In Canto 28, Dante and Virgil come to the ninth male bolgge (“bad pocket”) of Hell. This simplicity contrasts the complexities of sin, creating a functioning balance between the two. Perhaps we should embrace a simplistic idea of contrapasso being a form of retaliation against sinners. While there is validity in both claims and evidence to support them, one may offer the idea that contrapasso is too broad a subject to be put under such rigid definitions. Thomas Aquinas, saying that the contrapasso 'denotes equal suffering repaid for the previous action.' This indicates that Durling believes that Dante punishes the sinner for the repercussions. Contrary to his argument is that of Robert Durling, who quotes St. 6.7-8) he believes the sin is mirrored upon the sinner. Is Dante cursing the crime? Or the resulting damage? In his article, 'Dante and the Death Penalty', Matthew Pearl argues that the torture inflicted is 'divine justice that redirects the essence of a crime back against the perpetrator, manifesting itself with slight differences in degree and style in each individual case' (Pearl. While we can agree the contrapasso is justification and retribution for the sinner's acts on Earth, there is some debate about what exactly is being punished. Contrapasso should instead be taken as a nothing more than the retaliation, which is then up for interpretation and is individual to each person. While there are some claims about the formula of contrapasso, one may argue that attempting to put a firm, set understanding or definition on it severely limits its implications. There is a debate about exactly how contrapasso works, its purposes and why Dante uses it in his particular manner. Essentially, the contrapasso determines punishment more unique to each sinner, rather than everyone burning in the fiery pit society is so quick to associate with Hell. The literal definition is the 'counter-strike' or the 'counter-suffering'. It describes the relationship between sin and the resulting justification in Hell. Understanding the Complexities of ContrapassoĬontrapasso is a term most commonly attributed to Dante's Inferno. Dante's Inferno and the Modern Imagination
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