Similarities Between Virgil And Dantes Inferno

Words: 613
Pages: 3

Two Halves Make a Whole The Inferno by Dante Alighieri portrays the adventure of the protagonist, Dante, and his guide, Virgil, on their journey through hell. The whole play is an allegory for how the everyman should feel about the sins in the world. Dante represents the everyman while his guide, Virgil, represents human reason. Together they are two halves of a whole. Without human reason, the everyman is a hyper emotional person. He becomes dictated by his feelings and makes rash decisions. However, human reason provides the contrasting rationality and logic required to make a full human capable of being empathetic as well as reasonable. Throughout their journey Virgil and Dante compliment eachother’s weaknesses in order to form him into a reasonable person. Virgil’s purpose as human reason is to instruct Dante as to how to feel about each sin. However, by the end of the novel Dante and Virgil agree about most of …show more content…
On the other hand in other situations Virgil has stepped in to stop Dante from an interaction with a sinner. In the tenth bolgia of circle eight of hell, Dante becomes engrossed in the quarrel of two sinners. His fascination in the fight between the sinners leads Virgil to reprimand him saying “Now keep on looking a little longer and I quarrel with you.” (XXX.132-133). Virgil raising his voice to Dante causes him to “wheel about with such a start of shame that [he] grow[s] pale yet at the memory” (XXX.134-135).Virgil, as human, reason knows that watching others fight is illogical and sinful, while Dante becomes emotionally engrossed in the two sinners’ argument. Virgil corrects Dante’s behavior by yelling at him. Dante immediately knows he was wrong, and is ashamed for it. Virgil is not necessarily teaching Dante new practices, but instead pointing out hidden logical ideas that Dante missed because he was overcome by