Dante's Staunchness
Dante has been becoming more staunch towards the people he sees in Hell. In the previous canto, Dante informs Bocca that he will pull out his hair if he fails to tell him his tale.Upoon hearing Count Ugolino's speech, which Robert Hollander puts forth as the most pitiful of the whole Inferno in his book, “Allegory in Dante's Commedia,” Dante does not weep. This is the first time in The Inferno that we see Dante express absolutely no pity, despite how tragic Count Ugolino's tale is. Here he has fully realized that which was said to him by Virgil, which was he was not brought down into Hell to feel pity for the people, but to learn the reasons why they were there.Later, in another example of Dante's lack of pity for those in Hell, he does not open Fra Albergio's iced-over eyes as he has promised to do.
Source: “Allegory in Dante's Commedia,” by Robert Hollander 1969
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