How Does Dante's Contrapasso

Dante's contrapassi serve to reflect the sin of the condemned through their inflicted punishment. On top of this, Dante ingeniously displays the Divine Justice, Wisdom and Art through his contrapassi. In the circle of the suicides, the sinners are transformed into a forest of shrubs devoid of life. In the bolgia of the schismatics, each sinner is cut up pertaining to how they commited their sin. In the circle of suicides and the bolgia of sowers of discord, Dante displays Divine Justice, Wisdom, and Art through the detailed description of the landscape and contrapasso, as well as the Pilgrim's interviews with the condemned. To begin, the contrapasso of the suicides illustrates the perfection of divine justice, wisdom, and art, through Dante's

The Pilgrim speaks with Pietro della Vigne and "pity chokes his heart" (13.84). However, God knows Pietro is unrepentant and for this reason he remains in hell. Thus, Divine Justice is able to see through the lies of the sinners and aptly deliver punishment. Divine Justice is further illustrated through his explanation of the contrapasso. The suicides must endure the pain brought on by the harpies. Their branches, like limbs, are torn and blood replaces what is normally sap. Harming themselves in life, Divine Justice forces the sinners to suffer bodily mutilation in death. Similarly, Pietro states that the suicides will "never again to wear them-wrong it is/for a man to have again what he once cast off" (13.104-105). Instead they "shall hang forever more,/each one on a thorn of its own alien shade" (13.107-108). Therefore, because they discarded their bodies in life, which are creations of God, they will not regain their bodies in death. Divine Justice punishes the sinners for their actions in life with fitting

When Dante follows Virgil's instructions to break off a branch, the Pilgrim realizes that the soul of men are trapped in each scrub. The human soul has become that of a plant, the lowest life form possible. The suicide's contrapasso further displays Divine Art through the expression of the brambles. The sinners' only mode of communication is through bleeding and thus through are only able to articulate their emotions through bodily harm. In conclusion, in the circle of the suicides, Divine Justice, Wisdom, and Art is displayed through the Poet's description of the landscape, and the Pilgrim's interview with Pietro delle