The Contrapasso In Dante's Inferno

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Contrapasso is a very common device used in the Inferno, nearly every punishment depicted to the reader is intended to represent a contrapasso. Dante’s frequent repetition of this literary device strongly influences the reader by carefully drawing connections between emotions of the sinners; in contrast to the pain and punishment that is received. By doing so, Dante is simply trying to warn humankind of the downward spiral they are heading into unless, human reason and conscience is channeled to overcome the forceful temptations of sin. The realization that the acted sins will be just as equally painful to you as they were to those around you in Hell, might construct just enough emotions; which is able to put the downward spiral to an end. The device of contrapasso is conveyed a repeated amount of times throughout this poem; “And everywhere along that hideous track I saw horned demons with enormous lashes move through those souls, scourging them on the back” (18: 34-36). “All seducers march here to the whip. And let us say no more …show more content…
Every device that Dante incorporates in his writing is meant to connote an image or a reason to lead you to the conviction that the future of mankind is in each and every person's hands. While reading each amount of suffering a single sin acquires there should be an interconnection between where the reader might think he or she belongs in Dante’s Hell. Of course every human wants to end up in heaven, they want to believe that they will have a good afterlife. But assuming this veiw point of Hell seperated into contrapassos is accurate the reader can visualize what they will go through, they can trail along the imagery that is incorporated into the descriptions. The Inferno can serve as a type of wake up call, something that can serve as a guide to change the ways of those who sin or perhaps, are accepted by those who do not have the strength to
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