In Canto III, Dante finds himself in the vestibule of hell. Who does he meet here? What is their activity in hell? Is this our first example of Contrapasso?
When Dante finds himself in the vestibule of hell in Canto III he meets the souls who did not choose good or evil. Virgil says, "This is the sorrowful state of souls unsure, whose lives earned neither honor nor bad fame. " They are the people that are forgotten and have neither life nor death.
Who does Dante meet in Canto IV? What kind of a place does this seem to be? (Give examples from the text to support your claim). How do you think the poet Dante understands the role of the “virtuous pagans” in the grand scheme of Medieval theology?
In Canto IV, Dante meets the souls that did not have the unrepentant sin but were not baptised so they were stuck in Limbo. Virgil describes it saying, "they did not sin; if they have merit, it can't suffice without Baptism, portal to the faith you maintain." This seems to be a place of great pain because Virgil goes pale, which Dante mistakes for fear, but he just has so much pity for those trapped in here (like himself). There were many well known figures stuck in Limbo as well, such as Moses, Abraham, Homer, etc. I think that Dante sees the role of "virtuous pagans" in the grand scheme of Medieval theology as people to look up to for their great works and virtue but the were not saved because they were not baptised
Dante gives the classical, "Elysium", his own particular rendering. We will see him do this frequently with figures and concepts from the classical past, imbuing these ideas with a medieval theology and a poetic substance.
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