How Does Dante Use Contrapasso In The Inferno

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Dante Alighieri's epic poem The Inferno follows Dante as he traverses through the nine circles of Hell with his guide, the famous Roman poet Virgil. Each circle of Hell is home to various sinners who each receive different punishments for their sins. Through many of these punishments, Dante utilizes contrapasso, or symbolic retribution. The punishments for the lustful, heretics, and fortune tellers all display Dante’s use of symbolic retribution, adding meaning to the punishment the sinners receive. In the second circle of Hell lies those who committed the sin of being lustful. This includes people who gave into their sexual desires, such as having sex before marriage or cheating. Here, “Their hellish flight of storm and counterstorm through time foregone, sweeps the souls of the damned before its charge” (36). The lustful are whipped around by a violent windstorm for all of eternity, never stopping. Dante uses contrapasso here as sexual desire is seen as people’s inner storm. The lustful gave into this inner storm and are now being punished by an actual storm in Hell. …show more content…

These are people who chose not to be baptised in a time when baptism existed or chose to follow a religion other than Catholicism. In this circle, there are “souls within these tombs” and “burning arks” (76). The souls of the heretics are placed in tombs that are set on fire, never burning out. There are multiple aspects to the symbolic retribution in this circle of Hell. In the Christian religion, tombs are seen as symbols of rest and peace after life. By lighting the tombs on fire, the heretics are never able to rest. Also, a symbol of Christianity is baptism which is performed with holy water. Fire is the opposite of water which is why the tombs are on fire. The heretics chose not to be baptised and are therefore given fire for their

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