How Is Contrapasso Used In Dante's Inferno

In Dante’s Inferno, Contrapasso was one of the many themes that was presented throughout the entire poem. Dante is guided by Virgil in which they travel through the many rings of the Underworld. Virgil is chosen because his wisdom and knowledge in which he leads Dante along their journey through hell. Contrapasso meaning “the punishment that fits the crime”. Each ring of the Underworld displayed various punishments of the sinners which reflected the theme. Also the rings become smaller and smaller and the punishments of the sinners become worse as Virgil and Dante proceed down each level in the Underworld. Some of the punishments were not as bad depending on what type of crime the sinner had committed. Dante uses the theme of Contraposso to …show more content…
In circle eight, which represents fraudulent, Dante shows how the theme of Contraposso is used in a more intense way to torture the sinners. It is also the largest circle out of them all since it is divided into ten “evil pockets” (Dante 450). In Canto XX, Dante and Virgil enter the fourth pocket in the eighth circle which held the Soothsayers. Once again the shades were sobbing and walking around desperately. These sinners were punished and tortured because they attempted to predict the future in the act of fortune telling. When Dante observed the sinners, he felt bad because of he knew they had to live that way for eternity and wouldn’t changed. He describes them as “incredibly distorted” in which the sinners heads were twisted backwards so they could never see straight forward again.(Dante 457) This atrocious act of punishment for those sinners affected Dante in a way that he felt sorry for them. Virgil states “In this place piety lives when pity is dead, for who could be more wicked than that man who tries to bend and divine will to his own!” (Dante 458) Basically Virgil wants Dante to know that the sinners in the Underworld are punished that way because they chose do whatever they want so now they have to suffer from being tortured. So therefore Dante should not feel down about how the sinners are

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