The idea of contrapasso in Dante’s Inferno is the pairing of sin with appropriate punishment. This is a theme evident in Dante’s first two circles as well as his “anti-inferno” in Cantos 2-5, and is further illustrated in Canto 6. Souls who have committed a certain degree of sin are sentenced to a specific circle, in which their sin is met with punishment equal to their acts against God’s will, and similar in execution. I might go so far as to describe the pairing of punishment and sin poetic, an almost ironic end for sinners who pervaded the will of God with their own.

As Dante wakes from his earlier faint in the 2nd circle and finds himself surrounded by the souls of the 3rd circle, Dante’s heavy imagery illustrates the punishment of the gluttons. These souls were poisoned by greed, and are now pelted by an eternal rain of snow, hail, and dirty water: “The rain makes them howl like dogs; they make a shield for one of their sides with the other; cast out wretches, they turn over frequently.” (19-21) As gluttons, their punishment is to lie in the mud as pigs writhing in the dirt, a comment on their state on earth. This is exemplified by Ciacco, an individual who earned his name for “the damnable sin of the bullet.” The idea of contrapasso is further and perhaps best illustrated in Canto 7. In the fourth circle, the avaricious push weights against each other. Those who spent too much or hoarded too much push against each other, poetically colliding against the opposite sin and calling out “Why do you hold?” and Why do you toss?” (29-30) Just as these souls went against the will of Fortune, a device of God, they now take what they have (their weights) and collide and push against each other, a metaphor for their behavior on Earth.

Ultimately, I believe that Dante wanted to express that hell reflects degrees of sin, but also that hell matches sin with a poetic punishment given the sin. This idea of contrapasso is shown in the pieces of the Inferno which we’ve seen, and continues to be a main theme for Dante’s vision of Hell.

I am struggling a bit with this prompt because I don’t find that Dante has much sympathy to give the damned in Cantos 6-9. Perhaps I am misreading the text but compared to the sympathy I perceived him to have for Francesca and Paolo, to the point where he fainted after witnessing their plight, the under current of emotional reaction is missing in my readings of these canto. Unfortunately, it is hard to find textual examples of a lack of emotion so instead I will focus more generally on his depiction of the Gorgons (or Erinni, they are described as Gorgons but labeled as Erinni elsewhere), found in Canto 9 lines 37-57. The story of Medusa and her sisters, found mostly in Ovid’s Metamorphosis 4.606-5.249 is heartbreaking in my opinion although apparently not to Dante. The story is basically that Neptune, God of the Sea, raped Medusa in the temple of Minerva. This angered Minerva causing her to punish the rape victim instead of her uncle the rapist by turning her into a woman with snakes for hair who could turn anyone who looked her in the eye into stone. She is later slain by Theseus who is assisted by the Gods. The mention of Medusa, who does not make an appearance in this canto, implies that she is in Hell suffering for her “crimes”. Unlike Francesca and Paolo, whose “crimes” were also sexual in nature and who Dante has the upmost sympathy for, there is no weeping or fainting over Medusa. While I understand Dante is told by Virgil to fear Medusa it is possible to both fear and pity someone. We can almost certainly say that Dante (the Poet) was very familiar with the works of Ovid since he references them countless times and therefore must have known the story of Medusa. The concept of rape has changed over time and neither Ovid nor Dante (the Poet) may have considered Medusa a rape victim. However, this isn’t the only instance of Dante’s lack of sympathy in Cantos 6-9. I will be paying closer attention to who Dante sympathizes with throughout Inferno and who he condemns.

Inferno Canto 9 Verse 46. Engraving by Gustave Doré found in an edition of the Divine Comedy on Project Gutenberg. Both book and artwork are in the public domain.

