This worthier spirit is Beatrice, who went down to Limbo to ask Virgil to aid Dante. He can only guide Dante through Hell and Purgatory eventually, “a worthier spirit shall be sent to guide ” ( Inferno, Canto I, 116). However, Virgil also recognizes that he is limited in how far he can ascend. In this way, Virgil maintains his role as a pagan prophet of the Savior, as he supposedly prophesied the birth of Christ in Eclogue 4. Virgil predicts that a Greyhound will come one day and drive the ravening She-Wolf back into Hell. On heroic verses serve well!ĭespite his concentration on Virgil’s poetic virtues, Dante still hopes that Virgil will save him from the beasts of vice. Dante requests That zealĪnd love’s apprenticeship that poured out Ironically, Virgil is both the source of Dante’s earthly glory and his guide in escaping the sin that resulted from his worldly success. When Dante first meets Virgil, he is primarily concerned with his renown as a poet. Of that sweet style whose measures have brought honor. Dante venerates Virgil as his true master and first author, Dante is stuck on a path of worldliness and is attacked by three beasts, representing various vices ( Inferno, 5). The readers first meet Dante as he is wandering through a wood, where he had strayed “from the True Way” ( Inferno, Canto I, 12). As Dante transitions from guide to guide, he ascends through Purgatory and Heaven and is thereby growing closer and closer to God. Bernard of Clairvaux, who is closer to the Blessed Mother, and therefore, to Christ, than Beatrice. However, Beatrice too is left behind for St. Beatrice’s role as a guide extends further than Virgil’s because Beatrice originally initiated Dante’s journey and requested that Virgil accompany him.

She draws him from Purgatorio through the spheres of Paradiso. Beatrice is Dante’s muse his relationship with her is Platonic. However, both because natural reason is limited, and because Dante’s vocation as a poet calls him to greater feats, Dante must ultimately surpass Virgil and leave him behind. Secondly, he is Dante’s poetic guide: his great work, the Aeneid, is the foundation of Dante’s poetic instruction. Virgil’s role within The Divine Comedy is two-fold: firstly, he is the bridge between the Christian and the pagan, and therefore he represents the extent to which human reason can guide Dante. In the Divine Comedy, Dante’s escorts through the afterlife form a Platonic ladder: they all draw Dante closer to the Empyrean, but they can also serve as distractions from the true path. If you have a Theology essay that you would like published that received a grade of an A- or higher, please be sure to contact us.īy Maria Keller, University of Notre Dame It has been edited and approved by Christianus Van Den Eijnden. The following was a college essay written by Maria Keller.

Virgil divine comedy