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Essay Questions
1. Describe Virgil's function in the Inferno. How does he differ from Dante? What does he represent? Is he an apt guide or could someone else have done better?
2. How does Dante grow as a character in the poem? How does his reaction toward sin change?
3. Dante wrote the Inferno partly as a warning to the people of Florence. Describe the political events of the time and how they affected this poem. What do some of the characters in the poem have to do with Dante's political views?
4. Descibe the nature of Divine Retribution and use examples from the text.
5. Why does Dante spend so much time on the eighth circle? What, in your opinion, were his motivations for spending thirteen cantos with those particular sinners?