Shakespeare on the Seven Deadly Sins

More of this Feature • Part 2: Shakespeare on Lust  • Part 3: Shakespeare on Pride and Greed  • Part 4: Shakespeare on Envy and Gluttony  • Part 5: Shakespeare on Anger and Sloth      Related Resources • Sinful Treasure: Sonnet 75 • The Shakespeare Quote of the Day    Elsewhere on the Web • Summa Theologica • The Seven Deadly Sins of Bible Study • Gower's Confessio Amantis or The Seven Deadly Sins

The classification of the "seven deadly sins" dates back to as early as the 6th century, when they were first grouped together by St. Gregory the Great, Pope from 590-604. The sins – pride, covetousness, lust, envy, gluttony (including drunkenness) anger, and sloth – were held to be transgressions that caused the death not of the body but of the soul. In the mid-13th century Guilielmus Peraldus composed a treatise on the seven deadly sins called the Summa seu Tractatus de Viciis, and it soon became the most influential source on the subject, fascinating and inspiring Medieval and Renaissance writers including Thomas Malory, Geoffrey Chaucer, John Gower, Langland, Dante, Spenser, and Marlowe. Although Shakespeare does not address directly the catalogue of deadly sins, he does have much to say on each individual offence, and so I have compiled the following list of quotes. Enjoy!