In the Hell, Dante responds to the torments of sinners with fear and compassion. Compassion comes from the Latin root meaning “to suffer with” and Dante often engages in the suffering of sinners. He weeps for the magicians in Canto XX, lamenting that “tears, falling from [the sinner's] eyes, / Wet the buttocks, running down the crack. / Of course I cried" (XX, 23-25). His pity for the suicide leaves him speechless as he says: “I cannot [speak], so much pity takes over my heart” (XIII, 84). Dante identifies deeply with the writing of the love story of Francesca and Paolo, “while one spirit [Francesca] was telling me these words, / the other [Paolo] was crying, so much so that - out of pity - / I fainted, as if I had met death. ” (V, 139-41). In Dante's reactions to the plight of sinners, we observe him literally feeling and participating in their pain. Pity for the Suffering Dante forgets that the punishment of the sinner is self-inflicted. His compassion seems to question the morality of God's judgment. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay Canto II opens with Dante recalling: "I myself / alone prepared myself to undergo the battle / and of journey and of piety" (II, 3-5). This introduction isolates pity as a complex emotion that Dante will reveal on his pilgrimage through hell. In fact, piety is the reason Dante can experience hell while still alive. When Virgil loses the true path and finds himself lost in a dark forest, Beatrice (Dante's former love) takes pity on him and asks Virgil to guide him through the underworld. Virgil recalls that, after requesting her service, "she [Beatrice] turned away her shining, tearful eyes" (II, 116). Just as Beatrice's pity elicits an emotional response, Dante begins the Inferno by allowing compassion to confuse his emotions. Dante's compassion becomes particularly problematic in Canto XV when he recognizes Brunetto Latino, a fellow Florentine. Eager to converse with the sinner, Dante writes "I walked with my head bowed / as one who goes in reverence does" (XV, 43-44). This gesture of respect signals a change in Dante's moral compass. Contrary to religious doctrine, he appears to admire or venerate a sodomite. Dante proceeds to dispute God's punishment for Brunetto by declaring: “If my wish were fully granted, / you would still be / among humanity, not cast out from humanity” (XV, 79-81). Dante is quick to express mercy without recognizing the nature of Brunetto's sin. In contrast, Virgil shows restrained pity when Dante worries that his face is red with fear. Virgil explains his pallor by justifying that: «The anguish of the people / whose place is down here, has touched my face / with the compassion that you confuse with fear» (IV, 19-21). Virgil takes pity on the classical poets and scholars condemned to the eternity of Limbo. However, Virgil's speech goes on to reveal that, unlike Dante, his compassion is measured. He recognizes that piety is inferior to faith by saying: «They [the poets] did not worship God properly» (IV, 38). Virgil represents human reason and upholds God's justice. Later in the poem, Dante's tears for the sinners of the Eighth Circle are met with a warning. Virgil rebukes him by saying: “Are you as foolish as the others? / Here piety lives only when it is dead: / who in fact can be more impious than he / who ties the judgment of God to passivity?” (XX, 27-30) Virgil encourages Dante to abhor sin and not to pity the justice done to him. sinners. The further Dante delves into the underworld, the less the agonies of the damned affect him. In the,.