This comparison enables the reader to visualize the massive size of Lucifer.
Dante also goes onto describe the ugliness of Lucifer. The language he used is very entertaining. Dante says:.
If he was once as handsome as he now.
is ugly and, despite that, raised his brows.
against his Maker, one can understand.
how every sorrow has its source in him! (XXXIV. 34-37).
This description allows the reader to use the minds eye to see Lucifer. It also enables the reader to know the reason why Lucifer is so ugly, every sorrow has its source in devil. Dante makes the great analogy that ugly is evil and evil is ugly in those few lines.
Next, Dante allows the reader to know what the devil might actually look like. He describes a head with three faces. The face in the front was a blood red color. The face on the right was a yellow-white color. The face on the left was a dark color, black. The reason for the three heads and their colors are not for certain, but it is believed that the colors represent hatred, impotence, and ignorance. Dante creatively describes Lucifer as very strange and unreal looking, which is fitting for the idea of the appearance of the devil, by using the idea of three faces on one head.
Dante waited until the last ring of hell to finally tell us why it got colder and winder the deeper into hell he went. It was from the massive winds created by the overwhelmingly large wings of Lucifer. The winds being so cold shows the reader how powerful the wings really are. The powerful wind that Lucifer creates symbolizes his power in hell. His power is the same as the wind he makes, it affects everything in hell.
Dante also explains the faces a little more to the reader after describing the wings. A gross detail of the faces is that, out of each of the six eyes the devil cried blood that dripped down his three chins. This detail is very disturbing and causes the reader to have a sense of the inhumane ways of Lucifer.
