What builds up character? Each individual have gone through unique kind of situation that makes up who they are now. The worst traits of humanity is unavoidable. Each different traits make up how people see the world; Greed, Gluttony, Lust and Pride. Greed is an excessive craving for wealth, status, and power. In The Pardoner's Tale, Chaucer uses a variety of dramatic elements to occur. The plot itself quotes that greed in itself brings evil. The Pardoner is as corrupt as others in his profession, but his frankness about his own hypocrisy is nevertheless shocking. He bluntly accuses himself of fraud, avarice, and gluttony—the very things he preaches against. And yet, rather than expressing any sort of regret with his confession, he takes an unacceptable deep pride to his fraud. But since he loves the money and the comforts it brings him- he chooses not to speak the truth, because if he does, no one will come to him for help thus he won't earn a single dime. In Leo Tolstoy's short story …show more content…
¨How much land does a man need?¨, Pahom is a victim of his own greed that conceals his own judgment; he is so obsessed about getting more land that he forgets his morals to respect others and himself. Throughout the whole story, he purchases more land for the sole purposes of ¨looks¨ and having more than what he actually needs. In the end, everyone turned against him as his greed controlled him and changed who he is. Plus, he lost everything that meant a lot to him.Everyone has the possibility to commit for greediness, but in people with a fear of lack or hardship , Greed can become a go-to solution. Gluttony is an excessive desire to consume more than which one needs. For example; The Pardoner’s Tale by Geoffrey Chaucer is an example, a type of story often used by preachers to emphasize a moral point to their audience. Three group of men go for a hunt to find and ¨kill death¨ to seek revenge only to find an abundance of gold along their path. They each promised to split it up after they find death as a reward. Although, one of the men decided differently. He chose the decision to poison all of his companions to keep the gold all to himself. An amount of gold that is too much for three men, let alone one. In the short story ¨Who are you”. It shows people changing through time along with their priorities and opinions. The main idea of it is that people can not understand or appreciate what they have thus having their life changed then complaining why their plans never work out. People always want a lot more than they already have. The irony of this is, people who are not content with what they not have, would not be contented with what they would like to have. It is a constant cycle. Lust is an inordinate craving for the pleasure of the body.
Alice Walker's ¨Beauty when other dancer is self¨. The story starts with the narrator as a girl who was happy and content with herself. But as time goes by society slowly gets into her mind and in result, she lost all her confidence with herself, no longer happy and content. Throughout the rest of the story, she battles with herself whilst holding a grudge towards society and her brothers for ruining her appearance. She looks for ways to gain her happiness back and ends up finding her solution from her daughter. Comparatively, In the short story ¨Love must not be forgotten” by Zhang Jie. Shanshan is loved by a man whom is known for his appearance. Yet, she is only with him for his good looks and nothing else. She doubts their compatibility and wonders if a love is present or not. In the end she realizes what is right and chooses to do so. It is better not to marry at all than to marry someone that they do not
love. Pride is the excessive belief in one's own abilities that interferes with the individual's recognition. Also known as Vanity. “Shooting an Elephant” by George Orwell shows how people not only give into peer pressure easily, but also the fact that the majority chooses to prove their pride and boost their ego than to do the right thing. When the narrator realizes that the elephant has done an abundance of damage and death- he realizes that he has a difficult decision to make, whether he should shoot the elephant or find the master of the elephant and have it taken back to it’s home. The crowd that is gathered has a degree of antagonism toward the narrator, taunting him and disrespecting his position. In the end he feels like he has no other choice but to please the angry raging mob. He shoots the elephant and down it goes. He killed the elephant to gain respect that he thinks he deserves. But in the end, he got guilt instead of pride. In like manner, Gabriel Okara’s short story; “Once Upon A time” He talks about how people change through time and casually lie their way through normal daily interaction; forcing them to hide how they really feel and who they really are. For the longest time and until today, people look down upon each other- their pride telling them that they don't deserve to be treated right with honesty and respect. In conclusion, all worst traits of humanity is inevitable.; Greed, Gluttony, Lust and Pride is only one of the few traits that control the world. All of these have one thing in common; People always want more than what they need.
