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Who guides Dante through Hell and Purgatory in The Divine Comedy?
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Dante
Italian poet Dante Alighieri, oil on panel by an unknown artist, c. 1550; in the Yale University Art Gallery
In The Divine Comedy, the Roman poet Virgil serves as the guide who leads Dante through the Inferno and Purgatorio.1
While Virgil acts as an exponent of classical reason and a moral teacher throughout these two realms, he eventually gives way to Beatrice, who guides the protagonist through Paradiso.21