Dantes Inferno Contrapasso Essay

Dante was an unremarkable man: his writing and especially The Divine Comedy – has had an unusually large influence on not just Italy and the Italian culture, but also western civilization and Christianity in general. Why The Divine Comedy is very popular? This narrative epic poem is very sophisticated but very popular. You may wonder why it had such an influence†¦ The answer might be that Dante was one of the first writers who explained Hell and the structure of it in very detailed way. Such descriptive writing inspired many artists to illustrate his manuscripts with images. This strong influence on the visual arts still have a lasting impression on the Western imagination for more then 700 years. Moreover, it has inspired the film makers so they started to take the idea Dante has suggested to the movies (Contrapasso is the fifth episode of the HBO science fiction thriller television series Westworld which refers to Dante’s Inferno). Thus, the episode title â€Å"Contrapasso† reflects the problem of Dehumanization and Dantes Nine and made huge resonance from Dante Alighieri’s The Divine Comedy. Let’s see what made Dantes writing so dramatic and striking. Contrapasso definition Before Dante, Hell was where sinners suffered because of their inability to feel the love of God. But Dante invented the concept of contrapasso, the idea that sinners should be punished in a way they deserve so their sin will dictate the way of the punishment. To start from the beginning, we need to define the term â€Å"Contrapasso†. Contrapasso (or, in modern Italian contrappasso) is derived from the Latin contra and patior, which mean suffer the opposite. Basically, it is a reflection of the sin being punished. Contrapasso refers to the punishment of souls in Dantes Inferno, by a process either resembling or contrasting with the sin itself.† But the idea of contrapasso is not an invention of Dante. It is the old moral-juridical principle of retribution embodied in the expression an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth which was first formulated in the Old Testament books of Exodus (21:23ff.) Leviticus (24:17-20) and Deuteronomy (19:21). Dante’s Inferno: contrapasso summary Every punishment for the crime committed is described in Inferno is intended to represent a contrapasso. To summarize the sins and its punishment in a corresponding way people sinned: resembling or contrasting with the sin itself, let’s make a journey: by following Dante’s descent circle by circle through the eternal abode of lost souls to define the contrapasso examples that best illustrate Dante’s concept of the latter. Circle 1: Limbo It is the only place within Hell that contrapasso doesn’t apply. In Limbo reside the unbaptized and the virtuous pagans, who, though not sinful, did not accept Christ and who are punished with eternity in an inferior form of Heaven. Circle 2: Lust. In this circle, Dante sees Semiramis, Paris, Cleopatra and many others who experienced sensual love in their life. These souls are blown to and from by the terrible winds of a violent storm, without hope of rest. This symbolizes the power of lust to blow one about needlessly and aimlessly. Circle 3: Gluttony The â€Å"Great Worm† Cerberus guards the gluttons, forced to lie in a vile slush produced by ceaseless foul, icy rain. The gluttons lie here sightless, careless and heedless of their neighbours, symbolising the cold, selfish, and empty sensuality of their lives. Slush and mud here reveal the true nature of sensuality – which includes not only overindulgence in food and drink, but also other kinds of addiction. Thus, cconterpasso is expressed with a rain of sewage combined with attacks of Cerberus. Circle 4: Avarice and Prodigality Those whose attitude toward material goods deviated from the appropriate mean are punished in the fourth circle. They include the avaricious or miserly people who hoarded possessions, and the prodigal, who squandered them. These sinners must push rocks using their chests in opposite directions until they meet, and then the process repeats. Circle 5: Anger Those who are aggressive or idle are doomed to struggle and suffer endlessly. Conterpasso here is presented as the wrathful fight on the muddy bank and the idle gargle and choke on black mud. Circle 6: Heresy It is represented as the entrance into Lower Hell. The major characteristic of this canto is the confrontation between Dante and the forces of evil. Conterpasso is reflected in the way that sinners burn in a sepulcher (tomb) for eternity. Circle 7: Violence A fictional version† of Dante is ordered to cross the river of boiling blood while being punished by the arrows of the Centaurs. The contrapasso concerns the ones who spilled anothers blood now must bathe in it for eternity and get pelted by the arrows of centaurs. For the ones committed suicide there is a special punishment: they are turned into trees and pecked at by Harpies. If a man was violent against God, he is doomed to suffer from Eternal rain of fire coming from the heavens, and if a man was violent against Nature, he is ordered to run throughout the fiery sands beneath the rain of fire. Circle 8: Fraud The eighth circle is called Malebolge (evil pouches, or ditches). This place is reserved to the sin of fraud. Contrapasso here is divided into two categories: 1st pouch: Panderers or Seducers. Sinners are forced to run back and forth within their ditch and are whipped by horned demons. 2nd pouch: Flatterers. Sinners are sunk in a river a shit which is supposed to represent their words There are different punishment for such sinners: to be buried upside down and set on fire. to get their head (skull) twisted backwards, mute and forced to walk around the circle forever. to be thrown into a river of boiling pitch and guarded by flying demons with grappling hooks and barbs. to be tormented by serpents whose bite causes the body to spontaneously combust, but to regenerate shortly thereafter. Circle 9: Treachery The last Ninth Circle of Hell is divided into 4 Rounds according to the seriousness of the sin though all residents are frozen in an icy lake. Contrapasso here is divided into two categories: If a man committed a sin to Kin- he must be buried in ice from the neck down, but can move their necks. If a man committed to the Country- he must be buried in ice from the neck down, but cannot move their necks. There is a special punishment for Traitors. Traitors against guests and benefactors are doomed to suffer in the following way: the first ones are punished so that only half of their faces are out of the ice and their tears freeze inside their eye socket. For Benefactors sinners completely engulfed in the ice in horrible positions with the inability to speak. To sum up, we can make the following conclusion. By presenting hell in the vernacular, he also found novel ways to portray already well-formed concepts attempting to expound upon the traditional notions. Dante does not want to redefine justice, but only to explain stating that for every sinner’s crime there must be an equal and fitting punishment. Dante introduced the concept of different punishments for different wrong deeds done. He described each punishment in detail, as level after level where the punishment would gradually increase. No doubt this masterpiece of writing has played an important role in the creation of a great many outstanding works of art.