Virgil: Consistent across two sources

Virgil plays an important role in his relationship to Dante in both the film and the poem.  However, their relationship is somewhat different in certain aspects due to the differences in the two conflicting Dantes.  The Dante from the book is an aspiring writer.  He has read many books in his past and would equate himself as on the path to being more successful than the writers before him.  We can see this evident in Canto 26 line 19 to 25 where Dante describes his talent as a gift from God placing himself superior to other poets who are now in hell.  The Dante in the film is a drunk who wakes up in the first scene asking “What did I do last night?” lost in a haze from the prior night’s drinking.  He is also the furthest thing from a writer, struggling to recall Virgil as an author of a book he fell asleep reading in class.

Virgil’s role is not diminished in the view of the two very distinct Dantes.  The role is only warped to better suit the protagonist.  In the book, Virgil is more intelligent in his rebuking and in his conversations with Dante regarding hell; Dante too is more intelligent and able to understand his reasoning.  In Canto 30 you can see an example of Virgil wisely rebuking Dante from taking joy in the bickering of two damned souls.  However, in the film Virgil must often respond with violence rather than words to affect the rather childish Dante.  You can see this corrective behavior in the scene with the car for sale where Dante becomes intrigued by the desire to have the car and is in turn slapped by Virgil.  Another example occurs with the treatment of Cerberus.  The use of the gun was far more influential on childish Dante than would have been so on profound Dante.

In both cases Virgil is wiser than Dante and is looking out for his best interest and leading him to question himself in the decisions he makes.  Virgil never alters in his role and never loses his usefulness in both the film and the book.  I’d even argue that Virgil maintains the parental type of relationship in the film that is more obvious in the book such as in Canto 23 when Virgil saves Dante.  Virgil must merely adapt to the new Dante by changing his style of leadership to hold the largest effect on Dante (seen as a disciplinary parent in the film).  I think the Virgil from the two sources, the book and the film, carries the same role.  He must only adjust to the Dante he is presented.  Thus the change of Dante is responsible for the change in Virgil, but the relationship and the role remain the same.  Virgil from the film is Virgil from the book.