In the 'Confutatis maledictis' the bass soloist stands for both priest and suppliant, so embracing the two poles of sternness and entreaty on which the movement rests.
Two themes alternate. The first epitomizes the internal conflict. Beginning 'Con forza' ('powerfully') it consigns the accursed to their doom with octave leaps and abrupt orchestral gestures; then softens into a plea to be called among the blessed.

confutatis - realaudio

The second theme ('Oro supplex et acclinis') is purely lyrical, moving on a typical Verdian axis of C sharp minor-E minor and coming meltingly to rest in E major. But what first strikes the academically minded listener is the blatant chain of parallel fifths with which it opens. Tovey, one of the most important of the Verdi biographers, took this to be a way of indicating total abjection, as though in an excess of humility the bass had forgotten the first rules of musical grammar. But the same device occurs in the Consecration scene of verdi's opera Aida..
More probably Verdi was aiming in both cases at an antique organum-like solemnity that antedates the rules of part-writing.

Oro supplex et acclinis - realaudio

The conflict continues, using elements of both themes. Than the second theme ('Oro supplex et acclinis') returns unaltered save for a prolongation of the final bars. A codetta moves away towards E minor; but the bass's last note is covered by a final irruption of the 'Dies-irae-theme', leaping out, as it were, from behind a harmonic corner.
It is only a partial reprise; for before it manages even half the way for a full repetition it has already swung towards the region of B flat minor, approaching the next section with Wagnerian foreboding.