Examples Of Contrapasso In Dante's Inferno

Contrapasso is the over-arching theme, which is present entirely throughout Dante’s journey as he descends down Inferno. This theme, which hovers over all of the levels of hell, allows for all sinners to face punishments that are specific to their sins. Whether it is the outer level of hell, in Limbo, or the inner levels, in Judecca, all sinners face the same pain but in several different ways. The presence of a contrapasso strategy in hell demonstrates the idea of a just God, a God who created hell to only serve justice to the ones whom sin. The first great example of how hell serves justice can be seen in the first circle, Limbo. Limbo contains all the souls who were not given the chance to accept baptism; either they were born way too

Circle five is deep down in hell and you’d think by now the souls are being tortured by demons, but wrong, circle five is only terrible because of the sinners themselves. The circle is full of the wrathful, who are using anger as a tool to disembody each other and the sullen, who are doing nothing about it but watching and crying. These souls make their own hell with their own emotions; no one is making them so mad and so sad but themselves. Virgil says in Canto VII lines 115-121, “Now see the souls of those whom anger has defeated;..underneath the water are souls who sigh and make this plain of water bubble.” Circle five is filled with its own demons, one group shrinks into the darkness with its sadness and the other group erupts into flames with its adrenaline. This circle showcases, once again, just how fair hell is. The souls don’t need someone to make their lives miserable because they already do it for themselves. God simply puts all the wrathful and sullen souls together, and these souls build their own hell and that is why the punishment is just for them because God just allows them to continue to be