The Counter-Suffering of Contrapasso

Within Dante's depiction of Hell there exists a hierarchy of punishment

, featuring the incrementally more severe punishments located respectively closer to the bottommost center of Hell. This hierarchy is arranged, and locations assigned, by the extremity and magnitude of the sin committed. Dante describes a hell based around a retributive justice, where the punishment is not only appropriate for the crime, but also is the crime.

Consider a bully who, through intimidation and abuse, pushes away potential friends. According to Dante's concept of contrapasso, simply being the bully is the punishment for the crime. He is a lonely, friendless person. This is how Dante envisions eternal chastisement.

The most obvious and compelling exhibition of contrapasso in Dante's Inferno is of Dis, or Lucifer. Lucifer the archangel rebelled against God. This event arose from his hubristically excessive pride. Being the most severe of sins, a prideful crime against God finds Dis in the very lowest portion of Hell, frozen within a lake of sewage. The absence of the light of God already restricts the presence of heat, but Dis' pride motivates him to continually beat his wings in an attempt to escape his incarceration. This flapping of his wings rushes a cold wind across the lake, ensuring his imprisonment for as long as his pride remains. To humble himself would allow the melting of the lake. But hubris rarely reorganizes itself into humility.

This counter-suffering is the contrapasso, the crime and punishment of being the criminal. This notion perceives justice serving itself without mediation.

The Counter-Suffering of Contrapasso

By: Jared Hobbs

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