In The Divine Comedy, by Dante Alighieri, Virgil is the dead guide that shows Dante on his way through Inferno and Purgatorio. In life Virgil was a poet who wrote the Aeneid, a story about a Trojan who travelled to Italy. In The Divine Comedy Virgil is a character that is stuck in the Inferno because Virgil died before Christ visited earth, so he could not get farther than the first level of the Inferno.
Virgil appears to Dante when Dante is lost in the woods and is sent by Beatrice to guide Dante through the Inferno and Purgatorio. Beatrice is "too good" to descend to Purgatorio and Inferno, so Virgil is assigned to the task because they are both poets and she believes that Virgil is the best person to guide Dante. Interestingly, …show more content…
Dante learns a lot from Virgil throughout his journey, and he even cried when Virgil had to leave at the end of Purgatorio. Even Beatrice would not have been as apt a guide as Virgil for Dante through the Inferno and Purgatorio. Dante needed to learn what he learned from Virgil through those stages. It would have been too overwhelming for Dante if Beatrice had met him right at the beginning of the Inferno, he needed to see the consequences of losing the True Way beforehand or he could have had a completely different reaction to Beatrice saying his mind is “like a stone, so darkened that the light of what I tell you strikes it blind” in Canto 33 of Purgatorio. Journeying through the Inferno and Purgatorio before meeting Beatrice allowed Dante to better understand where she was coming from when he first met her.
Virgil does a lot for Dante throughout The Divine Comedy. Beatrice was wise choosing Virgil as a guide for Dante until they got to her. The story of Dante and Virgil is an allegory, literally they are two men who journey through hell and purgatory together, but metaphorically, they represent the connection between intellect and instinct. They display throughout the story how you must have both, and must use both wisely. You must have intellect to teach instinct, and must have instinct to keep intellect under
Virgil appears to Dante when Dante is lost in the woods and is sent by Beatrice to guide Dante through the Inferno and Purgatorio. Beatrice is "too good" to descend to Purgatorio and Inferno, so Virgil is assigned to the task because they are both poets and she believes that Virgil is the best person to guide Dante. Interestingly, …show more content…
Dante learns a lot from Virgil throughout his journey, and he even cried when Virgil had to leave at the end of Purgatorio. Even Beatrice would not have been as apt a guide as Virgil for Dante through the Inferno and Purgatorio. Dante needed to learn what he learned from Virgil through those stages. It would have been too overwhelming for Dante if Beatrice had met him right at the beginning of the Inferno, he needed to see the consequences of losing the True Way beforehand or he could have had a completely different reaction to Beatrice saying his mind is “like a stone, so darkened that the light of what I tell you strikes it blind” in Canto 33 of Purgatorio. Journeying through the Inferno and Purgatorio before meeting Beatrice allowed Dante to better understand where she was coming from when he first met her.
Virgil does a lot for Dante throughout The Divine Comedy. Beatrice was wise choosing Virgil as a guide for Dante until they got to her. The story of Dante and Virgil is an allegory, literally they are two men who journey through hell and purgatory together, but metaphorically, they represent the connection between intellect and instinct. They display throughout the story how you must have both, and must use both wisely. You must have intellect to teach instinct, and must have instinct to keep intellect under