Gluttony and the Wages of Sin

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Table of Contents

Introduction
“The Wages of Sin”
Greenaway’s 1990 Film: Characters and Food as gluttony
Conclusion
Works Cited

Introduction

Gluttony is an excessive human desire that leads to over-indulgence and disproportionate consumption of drinks, food, and accumulation of wealth. Since glutton is a disproportionate greed, some religions such as Christianity and Islam considers it as a vice and sin which people should shun so that they can help the needy.

It is a deadly sin because it deprives the needy of the privileges of benefiting from the wealth that the society owns. According to Prose, “like lust, its sister transgression, the sin of gluttony reflects a constellation of complex attitudes toward the confluence of necessity and pleasure” (8).

Since the modern society perceives gluttony as a sin, people are very conscious about the nature and the amount of food that they take because gluttony is not only a religious issue, but also a health issue. Hence, by following appropriate diet, people are able to eat well, and thus reduce their predisposition to gluttony. Therefore, this essay evaluates how gluttony is a ‘nightmare vision’ as depicted in topic “The Wages of Sin”and the film, The Cook, the Thief, His Wife and Her Lover.

“The Wages of Sin”

“The Wages of Sin” depicts gluttony as a ‘nightmare vision’ because The Last Judgment painting illustrates how gluttons are facing a nightmare in hell. The painting shows six gluttons, two women and four men, who have sinned and are spending their time in hell while dining. Prose describes that, “the men have huge bellies, fleshy arms, and backs; one has pendulous breasts” (44).

Such description indicates that the six sinners who are dining in hell have abnormally huge bodies due to their glutton habits. Since gluttony is a sin, critical analysis of the painting shows that the six sinners are in hell paying for their gluttony. Moreover, the sinners have extended their excessive eating habits into the hell because they are at the dining table ready to display their gluttonous behavior. Fleshy arms and huge bellies depict the impact of gluttony on their health for all the sinners are obese.

The painting also illustrates how the gluttons are suffering because they are sitting at the dining table that has a variety of foodstuffs yet they are unable to eat. The dining table has chicken, wine, and loaves amongst other foodstuffs that make the gluttons salivate. Around the table, a band of demons exists, whose job is to prevent “the gluttons, by holding their arms and heads with their sharp talons and claws, by prodding them with bats and clubs, from getting anywhere near the food they crave” (Prose 44).

As the band of demons that surround the gluttons restricts them from accessing food on the table, they torment the gluttons eternally. In this view, the nightmare vision of the gluttons illustrates how the gluttons suffer in hell because they are unable to satisfy their greed despite seeing plenty of delicious food on the dining table. Thus, the gluttons are experiencing great torture in hell as they receive their wages for indulging in food when they were alive.

At the front of the dining table, the painting portrays another glutton, a man who is suffering in anguish. The glutton realizes that the hell has decided his fate and will continually suffer in it, and thus decides to crawl on the ground.

His physical attributes indicate that the glutton is in great anguish because he has malformed and twisted body while the rib cage is quite visible and deformed. Prose states that the glutton is “unable to stand the sight of the meal at which his companions are gazing with such longing, he bows his head in a posture of grief and cover his face with his hands” (45).

Such a posture illustrates despair and misery that the glutton experiences, as his fate is definite. Moreover, the serpent is present in the painting as its role is to coil around the man and prevent him from accessing food that is at the dining table. Like demons, the serpent controls what the glutton does because it represents the evil anguish that the glutton is undergoing in hell.

Despite depicting how gluttons suffering in hell, the painting has a caption below it, which suggests that eating well is not a sin. Christians support the assertion that eating well is not a sin because people have a moral duty and responsibility of ensuring that they eat well. Prose argues that, “once-pious Christians knew what awaited them, as a consequence of overeating, they realized how important it was to watch their diets, how carefully they had to control their appetites” (49).

The painting illustrates how gluttons receive eternal punishment in hell for wasting their invaluable time in pursuing worldly pleasures that have no benefits to their eternal lives. Thus, the nightmare vision threatens Christians because overindulgence in gluttony eventually leads to hell where too much anguish and suffering exist.

Overall, the nightmare vision depicted in the painting warns people against indulging in gluttony as it has severe consequences. From the Christian point of view, gluttony is one of the sins that destroy humans for it causes them to suffer in hell where there is endless anguish and misery. According Prose, “no wonder that thoughtful and even altruistic humans have found it increasingly important to warn their peers about the passing, transient, gluttonous pleasure that leads to eternal penance and pain,” (49).

In this view, many people have developed fears regarding the gluttonous behaviors that ultimately make them lose eternal life and endure eternal anguish and misery in hell. Therefore, the painting poses a religious message about the consequences of gluttony, as an eternal punishment for people to make appropriate choices about their eating habits.

Greenaway’s 1990 Film: Characters and Food as gluttony

Robert Borst, the Cook

The film depicts the theme of ‘nightmare vision’ as greed and glutton using various characters in the movie. Richard Borst is a cook in the movie who is responsible for making very delicious meals that attract numerous customers into the restaurant daily.

From the movie, it is evident that Richard Borst is an experienced cook in the restaurant and understands the needs of his customers. Since the customers eat in a lavish manner, Richard Borst ensures that he prepares different foodstuffs that satisfy diverse needs of the customers who usually flock at the restaurant.

Richard Borst brags that, “neither his customers nor the boss have disliked the food that he cooks in the restaurant” (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover). This indicates that Richard Borst is happy about his cooking skills for he pleases both the customers and his boss. Hence, endless appetites of the customers and his boss push Richard Borst to prepare delicious food in the restaurant.

In the aspect of the nightmare vision, Richard Borst becomes a victimizer as he conspires with Georgina Spica to cook the body of Michael, the lover. In the movie, Michael has an affair with Georgina Spica, which prompts her husband to kill him. Usually, Georgina Spica meets with Michael at the bathroom where they explore their love affair.