Another trait that is displayed by the Pardoner and a character in his tale is hypocrisy. Although the Pardoner is extremely greedy, he continues to try and teach that "Avarice is the root of all evil" (6). The characters in his tale display great hypocrisy as well. As the tale begins, the friends all act very trustworthy and faithful towards all of their friends. They nobly make a decision to risk their lives while trying to slay their friend's murderer. As they talk about their challenge, they pledge "to live and die each of them for the other, / As if he were his own blood brother" (241-242). At the end of the tale, the "brothers" begin to reveal their true nature. They all turn on each other in an attempt to steal the treasure for themselves.
...nations of his thought processes, it is clear that the Pardoner does not practice what he preaches. It is ambiguous, however, as to whether the Pardoner believes what he preaches, but just doesn’t follow his preaches or whether he doesn’t believe what he preaches at all. It is evident, though, that the Pardoner has an astute mind. He is highly effective in what he does. Although he exploits the church for his own personal designs, he succeeds at obtaining that which he pursues. The efficacy of his strategy is confirmed by Chaucer’s description of the Pardoner as being a “noble ecclesiastic” and as being unmatched in his trade . Thus amidst all of his flatteries, there exists a spark of genius that complements his minimal level of ethics. This intellectual finesse is the riverbed from which all of the products of his mind flow.
of Death. When a young boy is asked what happened to a man who had just
A pardoner is a person that could relieve someone from their sins. In the case of the Pardoners Tale, the Pardoner expects money for relieving sinners from their sins and for telling a story. The pardoner in this tale is hypocritical, his scare tactics prove this. He says that greed over things like money is an evil thing, and his audience should give him large amounts of money so he can pardon them from their sins.
The nature of greed is insatiable. It thrives on human weaknesses, and therefore, has no limits on how much it can grow to be stronger and more profound, within a human. Each person is unique in the way how they express their geed. For many, taking advantage of others is a prime example of how greed exerts itself. In the story, Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury, by Ray Bradbury, the author demonstrates how people who highly value self-importance, leave no room for compassion and are driven to manipulate others for their own selfish desires. The author shows us how there are multiple ways a person can manipulate others. For some, lying becomes an effective way of manipulation. Others like
Money— sweeter than honey, but oh so destructive. It facilitates a man’s life, while a lack of it imprisons him in the streets of penury. It raises his social status, while an absence of it leaves him unnoticed. It gives him an aura of superiority and importance among others, while a deficiency of it makes him worthless in society’s eyes. Considering these two roads, it does not take more than a second to decide to chase riches.
The aspect of greed shows itself as the heart of the many immoral acts committed by fictional characters and real people. From Adam and Eve’s betrayal to Macbeth’s collapse portrays what greed can produce as a result: destruction. Whether it destroys one’s health, it inherently portrays as a force to the path of corruption. The Pardoner, from The Canterbury Tales, defines greed’s purpose. This includes how greed pulls them to degeneration. No matter how subtle the fall, it still brings to distasteful events for the characters from The Importance of Being Earnest. Although the characters differ, their obsessions with their immoral acts decline their personalities. Thus, the authors portray the characters’ greed, as a pernicious force that drives
The concept of greed, which was previously centered on consumption, is currently associated with material accumulation and seen as a self-conscious material vice (Robertson 2001, p. 76). Further analysis singles out several types of greed for money and possessions: greed as service and obedience to wealth, greed as love and devotion to wealth, greed as trusting in wealth (Rosner 2007, p. 11). The characters of The Great Gatsby portray all of the aforementioned types of greed. For instance early in the story Gatsby becomes aware of “the youth and m...
Did you know that many people greed over money? Neither did I, it’s just ridiculous how people act over money. Now , this is worst did you know how men greed over women? You wouldn’t expect that but it actually happens. The Pardoner’s Tale and The Wife of Bath were almost the same but they also had some differences too.
