Canto 17 Analysis: Dante's Increasing Independence and Heroism Lauren Rebecca Helling College

While Dante is supported, both physically and mentally, by his guide Virgil throughout Canto 17, he demonstrates his increasing independence and understanding via his analysis of the events he faces. Dante is required to call on the spiritual and mental understanding he gains in this canto to overcome the challenges that hamper him in later cantos. In fact, even translations of the Inferno that differ in significant ways are in concordance on these aspects of Dante's evolution as a protagonist.

In preparation for the journey to the eighth circle, Dante and his reliable guide, Virgil, survey “the beast with the pointed tail, that passes through mountains and pierces walls and armor” that will bring them into the lower realms of Hell (Inf. 17.1-2). Dante takes a moment to examine the mythological monster whose “face was that of a just man… and the rest was that of a serpent” (Inf. 17.10-11). Later, Virgil reveals his name to be Geryon. Before Virgil commands the beast to act as their vessel, he instructs Dante to “carry away full experiences of this subcircle” by seeing the last of the sinners in the seventh circle. (Inf. 17.37-38). The shades whom Virgil refers to are usurers who are condemned to stare at the “bag of special...