The idea that the only hope for those in Hell is for them to be remembered on earth has come up multiple times.  We have already seen in canto 3 that the cowards true punishment is that they can not be remembered, that they are not worth writing about and are unaccepted by both Heaven and Hell.  In Canto 3, line 64, we are told that these sinners “never were alive”.  However, in Canto 6, the Pilgrim encounters Ciacco, who asks the Pilgrim to remember him on earth, he tells him: “when you are back n the sweet world, I beg you, bring me to people’s minds”.  Despite Ciacco’s sin being worse than the cowards the Pilgrim encounters in Canto 3, he is able to hope for remembrance and receives it.  The inclusion of Ciacco in the text is the granting of his wish and the only ease of suffering he can get.  In the next circle, the Pilgrim wants to have pity for the souls there and asks Virgil if he would know any of them so that he could remember them, but similar to the cowards, the souls in this circle are not able to be granted that small hope.  Virgil tells the Pilgrim that part of their punishment is to be undistinguishable from each other, which makes it so that they may not be remembered.  Even in Canto 8, when the Pilgrim encounters the soul who attempts to touch the boat, a soul the Pilgrim wishes to be further punished, receives the kind act of being remembered on earth as Dante writes his name into the poem: “Filippo Argenti”.

“…Your city, which is full of envy that the sack already overflows, kept me with her during my sunny life.” (Alighieri, 49-51)

As Dante continues his journey with a guidance and help of his master Virgil he enters lower circles of Hell where he encounters new characters that represent different categories of sinners. By meeting those various characters face to face Dante refers not only to sins they committed but also to the political situation in Italy – the city of Florence, in particular.

In the Third Circle of Hell, the circle of the Gluttons, Dante meets Ciacco – the native of his own city –Florence. Ciacco probably died a few years after Dante (the author) was born and was a member of a rival party. He predicts the future of Florence, the events that will take place between 1300 and 1302. He is truly concerned that Florence will be divided due to jealousy, aspirations and hunger for wealth and success. Ciacco also informs the Pilgrim that many of important politicians of his time are situated and suffering in the lower circles of Hell. Just before lying back down in a muddy swamp he begs the Pilgrim to remember his name when he leaves Hell and goes back to the world above.

In the Fourth Circle of Hell Dante sees the sinners (The Avaricious and Prodigal) who constantly, without a break push heavy wheels of weights around in a big endless circle. Although Dante tries to recognize any of the sinners it is impossible because their faces (identities) are covered in dirt.

In the Fifth Circle of Hell Dante encounters the souls who are forced to fight in the muddy river without a break. These are the wrathful and sullen, who lived their life in anger and consequently wasted it. After crossing the river Styx Dante is being directly confronted by another Florentine – Filippo Argenti, who was the author’s major political enemy and a member of the powerful Adimari Family who was responsible, along with others, for exiling Dante from Florence. Filippo’s brother took all of his possessions The Pilgrim gets furious with Argenti and has a sort of verbal revenge on him. It was a completely different reaction to a sinful soul comparing to usual crying or fainting. This particular behavior of the Pilgrim made Virgil very proud.

To sum up both characters whom Dante meet continuing his journey through Hell -Ciacco and Filippo Argenti – are real people who while alive were directly connected to the political situation of Florence.

“A little after that, I saw such havoc
Made of him by the people of the mire,
That still I praise and thank my God for it.” (Alighieri 58)

I would like to talk about Author’s hatred for Argenti. The quote above is towards Argenti, and it’s evident that Dante (both the author and character) did not think highly of Argenti.  Up until now, Dante expresses nothing but sadness and guilt for these sinners except Argenti. It’s fascinating to see the reason why he is placed in this circle. We know that this circle is exclusively for sinners whom have committed wrath. For those whom are unfamiliar with this circle; these are people whom were consumed with anger in their lives. Now we don’t know in details Argenti’s backstory, or his relation towards the character Dante, but we do know from the text’s footnote(102 pages 63-64) that Boccaccio had mentioned in his Comento that Philippo Argenti is a man of great “pomp and ostentation”. We can suspect that this Argenti is an unpleasant person, and there’s unresolved conflict between the author and Argenti. I would like to know more about their conflict but I digress. What’s important in this post is how funny it was that the author managed to put this character Argenti whom as far as I can tell was no real substance to this sinner in terms of the grand scheme of the author’s intentions. Argenti wronged the author is the most minimal way, and now he is forever cemented in text to be ripped apart by his fellow sinners.