Dante the author and Dante the pilgrim are initially two quite different characters. Dante the pilgrim is more recognizably human for one thing. He displays normal human traits such as fear and compassion. Indeed, it is the latter quality that distinguishes him most significantly from Dante Alighieri the author. For instance, in canto 5, we see that Dante the pilgrim is clearly sympathetic to the plight of Francesca da Rimini. When she is finished telling her story, he faints. However, instructively, this all takes place in Hell, which is where Dante the author has placed Francesca for her adultery.
In canto 32, Dante encounters the shade of Count Ugolino in the second ring of the lowest circle of Hell, one reserved for betrayers. Ugolino is condemned for all eternity to gnaw away at the skull of Archbishop Ruggieri, the man who betrayed him by walling him and his children up inside a tower and letting them starve to death.
Yet, Dante the author makes it clear that Ugolino has also betrayed his children by eating them to avoid starvation, even though they begged him to.
At each stage of the Inferno we are made aware that the pilgrim is being gently pushed by the author along a spiritual path, one that will allow him to grow in wisdom and help him achieve sanctifying grace. Dante the author provides us with an omniscient perspective on things, one that transcends the necessarily more limited standpoint of Dante, the pilgrim. However, as the pilgrim finally ascends to the Empyrean realm and beholds the awesome spectacle of the blessed arranged in a snow white rose, he becomes one with Dante the author.
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