Greed In Beowulf, The Prospector Tale, And Macbeth

In the world now people think wealth means you are powerful, or important to society. In the world that is true, even back in the Anglo-Saxon time period this was also true. Back then if you were not wealthy you were not powerful, and your kingdom was not strong enough, and other could attack. The Anglo-Saxon time period was the time Beowulf the poem was written, this is a story about a man that is so powerful he can kill anything. In this poem wealth is about being powerful, ending feuds, and having a great future for the kingdom you are living in.

One of the people’s traits affected by human nature in many stories is greed. As shown throughout, greed is an evil sin. This

They say greed is the root of all evil. This is especially shown in Macbeth, the desire of power becomes an apparent symbol throughout the play. How does a man loyal to the king turn so easily from the slight temptation of the crown. After the murder of Duncan Macbeth is seen picturing an imaginary dagger, “Is this a dagger which I see before me,/ The handle toward my hand? Come, let me clutch thee.” (2.1.33-34 Macbeth) Macbeth isn’t even seen remorseful for the cruel deed he just commits; to a man who he swore an oath of loyalty to. Macbeth shows signs of greed and gluttony as the infatuation of power settles in him throughout the plot.

Money and power are just a couple of the many things that cause people to become greedy. This is displayed in The Lottery Ticket by Anton Chekhov where the thought of winning the lottery overwhelms Ivan Dmitritch with greed. Furthermore, Beowulf demonstrates this trait multiple times throughout the graphic novel Beowulf which is based on the screenplay by Neil Gaiman and Roger Avary. Another expression of greed can be seen in William Shakespeare’s Macbeth by both Macbeth himself and his wife Lady Macbeth. Also, the character of Jack in Lord of the Flies by William Golding shows this characteristic when he challenges the group leader Ralph. In addition, the son of Apollo, Octavian, illustrates the effects of greed all throughout Rick Riordan’s The Blood of Olympus. All of these stories help to illustrate the theme that greed often brings out the worst in people.

“Be Fearful When Others Are Greedy and Greedy When Others Are Fearful” - Warren Buffett

As Beowulf gains wealth through winning battles, he also gains status. By defeating Grendel, he receives treasures from king Hrothgar. Also, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats after Heardred, son of Hygelac, dies. He continues to gain vast treasures through multiple victories. His increase in wealth and status inevitably causes an increase in pride, clouding his judgement. When the dragon attacks the Geats, Beowulf insists to fight the dragon alone even at such an old age. Although pride in the Anglo-Saxon culture is seen as a positive characteristic that warriors possess to gain confidence and perform well during battles, Beowulf’s overwhelming pride from an increase in wealth ultimately persuades him to make the fatal decision. The consequences

Greed is a very powerful thing in today’s world. So many people lose a fight to greed and don’t even know it. In The Tragedy of Macbeth, Macbeth himself is being controlled by his greed. He wants power. Tragedy begins to strike as Macbeth starts to do bad things.

Today, those who acquire abundant talent recurrently attract a lot of attention, and those who are lucky enough, become famous for their talent. The once humble person, after acquiring fame, begins to become very popular, and their whole life changes. That person’s personality begins to alter, changing them into arrogant monsters, and their desire for more fame grows exponentially. Soon, the quest for fame leads to destruction by unintentionally chasing pride, the fame monster. This is evident in the epic poem Beowulf, and in the articles “The Fame Motive” and “A Phenomenology of Fame.”

In the epic Beowulf, the author establishes the Anglo-Saxons view of wealth and treasure as a something worth acquiring and going to ward in order to attain more wealth. To be considered good, a king would possess a large assortment of “far-fetched treasures” (36). However, just controlling this treasure would not automatically earn a king the title of “ring-holder”. A leader also had to be willing to dispense their wealth to those in their court or their father’s court (21) and to “dispense [their] God-given goods to old and young” (70-71). They would do this to buy the allegiance and loyalty of their warriors and nobles to keep their throne or to ascend peacefully to their rightful place after the death of their father the king. For instance, Beow did so while his father was alive so that if or when

In Beowulf, Beowulf is driven by the Anglo Saxon values of greed and strength, revealing greed and strength is a part of human nature that has been present since the time of Beowulf. Every hero is completed with strengths of all kind. When Beowulf defeats Grendel, Queen Walhtheow expresses, “Be acclaimed for strength, for kindly guidance / to these two boys, and your bounty will be sure” (1219-1220). The use of “strength” and “kindly guidance” help illustrate that a wise man and a strong man are closely associated. Beowulf needs to be strong throughout his whole journey, at times his actions of strength turned into greedy actions.

There is a fine line that separates greed and ambition can lead to people being greedy but showing it as ambition. Macbeth as a person was a courageous Scottish general who was not inclined to evil deeds, but his desire for power over-rides his moral compass and turns to evil deeds. He kills Duncan in hopes of gaining power which he eventually gained. Although, it was against his better judgement he nonetheless, did it because greed came in the form of ambition. Likewise, in Hamlet, Claudius killed King Hamlet and married the widowed wife to obtain the throne, which he does successfully. Claudius is characterized as a man who was devious and immoral who did anything and everything to get to power. These two characters both display the concept that ambition can be in the form of greed. Both characters were ambitious enough for the throne that they killed the king. By doing this, they both became greedy and went to great lengths such as killing others who got in the way of them and the throne. This shows how the human mind can be easily seduced by greed and ambition. Even the purest and most righteous minds can fall into temptation.

In Beowulf by Anonymous and The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer greed is one of the main ideas that connect the two. Beowulf was written in the Anglo-Saxon period, and is a mainly Pagan story. The Pagan beliefs in this story are prominent in the way they relate to greed. In The Canterbury Tales the reader can see the direct effect that Christianity has on the idea of Greed. Since Beowulf written in The Middle Ages the two tales compared to one another help the reader see the effect that religion has on people moral, and more specifically their greed.

Macbeth, a play by william shakespeare shows how greed for power and wealth can lead to the destruction of oneself. The play's main character, Macbeth is not satisfied as a thane in scotland should be. The force of ambition leading him to assassinate king Duncan to become King of scotland, while unexpectedly destroying himself. Throughout the play many examples are shown of Macbeth’s irresistible thirst for power.

Ambition for great power leads to the downfall of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. Contributing to the downfall and demise of Macbeth, three sinister witches plan to foil Macbeth through telling him prophecies of his future. But, through the freewill of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth they paved their own road to destruction. Lady Macbeth is a woman who is not mentally strong enough to commit a murder but is mentally capable of persuading someone into committing the crime for her. Macbeth is gullible at first judgment, but soon became a man on a murderous rampage to keep his title as king of Scotland. Starting with murdering King Duncan to Birnam Wood advancing to Dunsinane, Lady Macbeth and Macbeth initiate Macbeth’s downfall.

What is ambition? Ambition is the longing to obtain success and power. The literature pieces during the Anglo- Saxon and Renaissance era illustrated the firm aspect of ambition. In Beowulf, Federigos Falcon and Macbeth ambition is both evident but strong. The characters in the literature pieces illustrated ambition throughout their triumphant journeys and showcase their