In Dante's Inferno, Dante takes the reader on an allegorical trip through the depths of Hell. The character of Dante passes through circle after circle devoted to the various vice and sin of humanity. On this journey through evil's core, Dante witnesses unthinkable suffering, and in spite of it all, manages to participate in some of the sin that is responsible for the torturing of the wretched shades. The acts of participation are not arbitrary on the part of the writer, they are there for a purpose: to make the story of Dante's divine journey one that applies to the universal quest of humankind to find God's love.
             The very first line in the Inferno gives the reader a clue as to how the story should be read: "When I had journeyed half our life's way". Dante does not say "When I had journeyed half my life's way," instead he chooses to use the word our. This is essential because that word alone broadens the parameters of the story from that of a simple autobiographical tale about Dante's own life, to that of an extremely complex and encompassing allegory about life itself. The two following lines help to again humanize the character of Dante, "I found myself within a shadowed forest,for I had lost the path that does not stray." The path that Dante speaks of is the one that leads to righteousness and to the love of God which he also calls the "true path." It is apparent that Dante has been tempted from his holy path by worldly sin, although the text never explicitly says which sin it is that distracts him so. If Dante had come out and said what sins had pulled him off the path, then the story would be narrowed and cheapened; instead he reaffirms the universality of the text by having Dante participate in many of the sins in Hell.
             The first example of this is among the gluttons in the Third Circle. Here Dante has an interesting conversation with a bloated ...