Question

INFERNO CANTO III: Explain the concept of contrapasso in Dante’s vision of Hell and explain how both the location and the punishment of the Neutrals reflects this concept.

Answer 1

In Dante's Inferno Canto III , the Neutrals were introduced (by way of Virgil). The Neutrals were the ones who failed to choose either good or evil, those who sided with neither God nor Lucifer.  It is located at the Hell gate. The contrapasso included insects stinging the Neutrals' naked bodies making them run around in circles, their paths not getting them anywhere. It is much like how their indecision fails to positively save them from Hell. Their punishment is likened to the purgatory--following the Inferno and preceding Paradiso, never really inside either.