ideology to reveal the real inner workings of society, and that the revolu-
tionary must understand these real inner workings in order effectively to
overthrow capitalism, in the same way that a mechanic must understand the
inner workings of a car in order to fix one. But, on this understanding, we
do not need a trustworthy guideto prod us along, but a teacher, who will sim-
ply explain things as clearly as possible. All the drama seems superfluous, if
not obscurantist. And, indeed, Marx has been accused of both superfluous
dramatics and obscurantism. If we are taking the dramatics seriously, how-
ever, then we must ask what they might mean, on their own terms.
To get our bearings, let’s return to Virgil. I’ve mentioned that Dante describes
him as “alert.” To what is he alert? By definition, a guide must know some-
thing a pilgrim cannot. The point of the pilgrimage is for the pilgrim to come
to see what she does not yet see, but the guide sees from the very beginning,
namely, the end of the pilgrimage. Virgil does not explicate the gate’s inscrip-
tion because he knows what Dante cannot yet know, and what the gate does
not tell: the way out of Hell. After all, Virgil’s reassurances are completely at
odds with the inscription and its apocalyptic ending, “Abandon every hope,
you who enter.” Dante’s fear and suspicion are warrantedby that inscription.
No pilgrim would willingly enter Hell after reading and understanding the
sense of these words, for they depict Hell as having no exit. Indeed, this
impression persists in the pilgrim right up to the moment he leaves Hell.
With Dante on his back, Virgil is climbing down Satan’s flank; when he reaches
the very center of the cosmos, he turns 180 degrees and begins to climb up
into the cave beneath Purgatory. Dante thinks Virgil is climbing back into
Hell, and he is confused when they emerge to find Satan’s feet protruding
helplessly into the cavern (Inf. 34.38–90). Dante cannot understand this rever-
sal and exit as he is experiencing it, much less foresee such an experience at
the beginning of his journey.
In fact, however, the gate’s depiction of Hell as a hopeless eternity was a
lie before Dante ever encountered it. Virgil recounts Christ’s harrowing of
Hell, when “[he] led forth from here the shade of our first parent, [.. .] and
many others, and he made them blessed.” Virgil does not, and cannot, rule
out a repeat performance. Moreover, Dante has already admitted that Aeneus
and Paul – two mortal humans – have gone down and returned safely (Inf.
2.13–30). But if people have passed through Hell, then its fearsome admoni-
tion seems less like fate, and more like braggadocio. Hell wantsthose who
enter to have no hope, but, given these past exceptions, it might not get its
The Origin of Political Economy and the Descent of Marx • 41