The Seven Deadly Sins Free Essay Example, 750 words

ï » ¿ The Seven Deadly Sins In the play Everyman, lust rears its head as the craving and wants to satisfy the pleasures of the flesh (Everyman 37). Everyman lives a life intertwined with accumulation and immoral use of wealth and loving material needs and bodily pleasures. This combination draws him further from the Divine Being, leading him along the path of destruction up to the precipices of eternal Hell. Having fallen to the temptations of fulfilling bodily pleasures, he becomes a fallen man in the Grace of God. However, in all transgressions, the assurance from Fellowship about redemption assures Everyman. The expression of Everyman’s gluttonous living style summarized by Fellowship: "And yet if thou will eat, and drink, and make good cheer, or haunt to women the lusty company, I would not forsake you while the day is clear. Trust me verily" (Everyman 40). With the wealth at his disposal, Everyman pursued self-fulfilling lifestyles. He could wine and dine whenever, wherever and with whomever he d esired. This trend of living pushed him further from the Grace of God. However, God’s message to him is of assurance of no abandonment. In his entire life, Everyman tended to live a luxurious life. We will write a custom essay sample on The Seven Deadly Sins or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page Finding himself lost in a wooded area, Dante contemplates suicide. This exposes the unwillingness and lack of effort of Dante to look for ways out of problems and predicaments. However, he gets rescued by poet Virgil’s spirit. Virgil guides Dante through Hell, where, upon entry, he encounters the famous statement "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here"(Dante & Stanley 6). This expresses the ultimate nature of Hell, meaning all hope about leaving hell remain a distant dream. The pride of the residents of hell expresses the unrepentant nature they possess. They express no remorse for what they did in their former lives. They tend to justify all the wrongs and crimes they inflicted before joining hell (Dante & Stanley 89). They tend to hold contempt over the Grace of God. The hierarchy of hell consists of concentric circles, severity of sentences increases with the approach to the innermost circle. Hell preserves four circles to the four of the Seven Dead ly Sins: wrath, lust, greed and glutton. In the circles of lust and gluttons, punishment and repercussions vary in severity. In hell, the lustful, illustrated as engulfed in wind engaged in chaotic motion, to depict the passion they squandered in abandon (Dante & Stanley 95). Those who had food in excess and misused it wallow in want, and instead of the palaces they occupied, they now live in dirty mud. The guardian of the gluttons, Cerberus, feed on the gluttons as a return of the gluttonous’ appetite they had while on earth (Dante & Stanley 96). Murderer and tyrants stay in boiling blood to depict the blood they shed in their previous lives. In Beowulf, the Seven Deadly Sins present themselves in clear and succinct manner. Unferth, who stands and protects the Kingdom of King Hrothgar feels envy over Beowulf, when the later turns up with his soldiers to defend the kingdom. Unferth, having failed to protect the kingdom, the poet writes â€Å"/He could not brook or abide the face that anyone else alive under heaven might enjoy greater regard than he did / â€Å"(Beowulf Lines 503-505). Further, Unferth continues to† /feel sick with envy /†. Wrath gets a thorough presentation in the pot’s own words. Having been outcast and cursed from society, Grendel launches attacks on the villages to try conquering the kingdom. Alone, the â€Å"/shadow-stalker/ came /greedily loping. The bane of the race of men roamed forth, hunting for prey in the high hall/† (Beowulf lines 711-713). The attacks present the wrath Grendel mounts on the inhabitants of the villages in response to curses and societal delineatio n accorded to him. Having gone against society, Grendel should accept the current situation. At a time when Beowulf represents the Geatland as King, there arise a dragon that breaths fire. The dragon attacks the kingdom from the simple goblet covered with gem. Gluttonously, the dragon destroys parts of the kingdom reducing buildings, forts and regions to ashes and dust. The kingdom survives the â€Å"/brunt of his brutal assaults and virulent hate/ â€Å"when Beowulf fights the dragon (Beowulf lines 2318-2320). The attack by the dragon stems from goblet that was â€Å"/as useless to men now as it ever was/†(Beowulf Line 3168). The dragon presents fury beyond standards. Another of the Deadly Sins, pride, plays out when Beowulf defends the Kingdom against the dragon. Instead of taking a band of men with him, as was usually the case, to the fight, he goes alone. He prides himself to the people of the need to sleep in comfort for. He already considered the war with the dragon as won. However, King Hrothgar advises him against such pride by telling him â€Å"/for a b rief while your power is in bloom but it varnishes rapidly; and soon†¦your sharp eye will dim and darken/ and death will appear, dear combatant, to sweep you away/† (Beowulf Lines 1760-1768). Moreover, although Beowulf wins the war, he succumbs to his pride. Works cited Everyman, and Other Miracle and Morality Plays. New York: Dover Publications, 1995. Print. Dante, Alighieri, & Stanley Lombardo. Inferno. Indianapolis: Hackett Pub. Co, 2009. Print. Beowulf. New York: Dover Publications, 1992. Print.