• "In both Doctor Faustus and Inferno, Dante and Faustus are held under the influence of their guides, and are thus led down a path of sin. Marlowe and Alighieri, the poet, tie their works with more familiar ideas or icons at the time. Marlowe uses the demon Mephistopheles, a creature created for the original legend of Faust, as an iconic figure viewers and readers recognize. Eventually famous in other German tales, Christopher Marlowe expands on Mephistopheles’ character, allowing him to achieve “tragic grandeur as a fallen angel, torn between satanic pride and dark despair” (Britannica). Alighieri introduces the poet Virgil, a famous classic Roman poet “best known for three major works – the Bucolics, the Georgics, and the Aeneid” (Poetry Foundation). Virgil is regarded as one of ancient Rome’s great poets, and Alighieri “chooses the Virgilian model” (Bloom 41) of an underworld descent over “the conjuration scenes of Lucan and Statius” (Bloom 41). Together, the two authors use these recognizable figures to lead their own characters’ journeys. In Inferno, Virgil serves as Dante’s teacher as they navigate hell. [...] Alighieri’s claim here is that “neither as poet nor as guide to the underworld can Virgil surpass Dante” (Guyler 37), and so he must instead resort to tricks to “reassert his authority over his rebellious pupil” (Guyler 38). One such incident occurs when “Fiends come charging after [them]. Seizing [Dante] instantly in his arms, [his] Guide – like a mother wakened by a midnight noise to find a wall of flame at her bedside – raised [him], turned, and down the rugged bank from the high summit flung himself down supine onto the slope” (Alighieri 198-199). Though this may seem like a rushed movement, “Virgil has waited until the last possible moment to effect their rescue,” thus forcing Dante to play right into Virgil’s plan (Guyler 37). As Sam Guyler so clearly states, “this rivalry between master and pupil has overtones of the blatant rivalry between poets” that Alighieri so adamantly depicts in the Inferno (Guyler 37). [...] Much like Virgil, Mephistopheles keeps his own charge in line, but while Virgil does this under the guise of being a benevolent teacher, Mephistopheles never tries to disguise his malevolent ways. He manipulates Faustus throughout the play, doing his best to keep Faustus from straying away from the path of sin. He is “a servant to great Lucifer,” and he makes this absolutely clear to Faustus as he attracts the good doctor with his supernatural powers (Marlowe 33). Faustus quickly has his “misgivings about magic repeatedly overcome by Mephistopheles’ ability to stage magical pageants and dumb shows populated by apparently embodied spirits” (Guenther 48). Where Virgil guides Dante through hell, Mephistopheles guides Faustus to hell, his favors to the doctor only bringing his soul closer to “anger[ing] God and lead[ing] him to withdraw his salvific grace,” thus damning his soul (Guenther 48). Mephistopheles “confess[es] […] and rejoice” (Marlowe 97) in his role in robbing Faustus “of eternal happiness” (Marlowe 97). Any hint of goodness in Mephistopheles can be promptly forgotten as he admits that “when [Faustus] wert I’ the way to heaven” (Marlowe 97), “’twas [he] […] [who] damned up thy passage” (Marlowe 97). Mephistopheles is a slave to the Devil, and “no more than he commands must [he] perform” (Marlowe 33)."