Seven Deadly Sins III


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Seven Deadly Sins (II)

From Marlowe's Dr. Faustus


Now, Faustus, examine them of their several names and dispositions.

Faust. What art thou - the first?

Pride. I am Pride. I disdain to have any parents.
I am like to Ovid`s flea: I can creep into every corner of a wench; sometimes, like a periwig,
I sit upon her brow; or like a fan of feathers, I kiss her lips; indeed I do - what do I not?
But, fie, what a scent is here! I`ll not speak another word, except the ground were perfum`d, and covered with cloth of arras.

Faust. What art thou - the second?

Covet. I am Covetousness, begotten of an old churl in an old leathern bag;
and might I have my wish I would desire that this house and all the people in it were turn`d to gold,
that I might lock you up in my good chest. O, my sweet gold!

Faust. What art thou - the third?

Wrath. I am Wrath. I had neither father nor mother:
I leapt out of a lion`s mouth when I was scarce half an hour old;
and ever since I have run up and down the world with this case of rapiers,
wounding myself when I had nobody to fight withal.
I was born in hell; and look to it, for some of you shall be my father.

Faust. What art thou - the fourth?

Envy. I am Envy, begotten of a chimney sweeper and an oyster - wife.
I cannot read, and therefore wish all books were burnt.
I am lean with seeing others eat.
O that there would come a famine through all the world, that all might die,
and I live alone!
then thou should`st see how fat I would be. But must thou sit and I stand!
Come down with a vengeance!

Faust. Away, envious rascal! What art thou - the fifth?

Glut. Who, I, sir? I am Gluttony. My parents are all dead,
and the devil a penny they have left me, but a bare pension,
and that is thirty meals a day and ten bevers -
a small trifle to suffice nature.
O, I come of a royal parentage! My grandfather was a Gammon of Bacon,
my grandmother a Hogshead of Claret - wine; my godfathers were these,
Peter Pickleherring, and Martin Martlemas - beef.
O, but my godmother, she was a jolly gentlewoman,
and well beloved in every good town and city;
her name was Mistress Margery Marchbeer.
Now, Faustus, thou hast heard all my progeny, wilt thou bid me to supper?

Faust. No, I`ll see thee hanged: thou wilt eat up all my victuals.

Glut. Then the Devil choke thee!

Faust. Choke thyself, glutton! Who art thou - the sixth?

Sloth. I am Sloth. I was begotten on a sunny bank,
where I have lain ever since;
and you have done me great injury to bring me from thence:
let me be carried thither again
by Gluttony and Lechery. I`ll not speak another word for a king`s ransom.

Faust. What are you, Mistress Minx, the seventh and last?

Lech. Who, I, sir? I am one that loves an inch of raw mutton
better than an ell of fried stockfish;
and the first letter of my name begins with Lechery.

Luc. Away to hell, to hell! - Now, Faustus,
how dost thou like this? [Exeunt the Sins.

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Started thinking about the Seven Deadly Sins.

Shakepeare's perspective...


Pride

He that is proud eats up himself:
pride is his own glass, his own trumpet, his own chronicle.
Troilus and Cressida 2.3.152-4, Agamemnon to Ajax

Lust

They are in the very wrath of love, and they will together;
clubs cannot part them.
As You Like It 5.2.40-1, Rosalind to Orlando

This momentary joy breeds months of pain;
This hot desire converts to cold disdain.
Lucrece 690-1

Avarice

So that in venturing ill we leave to be
The things we are for that which we expect;
And this ambitious foul infirmity,
In having much, torments us with defect
Of that we have: so then we do neglect
The thing we have; and, all for want of wit,
Make something nothing by augmenting it.
The Rape of Lucrece 148-4


Envy

When Envy breeds unkind division:
There comes the ruin, there begins confusion.
1 Henry VI 4.1.195-6, Exeter

But, alack,
That monster envy, oft the wrack
Of earned praise.
Pericles 4.1.11-13, Gower

Thou dost love her, because thou knowst I love her.
Sonnet 42

This was the noblest Roman of them all:
All the conspirators save only he
Did that they did in envy of great Caesar;
He only, in a general honest thought
And common good to all, made one of them.
Julius Caesar 5.5.75-8, Mark Antony, of Brutus

Gluttony

They surfeited with honey and began
To loathe the taste of sweetness.
1 Henry IV 3.2.72-3, Henry IV to Hal

Eight wild-boars roasted whole at a breakfast, and but twelve persons there; is this true?
Antony and Cleopatra 2.2.220-1, Mecaenas to Domitius Enobarbus

Anger

I understand a fury in your words
But not the words.
Othello 4.2.32-3, Desdemona to Othello

The cannons have their bowels full of wrath,
And ready mounted are they to spit forth
Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls
King John 2.1.217-9, King John


Sloth

Hereditary sloth instructs me.
The Tempest 2.1.241, Sebastian

I rather would entreat thy company
To see the wonders of the world abroad,
Than, living dully sluggardized at home,
Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona 1.1.6-9, Valentine to Proteus


and other sources

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Ogden Nash