# Contrapasso
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{{Short description|Method of infernal punishment}}
{{About|the term from Dante’s ''Inferno''|the ''Westworld'' episode|Contrapasso (Westworld){{!}}Contrapasso (''Westworld'')}}
{{italic title}}
[[File:Stradano Inferno Canto 20.jpg|thumb|right|The ''Contrapasso'' of the [sorcerers](/source/Magician_(paranormal)), [astrologers](/source/Astrology), and [false prophet](/source/false_prophet)s, illustrated by [Stradanus](/source/Stradanus)]]
In [Dante](/source/Dante)'s ''[Inferno](/source/Inferno_(Dante))'', '''contrapasso''' (or, in modern Italian,[''Encyclopedia Dantesca'', Biblioteca Treccani, 2005, vol. 7, article ''Contrapasso''.] ''contrappasso'', from [Latin](/source/Latin) {{lang|la|contra}} and {{lang|la|patior}}, meaning "suffer the opposite") is the punishment of souls "by a process either resembling or contrasting with the sin itself."[Mark Musa, commentary notes in The Divine Comedy. Volume 1: Inferno. Penguin Classics: 1984, pp. 37-38.] A similar process occurs in the ''[Purgatorio](/source/Purgatorio)''.[''Inferno'', Canto XX, lines 14–15, Mandelbaum translation.] This alludes to the consequences of predicting the future by evil means and displays the twisted nature of magic in general.[[Dorothy L. Sayers](/source/Dorothy_L._Sayers), ''Hell'', notes on Canto XX.] This example of contrapasso "functions not merely as a form of divine revenge, but rather as the fulfillment of a destiny freely chosen by each soul during his or her life."[Peter Brand and Lino Pertile, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=3uq0bObScHMC&pg=PA63 The Cambridge History of Italian Literature]'', 2nd ed, Cambridge University Press, 1999, {{ISBN|0-521-66622-8}}, pp. 63-64.]
The word ''contrapasso'' can be found in ''Inferno'', in which the decapitated [Bertran de Born](/source/Bertran_de_Born) declares: {{lang|it|Così s'osserva in me lo Contrapasso}} (XXVIII.142),[{{cite web |url=http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/pdp/ |title=Princeton Dante Project (2.0) |publisher=Etcweb.princeton.edu |date= |accessdate=2013-08-09 |archive-date=2019-04-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429113047/http://etcweb.princeton.edu/dante/pdp/ |url-status=dead }}] which was translated by [Longfellow](/source/Henry_Wadsworth_Longfellow) as "thus is observed in me the counterpoise",[{{cite web |url=http://www.everypoet.com/Archive/poetry/dante/dante_contents.htm |title=Dante; Poetry of Dante Alighieri; full text of Dante's Divine Comedy - Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso, at |publisher=Everypoet.com |date= |accessdate=2013-08-09 |archive-date=2011-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110901224137/http://www.everypoet.com/archive/poetry/dante/dante_contents.htm |url-status=dead }}] and by [Singleton](/source/Charles_S._Singleton) as "thus is the retribution observed in me."[{{Cite book |last=Dante Alighieri |title=Inferno. |date=1971 |publisher=Routledge and K. Paul |others=Charles S. Singleton |isbn=0-7100-6996-0 |location=London |oclc=2656376}}] Dante believes that De Born is in the ninth ''Bolgia'' of schismatics for causing [Henry the Young King](/source/Henry_the_Young_King)'s rebellion against his father, [Henry II of England](/source/Henry_II_of_England).[Mark Musa, commentary notes in The Divine Comedy. Volume 1: Inferno. Indiana University Press, 1996, {{ISBN|0-253-32968-X}}, p. 380.] De Born is decapitated as a contrapasso for his supposed act of political decapitation in undermining a rightful head of the state.