cantos 6-12

In the dead channel, one rose abeam/ Coated with mud, and addressed me: "Who are you,/ To come here before your time?" And I to him:/ "If I come, I do not stay; but who are you who have become so brutally foul?" "You see me: I am one/ Who weeps," he answered. And I to him, "In weeping/ And sorrow remain, cursed soul- for i have seen/ through all that filth: I know you!" He started gripped/ With both hands at the boat. My master stood/ And thrust him back off, saying, "Back to safekeeping/ Among the other dogs." And then my guide/ Embraces my neck and kissed me on the face/ And said, "Indignant soul, blessed indeed/ Is she who bore you. Arrogant in his vice/ Was that one when he lived. No goodness whatever/ Adorning his memory, his shade is furious.... And I said, "Master, truly I should like/ To see that spirit pickled in this swill,/ Before we've made our way across the lake." (Cantos VIII, 29-46; 50-51)
So I thought this passage extremely strange. Later on it names the wretched soul they are talking about as Filippo Argenti, who in real life, has bad blood with Dante. The theories of the animosity are: Filippo once slapped Dante, Filippo's brother had taken Dante's possessions after Dante's exile from Florence, and Filippo's family had opposed Dante's return from exile. But I also thought it strange that the guide praised Dante for being a jerk and provoking the shade. The shade simply asked why Dante, who was alive, was in hell, to which Dante replied, "but who are you who have become so brutally foul?" (33-34). Also, the guide doesn't seem to mind the vengence that Dante is seeking against a foe in his life on earth, which definitely doesn't seem like Dante being a good Christian. Also, in this point, you can definitely tell that Dante is the speaker in the journey through hell, since he's putting his biggest foe in the 5th level of hell. And even though they didn't get along great in life on Earth, it seems that Dante, if he gets to have the opportunity to be lead around hell by his favorite angel poet, would be more forgiving and kind. It just seems wrong.

"With his left hand/ He cleared the polluted air before his face/ And only in that annoyance did he seems tired./ I knew assuredly he was sent to us/ From Heaven..." (Cantos IX, 72-76)
Here Dante's arrogance is quite obvious. Why is it that Dante is so special that he gets a guided tour of heaven, hell, and purgatory? Dante seems to assume quite a lot about himself that Beatrice wants him to continue his art and has even given him a guide through places no other human has ever gone, just so that he can have some inspiration. Then, in this passage, his arrogance is obvious that some angel would come down from heaven just so that Dante could continue his journey. He assumes that angels have nothing better to do than to help some poet out, some guy who doesn't really seem to be that great of a Christian in his real life. Also, although I couldn't find the passage, his arrogance is extremely obvious when his guide tells him that it's good that he had trouble crossing the River Styx (maybe), because that means he's probably going to heaven. It seems rather presumptive of Dante to assume that he has lived his life entirely free of sin and that he will definitely be going to heaven. I think the whole deal where he's so special that he has a guide and that an angel opens the gate is extremely presumptive and arrogant of Dante, and isn't that some sort of sin?