When Aeneas and the Sibyl reach the realm of the dead, they enter into a territory organized by the rules of ancient divine justice, a world at once orderly and chaotic, hellish and paradisal, organized in the final instance by the defining characteristics of the dead. The contrast with Wonderland or the world of the Sanatorium is marked – for both Alice’s dreamscape and Joseph’s either lack order or are ordered by a bizarre reflection of worldly rules. The Queen of Hearts rules over her domain, for example, but her power is constantly being undermined. The doctor rules over the Sanatorium, but he is rarely present. Virgil’s underworld is not a mere distorted reflection of reality – it is its own reality. Aeneas sees children who died in infancy grouped together, people falsely accused and executed, others who suffered profoundly during their lives because of love. War heroes occupy another space. Throughout these areas, Aeneas sees people he knew, even his Carthaginian lover Dido, whom he abandons to her death in order to pursue his heroic fate.

As the travelers go deeper, they reach the fundamental divide in the underworld between the hellish Tartarus and the paradisal Elysium. They are heading toward Elysium to see Aeneas’s father, of course, but this does not prevent the hero from taking a look in the other direction. Strong imagery describes this journey. Virgil writes: 

Like Wonderland, the kingdom of the dead is composed of a combination of real and surreal elements. A walled fortress is an image plucked from the earthly realm, the river of fire is decidedly supernatural or fantastical. Elysium, as one would expect, is the opposite of Tartarus. It is made up of lush green fields and golden sands. The sun shines. Orpheus plays his lyre. People dance, sing, exercise. Remember that Alice, too, aims to achieve a “garden” such as this. The contrast in the dream world between light and dark, is preserved within the underworld.