In these Cantos Dante continues his journey deeper into Hell, guided by Virgil. They cross the river Styx, where the shades of the wrathful are boiling, and descend into the city of Dis, within which much of the rest of the Inferno will take place. What kind of character is Dante the pilgrim? Is he a hero? A Christian hero? Can a hero need a guide who babies, protects, and reassures him the way Virgil does for Dante? Can a Christian hero revel in the suffering of sinners of the damned in hell, the way Dante does in Canto 7?

In a poem always interested in what should be seen and what should not be seen, why does Dante peer into the thickest fog to find his way? Why is an angelic messenger compared to a snake in an epic simile? We also consider Dante the poet’s direct address to the reader, as Dante the pilgrim and Virgil pass by Medusa and enter Dis, in Canto 9: “Oh you who have sound intellects, consider the teaching that is hidden behind these strange verses.” Is the interjection meant to just apply to the surrounding images, or to the entire Inferno? If it is meant to apply throughout the poem, why does Dante choose this moment to interject?