Seven Deadly Sins

There are countless lessons to take away from the novel Lust: The Seven Deadly Sins by Simon Blackburn. From the beginning of literature, writers have used symbolism to create understanding and relatability to their writing. Many authors like John Green have used and continue to use symbolism in their writing. Green has given a detailed explanation on why he uses symbolism in his books “Why do writers use symbolism?” Okay, so let’s say you have a headache and you wanna tell someone about it and you say, “I have a headache!” and other people are like, “Yeah, whatever. Everybody gets headaches.” But your headache is not a regular headache, it’s a serious headache, so you say, “My brain is on fire!” to try to help these people understand that

In literature, authors often use symbolism from Christianity such as apples to represent the original sin or temptation of Eve, fig leaves to represent shame, thorns to represent pain and suffering, and so on. In this novel Blackburn refers to chariots, poison flowers, serpents, and many more religious and nature related symbols. In the chapter titled Some Consequences he begins to talk about these symbols, saying “Classical and biblical literature alike were combed for stories of the Delilah figure, the castrating and death-dealing woman. The headings become threatening: Poison Flowers; Maenads of the Decadence and the Torrid Wail of the Sirens; Connoisseurs of Bestiality and Serpentine Delights; Leda, Circe, and the Cold Caresses of the Sphinx; Gold and the Virgin Whores of Babylon; Judith and Salome: The Preisteses of Man’s Severed Head.” (Blackburn, Simon. "Chapter Seven: Some Consequences." Lust: The Seven Deadly Sins. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2004. 77. Print.) The Christian symbols are there to further the idea that religion, specifically Christianity has led to oppression of sexuality and lust, which is the opinion that Blackburn has supported throughout the entire novel. The constant battle between good and evil when discussing lust comes into play in this novel. The many symbols such as the serpent represents many things