Virgil

XI, as Camilla walks through the carnage of battle, she is likened to an image of Penthesilea returning home victorious. Virgil presents many such similarities in his portrayals of Dido and Camilla because it is through them, the only two female leaders in his work, that he illustrates the destinies of rulers who fall victim to their passions. To Virgil, a great leader is one who practices restraint, represses all passions, and

values. The culture of oneself is important in the development of their own character. Dante is a sinner who after death will descend into Hell to work off his punishment. While traveling he meets the great poet Virgil and he becomes Dante's guide into those fiery pits of Lucifer. Virgil takes Dante to the gates of Hell where the fearful Dante must put all his trust into his master to keep him safe: “His hand on mine: so, trusting to my guide, / I followed him among things disclosed” (Alighieri 3

that Virgil is a worthy guide. This paper will show how Dante chooses to use Statius as a Roman poet in the mold of Virgil, who is yet saved by his belief in the Redemption of Jesus Christ whose coming Dante likely believed was prophesied in Virgil's Aeneid. Statius was a first century Roman poet who wrote after the same fashion as Virgil, but whose life begins after the crucifixion of Christ had already been recorded. Thus, Statius, as Roman and poet, is in a position not open to Virgil, whose

Purgatory, and Paradise. He is lead through the inferno by the ancient poet Virgil, and while Virgil is still present as a guide through Purgatory, there is a defined shift in his role. Through Inferno, he is without a doubt a knowledgeable guide, whilst in Purgatorio, Virgil walks behind Dante and often relies on the souls ascending Mount Purgatory to help led the way. Dante uses this shift, and the allegorical representation of Virgil as human reason, to show that comprehension of pure love is beyond human

What If Virgil… Could Not Pass? In Dante’s influential The Divine Comedy: Purgatory, the character Virgil, Dante’s kindly guide throughout his endeavors, plays a crucial role from the beginning to end of the text; seemingly no events occur throughout Dante’s otherworldly perception of his religious universe without the intervention or involvement of Virgil along the path of the Dante character. For instance, in The Divine Comedy: Inferno, Virgil accompanies and instills holy knowledge upon Dante

When Virgil shows the Trojans accepting their fate during the fall of Troy in Book II, he writes: ‘Trojans we have been; Ilium has been; The glory of the Teucrians is no more; Black Jupiter has passed it on to Argos’ (Book II, 324-327) Fate is merciless, and instead of being masters of their own lives, people’s lives were manipulated and “passed on” from Jupiter to Argos; a fate that is out of their own hands knows no recourse. When Priam was later killed by Pyrrhus in his own palace, Virgil writes:

readers walk along-side Dante and Virgil as they take a journey through Hell. Dante believes that worldly honest truths and glory to God pave an excellent path for souls in the afterlife. Dante uses an allegory to relate the poem to every man’s tribulation through sin and moments of weakness that effect the realms of how a life for God is lived. The poem focuses on Hell and the tortures sinners go through for the different sins committed in the real world. What if Virgil plays a God figure to Dante as

Virgil may have started merely as a guide to Dante in Inferno, though in Purgatorio he becomes more a more modest acquaintance through his self-awareness. Within Inferno, it seems Virgil is strictly under the noble instructions of Beatrice, however as both him and Dante construct a relationship I find him to become incredibly humbling. This is quite noticeable with the comparison of his reaction and feelings of reprimanding due to Cato’s questions of Dante being the alive soul. The change of heart

the clichéd, all-knowing and morally sound guide by placing Virgil the poet in this role. Virgil’s tragic predicament as a virtuous pagan propels Inferno’s message with respect to the nature of sin through his interplay with both Dante the Pilgrim and his surroundings. To examine Virgil’s role in the Divine Comedy as a whole, one must first delineate the three main characters of the Inferno: Dante the Pilgrim, Dante the Poet, and Virgil. Dante the Poet is the speaker of the tale within the text (not

In Canto VIII, Dante and Virgil travel on a boat down the river Styx and through the fifth circle of hell. At this location, they encounter Filippo Argenti, a long time enemy of the Guelph’s. The reader is struck with an image of a wrathful Dante and Virgil and must decide whether or not their actions are justified. What the reader perceives as fair is the deciding element that reflects whether or not he/she too is wrathful. Within lines 31-66, Filippo emerges from the river to ask who is in hell