The representation of human nature in literature can reveal an author’s or director’s views on the flaws in the characters and societies. This is evident in the texts, Frankenstein by Mary Shelley and Mystery Road by Ivan Sen, as they both make interpretations on the deadly sin, Greed. There are many character traits that make up human nature; greed is one such example, representing a flaw in people that drives an intense, destructive and selfish desire for something. Through Shelley’s characters, Victor Frankenstein and Robert Walton, she portrayed examples of greed and selflessness through their unabated obsession for knowledge and intention to help others. Shelley has used allusion and characterisation to portray their human nature. Similarly,
There are seven deadly sins that, once committed, diminish the prospect of eternal life and happiness in heaven. They are referred to as deadly because each sin is closely linked to another, leading to other greater sins. The seven deadly sins are pride, envy, anger, sloth, gluttony, avarice, and lechery. Geoffrey Chaucer's masterpiece, The Canterbury Tales, provided an excellent story about the deadly sins. Focusing mainly on the sins of pride, gluttony and greed, the characters found in The Canterbury Tales, particularly The Pardoner's Tale, were so overwhelmed by their earthly desires and ambitions that they failed to see the effects of their sinful actions, therefore depriving themselves of salvation.
In many works of literature, a main character is motivated by pure greed in order
(#4) The British naturalist and politician John Lubbock wrote, “Your character will be what you yourself choose to make it.” Do we choose our own character traits, or is our character formed by influences beyond our control? In other words, Character is the qualities that vary in individuals.Childrens character is the most concerned these days. Adults believe that character in a child is usually developed depending of how the child was raised during childhood however, rising 9th graders, believe that they can self mold themselves a character through finding friends and making mistakes in high school.What many people fail to realize is that it all varies on the child.
The Canterbury Tales is a literary masterpiece in which the brilliant author Geoffrey Chaucer sought out to accomplish various goals. Chaucer wrote his tales during the late 1300’s. This puts him right at the beginning of the decline of the Middle Ages. Historically, we know that a middle class was just starting to take shape at this time, due to the emerging commerce industry. Chaucer was able to see the importance and future success of the middle class, and wrote his work with them in mind. Knowing that the middle class was not interested in lofty philosophical literature, Chaucer wrote his work as an extremely comical and entertaining piece that would be more interesting to his audience. Also, Chaucer tried to reach the middle class by writing The Canterbury Tales in English, the language of the middle class rather than French, the language of the educated upper class. The most impressive aspect of Chaucer’s writing is how he incorporated into his piece some of his own controversial views of society, but yet kept it very entertaining and light on the surface level. One of the most prevalent of these ideas was his view that certain aspects of the church had become corrupt. This idea sharply contrasted previous Middle Age thought, which excepted the church’s absolute power and goodness unquestionably. He used corrupt church officials in his tales to illustrate to his audience that certain aspects of the church needed to be reformed. The most intriguing of these characters was the Pardoner. Chaucer’s satirical account of the Pardoner is written in a very matter-of-fact manner that made it even more unsettling with his audience. Chaucer uses his straightforwardness regarding the hypocrisy of the Pardoner, suggestive physiognomy of the character, and an interesting scene at the conclusion of the Pardoner’s Tale to inculcate his views of the church to his audience. The way that Chaucer used these literary devices to subtly make his views known to an audience while hooking them with entertainment, shows that Chaucer was truly a literary genius.
Over the course of an individual’s life there are many traits acquired which are things that contribute to the way he or she interacts with others, overall these traits help with the development of one’s personality. Character traits or qualities make up a person, whether it's their personality or attitude or the way they portray themselves to others. Every person individually possess traits and qualities that not only describe, but define them making every person different. Many of the admirable traits that I possess make me the man that I am today, contributing to my interactions with others and the career path I intend to pursue. Throughout my life, many events have revealed my true character traits which include determination, optimism, and faith.