From this point, Dante and Virgil traverse through the circles of hell, constantly berating and tormenting the souls they encounter; Virgil, more so than Dante, torments these souls and continuously encourages Dante to do the same. Virgil knowingly encourages Dante to hurt a soul that has committed suicide by instructing Dante to tear off a twig so that the souls story will be told; this once again continues the recurrence of Dante and Virgil treating various souls as spectacles. Repeatedly, the apparent goal of these spectacles is to instill a fear of sin in Dante and, therefore, instill within him a fear of God; "Look at that mighty one who comes and does not seem to shed a tear of pain." Dante, additionally, causes a soul to believe that his son is dead for his own personal gain. …show more content…
In fact, Dante wishes to embrace the souls he come sacross here, yet Virgil's influence on Dante's thoughts is increasingly prevalent; Dante only wishes to embrace these souls because he believes that Virgil would have condoned it. Therefore, Dante's actions continue to be influenced by Virgil's responses to them; Dante disparages Pope Nicholas for his simony, and while he worries that he was overly harsh, Virgil's approval urges on Dante's cruel behavior. Dante delights in the torture of the Simonites and where Dante, at the opening of the epic, would faint out of pity for those condemned to more trivial punishments he, now witnessing souls being hacked apart, gives them little regard other than for his own curious