Religious Themes of the Sixteenth Century: The Seven Deadly Sins, Death, and Damnation
Religion in the Sixteenth Century was a major point of contention, especially for Elizabethans. In the midst of the Reformation, England was home to supporters of two major religious doctrines, including the Catholics and the Puritans. Three dominant themes that came out of this debate were sin, death and damnation. Important elements of Christian religions, these themes were often explored in the form of the seven deadly sins and the consequential damnation. The elements of sin pervasive in Thomas Nashe’s The Unfortunate Traveller, Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, William Shakespeare’s Othello, and Edmund Spenser’s Faerie Queen allow for an investigation into the relationship of death and damnation in the sixteenth century.
To begin our investigation, we must consider the definition of ‘sin’ in a sixteenth century context, which would be in the form of the seven deadly sins. These seven sins were called the ‘deadly’ or ‘capital’ sins because they ‘merited damnation and had a fatal effect on an individual’s spiritual health.’[1] Listed, the seven deadly sins are pride, covetousness, wrath, envy, gluttony, sloth (idleness), and lechery (lust), and they were described and personified in masque scenes in both The Faerie Queene and Doctor Faustus, as well as being embraced by various characters in The Unfortunate Traveller, Othello, and Doctor Faustus.
Following the order described in The Faerie Queene, the first sin is idleness, or sloth. Idleness is described as ‘the nourse of sin,’ the founder and beginning of all sin.[2] Personified as individuals in a procession, Spenser also says ‘May seeme the wayne was very evill l...
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Marlowe, Christopher. The Complete Plays. Romany, Frank and Lindsey, Robert. London. 2003. Penguin Books.
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http://oed.com/
Relihan, Constance C., ‘Rhetoric, Gender and Audience Construction in Thomas Nashe’s The Unfortunate Traveller,’ in Relihan (ed.), Framing Elizabethan Fictions (1996).
Shakespeare, William. The Riverside Shakespeare. 2nd Edition. Boston. 1997. Houghton Mifflin Company.
University of Wisconsin-Madison: The Writing Center-Chicago Turbian Documentation. Web. 8 June 2015.
https://writing.wisc.edu/Handbook/DocChicago.html
The meaning and definitions of the seven deadly sins are easily bartered with time, however their original nature persists. Envy, alike greed and lust, is portrayed by an insatiable desire.
Gluttony, Avarice, Wrath, Lust, Pride, Envy, and Sloth are all commonly known as the “Seven Deadly Sins”. Each of these seven sins plays a major role in development of the different characters. In Geoffrey Chaucer’s “The Canterbury Tales”, the Pardoner committed sins through gluttony and avarice; the Wife of Bath through Pride and Lust; and also the Monk through gluttony and wrath. However, omnipresent on all the characters are the different deadly sins that led to their development and morality.
Greenblatt, Stephen, and M. H. Abrams. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 9th ed. Vol. A. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. Print
Texts and their appropriations reflect the context and values of their times. Within Shakespeare’s Othello and Geoffrey Sax’s appropriation of Othello, the evolution of the attitudes held by Elizabethan audiences and those held by contemporary audiences can be seen through the context of the female coupled with the context of racism. The role of the female has developed from being submissive and “obedient” in the Elizabethan era to being independent and liberated within the contemporary setting. The racism of the first text is overtly xenophobic and natural, whilst the “moor” is unnatural whereas the updated context portrays Othello’s race as natural and racism as unnatural. Therefore these examples show how Shakespeare’s Othello, and it’s appropriation, Geoffrey sax’s Othello, reflect the context and values of their times.
As can be seen Frankenstein utilises many of the conventions of the gothic genre and can thus be considered a gothic novel. Its links to the Romantic movement are also evident. The stereotypical settings, characters and plots, interest in the sublime, emphasis on suspense, the production of excessive emotion in the reader ( particularly that of terror and horror), the presence of the supernatural and the notion of the ’double’ are all features of Frankenstein that illustrate this.
Abrams, M.H. and Greenblatt, Stephen eds. The Norton Anthology of English Literature: Seventh Edition. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2001.
Sunlight fuels the planet and photosynthesis converts that solar energy into energy that plants transfer into the food chain. Photosynthesis provides plants with sugars and plant proteins that are important for animals as well as for human agriculture. Most people know the general idea behind it, but there are so many complicated processes that make up the entirety of photosynthesis. Different aspects of photosynthesis, the photosystems, and the photosynthetic pathways are still studied today because not everything about how they work and operate is known.
Sin was a present characteristic in not just moral dramas but also in Shakespeare plays. In almost every play that Shakespeare wrote during his career the audience could always learn something from the character’s story. In this chapter Tillyard focuses on the fall and redemption of man. Tillyard stated that the fall of man separated us from our true s...
In conclusion I think that the romantic hero is a very important character in literature. The romantic hero creates passion, excitement, and is easily related to. This was my first time reading Frankenstein, and I liked it a lot. I think I found the monster the most romantic hero he had to overcome so much and yet still suffered. If only he had been treated properly from his creation, if he was taken in with the acceptance he craved would he have been a monster? I think he only suffered because he was an unaccepted in society and by his creator and like a child that is ignored by a parent acts out to gain their attention. This book is an excellent example of a romantic hero.
The play “Antigone” by Sophocles displays many qualities that make it a great tragedy. A tragedy is defined as a dramatic or literary work in which the principal character engages in a morally significant struggle ending in ruin or profound disappointment. In creating his tragedy “Antigone”, Sophocles uses many techniques to create the feelings of fear and pity in his readers. This in turn creates an excellent tragedy.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a gothic science fiction novel written in the romantic era that focuses on the elements of life. The romantic era was sparked by the changing social environment, including the industrial revolution. It was a form of revolt against the scientific revolutions of the era by developing a form of literature that romanticize nature and giving nature godliness. This element of romanticized nature is a recurrent element in Frankenstein and is used to reflect emotions, as a place for relaxation and as foreshadowing. Frankenstein also includes various other elements of romanticism including strong emotions and interest in the common people.
113- The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 6th ed. of the book. Vol.
The nature of sin is brought up many times in the play Doctor Faustus. It seems that Faustus (like all of us) is damned. The question posed is; can we as humans do anything to save ourselves from eternal damnation, or are we doomed from birth. The play deals with Faustus struggle to understand sin and its effect on the human soul. There is a interesting scene where the seven deadly sins appear before Faustus. To understand the importance of the seven deadly sins in this play, we must first learn what constitutes a sin. Once we grasp this, we can proceed to understand the role that sin has on the play. Then we can determine whether or not we as individuals have any impact on our salvation.
Abrams, M. H., ed. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Sixth Edition, Volume II. USA: Norton, 1993.
Dreaming is very different than everyday life, yet somehow still relates to it in some way. In everyday life we have stress and happiness along with many other emotions. Yet in someway when we drift off into a deep sleep this emotions come right back. Dalai Lama once said that “sleep is the best meditation.” Sleep may be the one thing that people turn to, a place where your mind is totally set free to do what it wants and think what it wants. An idea or vision that is created in your imagination that when suddenly when you awake, feels so real.Dream reflect reality because most peoples dreams are in fact related to past, and recent experiences, or events that have happened in a person’s life. Dreams are more than just a method of entertainment, They should be taken more seriously because of the fact that with dreams imitating own reality, you can then learn more about yourself.