Editing Harpy (section)

==Later usage==
[[File:DVinfernoForestOfSuicides m.jpg|thumb|Harpies in the infernal wood, from ''Inferno'' XIII, by [[Gustave Doré]], 1861.]]

===Literature===
Harpies remained vivid in the [[Middle Ages]]. In Canto XIII of his ''[[Inferno (Dante)|Inferno]]'', [[Dante Alighieri]] envisages the tortured wood infested with harpies, where the [[suicide]]s have their punishment in the [[Inferno (Dante)#Seventh Circle (Violence)|seventh ring of Hell]]:

{{poemquote|Here the repellent harpies make their nests,
Who drove the Trojans from the Strophades
With dire announcements of the coming woe.
They have broad wings, with razor sharp talons and a human neck and face,
Clawed feet and swollen, feathered bellies; they caw
Their lamentations in the eerie trees.<ref>[http://new.bostonreview.net/BR18.1/dante.html Translation of Robert Pinsky, ''Boston Review''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141104235244/http://new.bostonreview.net/BR18.1/dante.html |date=2014-11-04 }}</ref>}}

In Canto XXXIII of [[Orlando Furioso]], author [[Ludovico Ariosto]] has the Christian Ethiopian Emperor Senapo ([[Prester John]]) afflicted with harpies under circumstances nearly identical to those in the myth of Phineus. He has been blinded by God himself, and the harpies contaminate his every meal. Senapo is delivered from this torment by [[Astolfo]], a paladin from the court of [[Charlemagne]].<ref>[[Ludovico Ariosto]], [[Orlando Furioso]] 33.101</ref>

[[William Blake]] was inspired by Dante's description in his pencil, ink, and watercolour ''[[The Wood of the Self-Murderers: The Harpies and the Suicides]]'' (Tate Gallery, London).

Harpies also found a role in [[Shakespeare]]'s [[The Tempest|Tempest]], where the spirit [[Ariel (The Tempest)|Ariel]] tortured the antagonists Antonio, Sebastian, and Alonso for their crimes by staging a banquet scene similar to that in the [[Aeneid]].[[File:DEU Nürnberg COA (groß).svg|thumb|Greater coat of arms of the city of [[Nuremberg]]|198x198px]]

===Linguistic use and application===
The [[harpy eagle]] is a real bird named after the mythological animal.

The term is often used metaphorically to refer to a nasty or annoying woman. In [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'', Benedick<!--Benedick, not Benedict--> spots the sharp-tongued [[Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing)|Beatrice]] approaching and exclaims to the prince, Don Pedro, that he would do an assortment of arduous tasks for him "rather than hold three words conference with this harpy!"

===Heraldry===
In the [[Middle Ages]], the harpy, referred to in German as the {{ill|Jungfrauenadler|de}}<ref name="Davies">[[Arthur Fox-Davies]], [https://archive.org/details/completeguidetoh00foxduoft ''A Complete Guide to Heraldry''], T. C. and E. C. Jack, London, 1909, p 229.</ref> or "maiden eagle" (although it may not have been modeled after the original harpy of Greek mythology), became a popular [[charge (heraldry)|charge]] in [[heraldry]], particularly in [[East Frisia]], seen on, among others, the [[coat-of-arms|coats-of-arms]] of [[County of Rietberg|Rietberg]], [[Coat of arms of Liechtenstein|Liechtenstein]], and the [[Cirksena]]. Among the earliest examples is the city of Nuremberg's device, which used the harpy as early as 1243.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fictitious and Symbolic Creatures in Art: Other Chimerical Creatures and Heraldic Beasts: The Harpy |url=https://sacred-texts.com/lcr/fsca/fsca40.htm |access-date=2023-12-07 |website=sacred-texts.com}}</ref>

The harpy also appears in British heraldry, although it remains a peculiarly German device.<ref name="Davies"/>