What role does Virgil serve in the Inferno?

Virgil's
primary role is to serve as Dante's guide through the hell. Dante, at 35, is halfway through
life and feels he has lost his way. With the help of Beatrice, Dante gains what no mortal man
has: entry into Hades. Virgil's guiding him through the inferno at the request of Beatrice is
meant to help Dante return to a faith-centered life. Yet Virgil warns him that the trip will not
be easy:

I have come to lead you to the
other
shore; into eternal darkness; into fire and into ice.

Virgil represents reason, and this makes him a wise and knowing guide who Dante very
much looks up to as he explains the meaning of the various circles of hell. He also acts in many
ways as a literary device, moving Dante and the action onward when they threaten to get bogged
down in one place. In addition, he helps Dante, and therefore the reader, understand how to
interpret hell, scolding him, for example, for being sorry for the damned for the punishments
they are suffering.

Yet Virgil also has his limitations. He is the pinnacle
of reason, but he is from the pagan world, so he does not fully understand matters of faith. He
is a great sage when it comes to human reason, but he pales beside Beatrice when it comes to
divine knowledge. Although he been blessed by God for the good life he lived on earth, and has a
place in Limbo in the Hall of Kings, he is not a Christian, and therefore, cannot lead Dante
into Paradise.