Dante the Pilgrim wept for them (Alighieri XX.25-26). Previous to this canto, Virgil had disagreed with this reaction of Dante; again, he saw the divinity of the punishments, which was also the idea of contrapasso aforementioned. In this canto, Virgil seemed to be more explicit and straightforward in his response to Dante. He criticized the Pilgrim, “So you are still like all the other fools? / In this place piety lives and pity is dead, ” (Alighieri XX.27-28).

Dante however proves himself to be a hypocrite and often reflects his own sins and hubris in his work. His guide throughout hell, and later purgatory, is none other than Virgil, one of history’s finest and most accomplished epic poets. In the very first circle of hell, Limbo, he places himself among the other great epic poets: “He is Homer, sovereign poet, next comes Horace the satirist, Ovid is third, the last is Lucan. ‘Since each is joined to me in the name the one voice uttered, they do me honor and doing so, do well.’ There I saw assembled the fair school of the lord of loftiest song, soaring like an eagle far above the rest. After they conversed a while, they turned to me with signs of greeting, and my master smiled at this. And then they showed me greater honor still, for they made me one of their company, so I became the sixth amidst such wisdom.”-Divine Comedy, Dante’s Inferno, Canto IV, lines 88-102.

As Dante makes his ascent through hell and purgatory, he is guided by two figures. The first is Virgil, who saves him from peril and accompanies him, as a friend, through the layers of both afterlifes. The second is Beatrice, who inspired Dante’s journey of salvation in the first place, and who he longs to be reunited with. Yet although these guides are leading him towards God, Dante mistakes their guiding as the end itself. He makes a God of Beatrice, sees her as the ultimate good towards which one strives, and makes a Jesus of Virgil, the man through whom this ultimate good is reached. In this way, Dante creates his own trinity, much to the detriment of his ascent to the True God.

Dante’s Inferno begins in a dark forest, a place of confusion, because he lost his way on the “true path”. Seeking an escape, Dante finds a hill where the sun glares down on him. This light seen in Dante’s Inferno symbolizes clarity as the sun represents God. After encountering three beasts and turning back to the murky forest, Dante crosses paths with the great Roman Poet, Virgil. Virgil is an aid and guide to Dante to Heaven, the ultimate Paradise. He warns Dante he must pass through Hell and Purgatory in order to reach his salvation in heaven. Virgil is depicted as nature or human reason perfected by virtue. It is strongly emphasized that Virgil can only take Dante so far in his journey by guiding him to heaven. Much like St. Thomas Aquinas’ reasoning, nature or human reason can only bring you so far in the journey to God. As Virgil and Dante approach the mouth of Hell, Virgil preaches to Dante about a woman in Heaven who took pity upon Dante when he was lost in hell. The woman Virgil speaks of is Dante’s departed love Beatrice. After Dante hears that Beatrice is heaven he now sheds the fear of traveling through Hell and Purgatorio.

I mean, on the surface, it doesn’t make much sense to send someone who is alive to see the world of the dead! However, this does make sense as Dante’s goal was to get the general populace to have at least some idea to what awaits them is they don’t act like the best version of themselves. In fact, he makes great use of the generalities evident in society. Dante, the Everyman, symbolizes all humans’ personas, Virgil symbolizes human reason, and Beatrice (who sent Virgil with God) symbolizes divine love. Dante wants everyone to be aware of the limits of us humans in our search for divine love and justice. Broadening one’s horizons and delving into foreign landscapes is a peak interest for humans and what more desolate and alien landscape than Hell. Curiosity is intrinsic in human nature and is what drives us to get more in touch with our surroundings. From now on it important for us to treat the traversing of Dante from one circles to the next as a journey without end. Humans will forever be fighting these sins and will forever need guidance to avoid them, no matter the time period. After a mostly smooth pilgrimage through Hell, the Poets come across a brief pitstop at the Wall of Dis. Now this wall is not just a physical block for exploration, but also a mental and spiritual one. NEED QUOTE ABOUT THIS. Through the sins of the lion, Virgil was able to use human reason to traverse through them

Dante is saying that Virgil cannot enter heaven because he lived before Christ. Dante admires the classical Roman world but rejects it as the path of salvation to God.

In the Divine Comedy, Dante has landed in a dark forest, lost and confused. He is heading to the mountain that he seeked to reach Heaven. Before he reaches Heaven, he has to surpass Hell and Purgatory. During his journey, he has acknowledged multiple important characters but Virgil is considered the most significant because he was a personal tutor to Dante, and enlightened him more than any other individual. Virgil is seen as just a “guide” to Dante, but there’s more meaning behind it. He has his moments of being seen as a friend, a leader, a teacher, and a parental figure.

     The Inferno by Dante is a story of a mans voyages through the treacherous depths of hell. Dante is a man who has strayed from the path of a catholic way of life. Now he needs to travel through hell to reach the virtuous path that will take him to heaven. He is guided through hell by a man who is in limbo, the first circle of hell, named Virgil. Virgil takes him through hell and shows him people suffering for the sins that they have committed. Together they travel through the nine different stages of hell observing who is in each stage, what there punishment is, and what sins they committed to get there. Virgil was sent to guide Dante through hell by Beatrice who is the love of Dante’s life. Beatrice plays a