If you were to ask me what color hair I have or what color eyes, I would be able to answer your question. But what I never realized before reading The Inferno is that everyone and anyone can see me better than I can see myself. Sure I can simply look in a mirror, but that would provide me with nothing more than a mere reflection. The one person you can never truly lay your eyes on is yourself, for only others can actually see you. The same can be said about sin. One can easily look at someone and point out their wrong doings, but looking at themselves proves to be a bit more of a challenge. Like your image appears blurry and backwards in a mirror fogged up after a steamy shower, so does your mental image when you assess your character. Clearing
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With his “soul” “sunken [with] cowardice”, he was always quick to faint and sympathize for the sinners (Alighieri 12). Typically, one sympathizes for someone who has committed a wrongdoing that they may be prone to committing themselves. Therefore, as Dante first began his journey through Hell, he sympathized for any soul who could tell a good tale. This greatly frustrated Virgil who so desperately wanted Dante to see that “the other fools” deserved every second of their torture (Alighieri 161). Through Virgil’s scolding, however, Dante eventually took one step closer to perfection and lost all pity he once carried for the sinners. He even goes as far as to find pleasure in the sinners’ suffering by denying them the privilege to shed the tears he once readily shed along with them, for he believed that ”to be rude to [them] was courtesy” (Alighieri 275). Virgil was able to have this effect on Dante because his respect was something Dante sought so desperately and this was key in helping Dante through his spiritual journey. In spite of how powerful Virgil seemed in the earliest cantos, it is when Virgil appears helpless that he is helping Dante the most by showing him that human reason can only go so far without divine
With his “soul” “sunken [with] cowardice”, he was always quick to faint and sympathize for the sinners (Alighieri 12). Typically, one sympathizes for someone who has committed a wrongdoing that they may be prone to committing themselves. Therefore, as Dante first began his journey through Hell, he sympathized for any soul who could tell a good tale. This greatly frustrated Virgil who so desperately wanted Dante to see that “the other fools” deserved every second of their torture (Alighieri 161). Through Virgil’s scolding, however, Dante eventually took one step closer to perfection and lost all pity he once carried for the sinners. He even goes as far as to find pleasure in the sinners’ suffering by denying them the privilege to shed the tears he once readily shed along with them, for he believed that ”to be rude to [them] was courtesy” (Alighieri 275). Virgil was able to have this effect on Dante because his respect was something Dante sought so desperately and this was key in helping Dante through his spiritual journey. In spite of how powerful Virgil seemed in the earliest cantos, it is when Virgil appears helpless that he is helping Dante the most by showing him that human reason can only go so far without divine