When his husband kills his illicit lover, Georgina Spica decides to avenge by conspiring with Richard Borst to cook Michael’s body and compels his husband to feed on it. Robert Borst agrees that, “I will cook his body according to your instructions” (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover).

Since Richard Borst can make delicious meals, Georgina Spica commands him to cook the body of Michael and serve it to Alberto Spica, before shooting him to die. Therefore, Richard Borst plays a role of victimizer because he cooks the body of Michael and serves it to Alberto Spica; hence, contributing cannibalism as part of the nightmare vision.

Alberto Spica, the Thief

Alberto Spica is the owner of the restaurant, Le Hollandais Restaurant. He frequents the restaurant daily in the evening with his wife, Georgina, and they sit at the big dining table and await their cook to serve them.

Alberto Spica has an unmatched appetite of food because he always orders different types of menu at ago and dines through into the late night before leaving for home. What is unique about his gluttony is that he eats continuously while talking with his friends. Sometimes he summons the customers and staff, and lectures them with his monotonous discourses, thus causing confrontations in the restaurant.

In some instances, Alberto Spica requests food for his friends by shouting that, “serve my friends with food of their choice, and provide free drinks” (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover). The food in the dining table continually keeps Alberto Spica in the table with his friends. No one leaves the table until they finish all the food served by the cook. Therefore, their idleness in the dining table increases their appetites and makes them glutton.

The endless appetite of food predisposes Alberto Spica to the acts of cruelty. In the restaurant, Alberto Spica is busy with food, hence, neglecting her wife to have an affair with Michael. This implies that food and restaurant compel Georgina Spica to fall in love with Michael.

As Georgina encounters Michael daily in the restaurant, it gradually leads to a love affair. When Alberto Spica realizes about the love affair, he mobilizes his friends to kill Michael. In their love affair, Michael takes Georgina Spica into his bookstore where he hides her from his husband.

Unfortunately, Alberto Spica finds out when he sees a boy taking food to Georgina Spica at the bookstore. Alberto Spica tortures the boy and makes him eat a book that he carries because it has a map, which directs him where Georgina Spica hides. Then, Alberto Spica orders his friends that, “I want Michael dead because he is having an illicit affair with my wife” (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover). In this view, Alberto Spica is a victimizer since he tortures the boy and kills Michael.

Georgina Spica, the Wife

Georgina Spica has a great appetite of food because she normally accompanies her husband, Alberto Spica, to the restaurant daily. In the restaurant, Georgina Spica sits at the dining table and orders different meals and drinks to satisfy her insatiable hunger. She normally visits the kitchen and orders her own menu for she likes how her cook, Robert Borst, prepares the meals in the restaurant. “Please serve me with my usual meals and drinks because I am very hungry” (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover).

Georgina trusts the meals that the cook prepares for they are very delicious and palatable at all times. Even when at the bookstore while having an affair with Michael, Georgina orders the food from the restaurant. Hence, appetite forces her to order the food even when hiding in the bookstore.

As Alberto Spica realizes that the boy was taking food to Georgina Spica at the bookstore, he tortures the boy to reveal where his wife is hiding. Georgina Spica then sympathizes with the boy and visits him at the hospital because he suffers from the torture. She wants the boy to recover so that he can bring food to her whenever she is at the bookstore. However, his husband orders his friends to kill Michael, thus complicating the life of Georgina Spica, as she cannot have a love affair with Michael anymore.

Driven by anger, Georgina decides to compel his husband to eat the body of Michael before killing him. With anger, Georgina says that, “he must feed on the body of Michael before I kill him as a punishment” (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover). In this view, Georgina becomes a victimizer in cannibalism for he makes Robert Borst to cook Michael’s body and forces his husband to eat it.

Michael, the Lover

Michael also has an insatiable appetite of food because he frequents the restaurant daily and sits alone at one of the dining tables in the restaurant. His appetite compels him to come to the restaurant, and eventually meets Georgian Spica. When Georgina Spica visits him at the bookstore, he orders food from the restaurant.

At a given instance, Georgina Spica says, “we need some food from the restaurant, can you order someone to send us here” (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover). His request makes Georgina Spica to command Robert Borst to send the boy with food, which ultimately makes Alberto Spica to discover that Georgina is hiding in the bookstore with his illicit lover.

In the film, Michael is a victim because food and love affair eventually betrays him. The delicious food entices Michael to visit the restaurant daily without imagining that he may encounter Georgina Spica. Moreover, the food that he orders to his bookstore exposes his love affair with Georgina Spica. In the bookstore, Michael tells Georgina Spica that, “let us make our love very secretive to prevent your husband from knowing” (The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover).

Despite making their love affair secret, Alberto Spica discovers and mobilizes his friends to kill Michael. After killing him, his wife avenges by forcing Alberto Spica to eat the body of Michael. Thus, the nightmare vision is evident in the film as Michael is a victim of death and cannibalism.

Conclusion

The theme of the ‘nightmare vision’ is a dominant one in the topic “The Wages of Sin” and the film The Cook, the Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover, 1989. The Last Judgment painting depicts how gluttons suffer in hell after spending invaluable time of their lives in lavish and gluttonous activities.

The gluttons suffer great anguish and misery eternally since gluttony is a deadly sin. Moreover, the movie depicts how gluttonous behavior destroys lives because Alberto Spica and Michael die while the boy and Georgina Spica suffer from the consequences of their glutinous lives.

Works Cited

Prose, Francine. Gluttony: The Seven Deadly Sins. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print.

The Cook, the Thief, and His Wife and her Lover. Dir. Peter Greenaway. London: Erato Films. 1989. DVD.

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