Perhaps the most defining difference between the two Underworlds is the fate of the soul. In Vergil’s Underworld, after the soul’s suffering is complete, it is cleansed and may be reincarnated. However, in Dante’s hell, once a person dies, the soul is doomed to suffer eternally in hell for his or her sins. The shift from Vergil’s to Dante’s view of the afterlife is reflective of the societal progression from Augustus’ reign in Italy to Italy’s Middle Ages. Over the course of 1,400 years, as Vergil’s and Dante’s respective societies changed, the ethical standards changed accordingly. Thus, the expectations of the type of person who would be placed in hell also changed per the different classifications.
