Muhammad Tabani ITAL 293 October 6, 2014 The limitations of human intellect in Dante’s Inferno That human intellect is central to Dante Alighieri’s Inferno cannot be doubted. The pilgrim is guided through the abyss of hell by one of antiquity’s most illustrious intellects, Virgil. In canto IV we learn of why Virgil is condemned to an eternity in hell, and learn of the limits of the human intellect. In canto X we learn of two souls who have not realized the error of their ways and continue to believe in the power of their intellect, even though it has doomed them to hell. The towering figure of Ulysses in canto XXVI combines these earlier sentiments toward human intellect and the reader is shown that God will not tolerate these slights to his …show more content…
A foreshadowing of things to come, this is similar to how Dante will be so overjoyed at his reception by the great poets that he will not want to leave their company, which he ultimately must do if he is to finish his great journey. The fact that the pilgrim had to wake up to face the intellects of limbo may also be a way of Dante instructing the reader that man is figuratively woken up when he meets the likes of Homer and Ovid. That without the valuable intelligence found in the study of these men of genius, we are simply asleep. The description of the area in which the pilgrim wakes up also supports this fact. The pilgrim notices that this region of hell is especially dark; a darkness which is lifted only when he approaches the place where the souls of the illustrious pagans are …show more content…
He is one of the greatest pagans; indeed he reminds his soldiers “you are Greeks” (309) and has all the pride of Farinata. So great is his pride that Virgil volunteers to interview him in place of the pilgrim claiming that “since they were Greeks, they might not pay attention to your words” (307). It is important to note that Virgil emphasizes that Ulysses and Diomed “were” Greeks, that in this place of hellfire and filth , they are imprisoned like all other sinners and that their haughtiness, much like Farinata’s is