Greed in Modern Society

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The banishment of Adam and Eve was the by - product of greed; Eve’s greed for more power led her to eat the forbidden apple. Greed is deadly: it corrodes the soul of men - this is the message that has been proclaimed to all since birth. Throughout centuries, this traditional concept of greed appears to have diminished, and a new concept of greed has been proclaimed: greed is good. Two highly revered pieces of art – Wall Street directed by William Oliver Stone, and “The Pardoner’s Tale,” enclosed in The Canterbury Tales, by William Chaucer – centuries apart, have been able to accentuate the difference between the concept of greed at the end of the 14th century and the beginning of the 21st. With strong methods of Characterization, these pieces of art were able to convey their message to their audience.
In “The Pardoner’s Tale,” Chaucer uses direct description, reactions of others, and actions to characterize the three friends who are Chaucer’s representation of how greed affects men. The diction Chaucer utilizes for direct description fabricates an overall negative impression on the three friends. The three friends are described as “rioters,” and youngsters.” The word “rioter” generates the denotation of being violent and creating disorder in the society; the word youngster produces the denotation of being immature, idiotic, and careless; both these words create a negative appeal to the characters, and since they are the representation of what greed does to men, these words reflect the overall negativity greed produces in men. Describing one of the friends as the “wickedest.” Chaucer is able to surround the character with repugnancy; lots of derogatory terms come to mind when a one is characterize to be wicked: repulsive, immoral...

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...dar Paper, but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA” (Wall Street) – he receives a surprising round of applause, from the very same people who wanted to riot against him. Including the reaction of others to characterize Gekko, Stone shows his readers that greedy people gain respect from the society regardless of how immoral they are perceived as. Together with appearance, speech, and reaction of others, Stone attributes several positive traits to Gekko- his greedy character; from the way Gekko is portrayed, readers can conclude that greed is good as it led to the success, intelligence, and respect of Gekko.

Works Cited

Chaucer, Geoffrey. The Canterbury Tales. Trans. Nevill Coghill. Harrisonburg, Virginia:
George Banta Co., Inc., 1977.
Wall Street. Dir. Oliver Stone. Perf. Michael Douglas, Charlie Sheen, Daryl Hannah. 20th
Century Fox, 1987

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