Divine ComedyThe Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri is considered the greatest epic poem of all time. The opening story of Dante Pellegrino's character is told in the first of three divisions: Inferno. The Inferno is a description of Dante's journey through Hell and the varying degrees of suffering and the many mythical creatures he encounters along the way. During his journey Dante shows many different feelings and actions but the emotion that sums up the entire poem is fear. Although some traits of his character change as his mind matures and recognizes the justice done, from the beginning to the final Canto, his fear does not subside. This helps to reinforce the symbolism of Dante as an everyman and serves to point the reader towards the moral purpose of the Divine Comedy, because of the humility and dependence on God that fear produces. In the first Canto, which serves as the introduction to the entire comedy, Dante meets the three beasts that prevent him from leaving the dark forest. Upon meeting the She-Wolf he writes: "This last beast so low'd my spirit / with a fright that seized me at the sight of it, / I lost all hope of ascending the hill" (I. 52-54). Dante is so shaken by the appearance of the three beasts that he rushes headlong into the dark woods he has just emerged from. This is only the first obstacle Dante encounters, but it proves insurmountable. When Dante and Virgil reach the gate of Hell, Dante is overcome with fear as he reads the inscription above the door and hears the screams and moans of those inside. He reacts to the inscription by shouting, "'Master,' I said, 'these words I see are cruel.' " (III.12). With this he demonstrates his fear of the unknown because he does not yet know exactly what he will see during his descent. One of Dante's truest displays of fear occurs when he reaches the vile City of Dis. When the "fallen angels" deny travelers access to the city, Virgil, usually imperturbable, appears even shaken. Understandably, this doesn't help Dante's nerves at all. He actually makes a side comment to the reader stating the terror he felt after the angels defied Virgil's request by saying, “And now, my reader, consider how I felt / when those haunting words reached my ears! / I thought we'd never see our world again!" (VIII.