Contrapasso

Method of infernal punishment

This article is about the term from Dante’s Inferno. For the Westworld episode, see Contrapasso (Westworld).

The Contrapasso of the sorcerers, astrologers, and false prophets, illustrated by Stradanus

In Dante's Inferno, contrapasso (or, in modern Italian,[1] contrappasso, from Latin contra and patior, meaning "suffer the opposite") is the punishment of souls "by a process either resembling or contrasting with the sin itself."[2] A similar process occurs in the Purgatorio.[2]

One of the examples of contrapasso occurs in the fourth Bolgia of the eighth circle of Hell, where the sorcerers, astrologers, and false prophets have their heads turned back on their bodies such that it is "necessary to walk backward because they could not see ahead of them."[3] This alludes to the consequences of predicting the future by evil means and displays the twisted nature of magic in general.[4] This example of contrapasso "functions not merely as a form of divine revenge, but rather as the fulfillment of a destiny freely chosen by each soul during his or her life."[5]

The word contrapasso can be found in Inferno, in which the decapitated Bertran de Born declares: Così s'osserva in me lo Contrapasso (XXVIII.142),[6] which was translated by Longfellow as "thus is observed in me the counterpoise",[7] and by Singleton as "thus is the retribution observed in me."[8] Dante believes that De Born is in the ninth Bolgia of schismatics for causing Henry the Young King's rebellion against his father, Henry II of England.[9] De Born is decapitated as a contrapasso for his supposed act of political decapitation in undermining a rightful head of the state.[9]

Dante inherited the idea of "contrapasso" from various theological and literary sources. These include Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica as well as medieval ‘visions’ such as Visio Pauli, Visio Alberici, and Visio Tnugdali.[1]

## See also[edit]

* Naraka, in Indian religions where punishments resemble sins committed in life

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ a b Encyclopedia Dantesca, Biblioteca Treccani, 2005, vol. 7, article Contrapasso.
2. ^ a b Mark Musa, commentary notes in The Divine Comedy. Volume 1: Inferno. Penguin Classics: 1984, pp. 37-38.
3. ^ Inferno, Canto XX, lines 14–15, Mandelbaum translation.
4. ^ Dorothy L. Sayers, Hell, notes on Canto XX.
5. ^ Peter Brand and Lino Pertile, The Cambridge History of Italian Literature, 2nd ed, Cambridge University Press, 1999, ISBN 0-521-66622-8, pp. 63-64.
6. ^ "Princeton Dante Project (2.0)". Etcweb.princeton.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-04-29. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
7. ^ "Dante; Poetry of Dante Alighieri; full text of Dante's Divine Comedy - Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso, at". Everypoet.com. Archived from the original on 2011-09-01. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
8. ^ Dante Alighieri (1971). Inferno. Charles S. Singleton. London: Routledge and K. Paul. ISBN 0-7100-6996-0. OCLC 2656376.
9. ^ a b Mark Musa, commentary notes in The Divine Comedy. Volume 1: Inferno. Indiana University Press, 1996, ISBN 0-253-32968-X, p. 380.

* v
* t
* e

Dante Alighieri

Works in Latin|

* De vulgari eloquentia
* De Monarchia
* Eclogues

Works in Italian|

* La Vita Nuova
* Le Rime
* Convivio

Divine Comedy|

* Inferno
* Purgatorio
* Paradiso
* Cultural references

Books, articles, concepts|

* Contrapasso
* Dante Encyclopedia
* Enciclopedia Dantesca

People in Dante's life|

* Alighiero di Bellincione (father)
* Jacopo Alighieri (son)
* Guido Cavalcanti
* Brunetto Latini
* Beatrice Portinari
* Ferreto de' Ferreti

Papal commentaries|

* Cando lucis aeternae

Dante in popular culture|

* Dante crater
* Dante asteroid
* 83 Beatrix
* Dante Alighieri Academy
* Scuola Italiana Dante Alighieri
* Dante Park, New York
* Dante Park, Montreal
* Monument to Dante
* The Barque of Dante (1822 painting)
* Dante in Hell (1835 painting)
* Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta Appraised by Dante and Virgil (1835 painting)
* Dante and Virgil (1850 painting)
* The Barque of Dante (1858 painting)
* Dante's Dream (1871 painting)
* Dante and Beatrice (1883 painting)
* Dante Alighieri (1921 sculpture)
* Dante Symphony
* Italian battleship Dante Alighieri
* Devil May Cry
* Dante's Inferno (video game)

