Cantos XXI - XXIII

"...and the devils milled\Toward us, pressing forward, so that I feared\They might not keep the pact. So I once saw\The soldiers frightened when they removed their guard\Out of Caprona by treaty..." (XXI. 90-94)

I think by this time, the references to Dante's home in comparison to events he sees in Hell are a defense mechanism. He creates an image in his mind of something similar happening on Human earth in order to block out some of the gruesome happenings that he encounters in Hell. Virgil's presence also shields Dante from being exposed to the raw harshness of Hell, and by the time he has reached this far into hell, he still retains the same guarded fearfulness. He does not seem to grow more afraid the deeper they go, except in certain instances of terror, because of his feigned calm and Virgil's reassurance. I say this because, at some point, comparing demons and devils to human soldiers is quite a stretch, and I think for any person, it would be hard to draw that similarity, but Dante does it not because he believes it neeccessarily, but because he wants to believe it.

To continue this somewhat the continuity between levels of hell, I address this next passage, several pages later:
"'Stand back, while I enfork him well,'\But to my master: 'ask him what you please-\If there is more you'd like to learn from him\Before he's butchered by another of us." (XXII. 57-60)

At every level, it seems, Dante and Virgil have the opportunity to question damned souls. Certainly I expect them to be trying to have that interaction, as Virgil wants Dante to learn as much as possible about hell, but I don't understand how the responses of the damned have not changed. At every interrogation, they speak to a tortured soul either under duress or under continuous pain and punishment. Despite this, each soul responds levelly and without overly emotional or painful responses. I would think that as one descends deeper into hell, the punishment gets worse, and the souls are more tortured. This, to me, should affect their responses or their willingness to speak to the living, yet in each case, it has not. This lack of change in response or demeanor of the damned souls further down in Hell makes me think that their punishments don't actually get worse, but simply different the deeper into Hell one goes. The other creatures inhabiting each level of Hell seems to be one changing facet, as the demons and devils become more prevalent the further one goes into Hell; however, even the devils don't seem to gain much ruthlessness as Dante's journey progresses, but instead retain the same level of cruelty as when they are first seen.