Contrapasso

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Contrapasso is the process by which souls are punished in Dante's Inferno according to the nature of their sins in life. A literal translation would be "counter-suffering". It is the ironic cosmological law ensuring that "the punishment fits the crime".

An example of this would be in Canto XX, where the fortune tellers and diviners walk backwards for eternity, with their heads turned around to face behind them, and their eyes blinded with tears.

Another example of Contrapasso is Canto XXXII where the three-headed Lucifer is placed in the center of Earth. The three heads are a distorted reflection of The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost.

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