Related|

* Tomb of Dante
* Dante Society of America

* v
* t
* e

Dante's Divine Comedy

Characters
and locations|

| Inferno|

* Acheron
* Bertran de Born
* Bonturo Dati
* Brunetto Latini
* Caiaphas
* Cavalcante de' Cavalcanti
* Capaneus
* Cerberus
* Charon
* Chiron
* Ciacco
* Ciampolo
* Circles of Hell
* First
* Second
* Third
* Fourth
* Fifth
* Sixth
* Seventh
* Eighth
* Ninth
* Cocytus
* Dis
* Farinata degli Uberti
* Filippo Argenti
* Francesca da Rimini
* Geryon
* Gianni Schicchi de' Cavalcanti
* Great refusal
* Gualdrada Berti
* Guido Guerra
* Guido I da Montefeltro
* Iacopo Rusticucci
* Malebranche
* Alichino
* Barbariccia
* Cagnazzo
* Calcabrina
* Ciriatto
* Draghignazzo
* Farfarello
* Graffiacane
* Libicocco
* Malacoda
* Rubicante
* Scarmiglione
* Malebolge
* Minos
* Nessus
* Paolo Malatesta
* Phlegethon
* Phlegyas
* Pietro della Vigna
* Plutus
* Pope Boniface VIII
* Pope Nicholas III
* Ruggieri degli Ubaldini
* Satan
* Styx
* Ugolino della Gherardesca
* Ulysses
* Vanni Fucci
* Virgil

|

Purgatorio|

* Alagia Fieschi
* Arnaut Daniel
* Beatrice Portinari
* Beatrice d'Este
* Belacqua
* Bonagiunta Orbicciani
* Bonconte I da Montefeltro
* Casella
* Cato the Younger
* Conrad Malaspina
* Eunoe
* Forese Donati
* Gaia da Camino
* Garden of Eden
* Gherardo III da Camino
* Giovanna da Montefeltro
* Guido Guinizelli
* Hugh Capet
* Jacopo del Cassero
* Giovanna Visconti
* Lethe
* Manfred
* Marco Lombardo
* Matelda
* Nella Donati
* Nino Visconti
* Oderisi da Gubbio
* Omberto Aldobrandeschi
* Pia de' Tolomei
* Pope Adrian V
* Sapia Salvani
* Sordello
* Statius

Paradiso|

* Adam
* Bernard of Clairvaux
* Bonaventure
* Cacciaguida
* Charles Martel of Anjou
* Constance, Queen of Sicily
* Cunizza da Romano
* David
* Empyrean
* Folquet de Marselha
* Gabriel
* God
* Hierarchy of angels
* Imperial Eagle
* James the Great
* John the Apostle
* Justinian I
* Mary, mother of Jesus
* Peter Damian
* Peter Lombard
* Piccarda
* Ripheus
* Solomon
* Saint Peter
* Thomas Aquinas
* Trajan

Concepts|

* Contrapasso
* Terza rima

Verses|

* "Pape Satàn, pape Satàn aleppe"
* "Raphèl mai amècche zabì almi"

Adaptations|

| Architecture|

* Palacio Barolo (Palanti, 1923)
* Danteum (Terragni, 1938)

|

Cinema|

* L'Inferno (1911)
* Dante's Inferno (1924)
* Dante's Inferno (1935)
* The Dante Quartet (1987)
* A TV Dante (1989)
* Dante's Inferno (2007)
* Dante's Inferno: An Animated Epic (2010)
* Dante's Hell Animated (2013)
* Botticelli Inferno (2016 documentary)

Illustrations|

* Divine Comedy Illustrated by Botticelli (1485)
* Jean Giraud (Paradiso, 1999)

Literature|

* The Story of Rimini (1816)
* La Comédie humaine (1830–1850)
* Earth Inferno (1905)
* The Cantos (1917–1962)
* As I Was Going Down Sackville Street (1937)
* The System of Dante's Hell (1965)
* Demon Lord Dante (1971)
* Inferno (1976)
* The Dante Club (2003)
* Jimbo's Inferno (2006)
* Inferno (2013)

Music (classical)|

* Après une Lecture de Dante: Fantasia quasi Sonata (Liszt, 1849)
* Dante Symphony (Liszt, 1857)
* Francesca da Rimini (Tchaikovsky, 1876)
* Francesca da Rimini (Rachmaninoff, 1904)
* Francesca da Rimini (Zandonai, 1914)
* Gianni Schicchi (Puccini, 1918)
* The Divine Comedy (Smith, 1996)
* Inferno (Ronchetti, 2020)

Music (modern)|

* Inferno (1973 album)
* "Dante's Inferno" (1995 song)
* Dante XXI (2006 album)
* A Place Where the Sun Is Silent (2011 album)

Paintings|

* The Barque of Dante (Delacroix, 1822)
* The Wood of the Self-Murderers: The Harpies and the Suicides (Blake, 1827)
* Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta Appraised by Dante and Virgil (Scheffer, 1835)
* Dante in Hell (Flandrin, 1835)
* The Barque of Dante (Manet, 1850s)
* Pia de' Tolomei (Rossetti, 1868)
* Paolo and Francesca da Rimini (Rossetti, 1885)
* La barca de Aqueronte (Hidalgo, 1887)
* La Laguna Estigia (Hidalgo, 1887)

Sculptures|

* The Gates of Hell (Rodin, 1917)
* The Kiss (1882)
* The Thinker (1904)

Video games|

* King of Demons (1996)
* Devil May Cry series (2001)
* Dante's Inferno (2010)
* The Lost (cancelled)

Related|

* Cultural references
* English translations
* In popular culture

* Category

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template