Virgil's Role in the Divine Comedy
In Dante's famous work, this historical figure of Virgil guides Dante on his pilgrimage through hell, purgatory, and heaven.  But besides this basic function, what other roles does Virgil play in the Divine Comedy?
A Guide
First and foremost, on a very schematic level, Virgil is a guide.  In a certain sense, Dante uses the figure of Virgil to support his fantastical journey - to answer questions to ground his narrative in a kind of familiarity.  A shade native of Limbo, he has been sent on a divinely-ordained mission to steer Dante through hell and Purgatory to Beatrice.  In the first two canticles, and in Inferno in particular, Virgil is in his element.  He knows the ins and outs of these otherwordly realms.  He knows to throw dirt in Cerberus' face to get around the watchdog, he knows to call Geryon for transportation, he even knows that Lucifer presents very little physical threat to the two travelers, and he is always explaining things to Dante.  For two canticles he rarely lets Dante leave his side.  In this very basic sense, Virgil is a guide: protective, gently explanatory, alert, cautious, savvy, and trustworthy.
 

Virgil comforts an anxious Dante while crossing the River Styx in Charon's boat (Delacroix)

Historical Virgil vs. Literary Virgil
It is important to note that Dante's construction and portrayal of Virgil in the Divine Comedy is based almost completely on Virgil as a poet, not a historical figure.  Virgil, like any author from the past, reaches us in two ways: through history and through literature.  We can read what other people had to say about Virgil, and we can look through history books to learn about his as a person.  However, we can also read his writing and get a different perspective.  The subtext of the Aeneid can give us even more insight to Virgil's character than his biography.
 
Dante, it seems, used primarily the second kind of information about Virgil.  The Virgil in the Divine Comedy is not a shy, gentle man prone to philosophy and always mindful of his rustic Mantuan farming roots.  No, the Divine Comedy's Virgil is the character communicated in the Aeneid: a brave, pious, comfortingly familiar man, with banks of knowledge and intellect as epically-proportioned as the Aeneid itself.

Vergil supports a terrified Dante 
(Henry Fuseli)
A Mentor
The reason for this is simple.  To Dante, Virgil wasn't a normal man.  Virgil wasn't an ancient Romen nieghbor he could go to for help.  To Dante, Virgil was a Roman poet, exalted and legitimatized by the staying power of more than 13 centuries.  Virgil, to both Dante the poet and Dante the pilgrim, is a mentor.  Dante revered Virgil as an artist; he feels subordinate to the poetic spectre of Virgil.  In fact, when Dante first meets Virgil, he exclaims, "O light and honor of all other poets, may my long study and the intense love that made me search your volume serve me now.  You are my master and my author"(Inf. I 82-85).  Dante held Virgil's poetry up as an example for himself, so Virgil was first and foremost a poet of the highest caliber.  It thus only makes sense that Virgil takes the shape and characterization of a mentor in the Divine Comedy, as well.
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last updated 12/15/00