Contrapasso In The Divine Comedy

One of the best modern day adaptations of the Divine Comedy is the movie Seven. In this Dramatic Mystery, John Doe, a serial killer, carries out horrific murders based on the concept of contrapasso from the Divine Comedy. The Divine Comedy is referenced several times and seems to be the source for the serial killers seven murders as each relate to a deadly sin. From the opening credits to the seventh day of the film, the movie replicates Dante’s use of symmetry: the number seven refers to the seven deadly sins and to the seven days of the investigation leading up to the conclusion of events. From the start of the film, the black and white opening credits are where the concepts displayed in The Divine Comedy are first alluded to. The black …show more content…
Some of the more graphic representations of Dantean cantrapasso in Seven are the punishments for the sins gluttony and lust. In Purgatory those found guilty of gluttony are forced to starve while being surrounded by all sorts of delicious looking fruits, quite a tantalizing experience. In Seven, however, quite the opposite punishment is forced upon those found guilty of gluttony. The victim in the film, an excessively obese man, is held captive and forced to eat an extraordinary amount of pasta; so large a quantity of food that his stomach lining fractures. From here, John Doe repeatedly kicks the man in his side until he dies. The detectives find the victim face down in the bowl of spaghetti with his hands and feet bound. This is the first discovered victim, and from this it soon becomes clear that there is meaning behind the killer’s …show more content…
They are included in Upper Hell in the Inferno, while envy and wrath, on the other hand, are both examples of misdirected love and thus greater vices in Purgatory. Envy could equate to the kind of treachery punished in the ninth circle of Inferno. Wrath, on the other hand, would be considered in the fifth circle of Inferno. Envy and wrath are reserved until the end of Seven, where the punishments are more psychological and more complex than the previous, more visceral, punishments. The parallels between Seven and the Divine Comedy are not limited to these sins and punishments that follow Dante’s concept of “contrapasso.” Seven closely follows Dante in its atmosphere, its allegorical journey of a man under the direction of his guide, and its exploration of divine justice in the world. Except for a few scenes, the atmosphere throughout Seven is dark, rainy, and confined: the streets are crowded like the numberless souls waiting on the banks of the river