Greed Is The Root of All Evil Greed is one of the most selfish traits displayed by all humans. It breaks people down and builds others up, but not always in a good way. Greed is displayed by the desire to overcome others for personal gains, even if that means betraying one’s closest friends for personal gain. It is displayed as selfish, overwhelming, and something people have trouble controlling. It has the power to destroy friendships, family, and trust, leaving behind a sense of satisfaction and overwhelming sense of guilt. Although, merely a few do not know what greed is. Greed is the root of all evil as a theme can be found in the fourteenth century poem “The Pardoner’s Tale” by Geoffrey Chaucer and the twentieth century song “Piggies” …show more content…
The poem tells a Pardoner’s tale about three friends whom go searching for death, the criminal whom has been ruthlessly killing the villagers. The Pardoner begins by showing his own greed; “Do you think as long as I can preach and get their silver for the things I teach, that I will live in poverty, from choice?” (Chaucer 143). By this, the pardoner elaborates how he is aware that he is greed, and for as long as he can keep taking people’s riches he will not live in poverty. This shows that the pardoner himself, who is known to guilt people out of their greed, is the main greedy one himself. The pardoner took pleasure in taking belongings from the poor, and he had no shame in doing so. In The Pardoner’s Tale, the pardoner tells about three friends who go after death. In that journey, they encounter a large sum of gold, which can make all three of them very wealthy amongst their people; “At once the three young rioters began to run, and reached the tree, and there they found a pile of golden florins on the ground” (Chaucer 146). By then, they began to negotiate outcomes and eventually send the youngest to fetch them a drink. As the youngest of the three began to meet his greed, he poisoned the drinks so he could acquire the gold all to himself. This begins to show that greed was overwhelming and would take over a person’s mindset causing them to …show more content…
The Beatles made sure to target the greedy as the corrupt businessmen and how unfair they were compared to the working class. A lyrics describe the classes as pigs, envisioning the working class as playing in the dirt meaning they were hard working and “…life always getting worse, always having dirt to play around in” (“The Beatles” 1). On the other hand, they describe the businessmen as bigger piggies, showing them to have a clean white shirt on; “Have you seen the bigger piggies in their starched white shirts? You will find the bigger piggies stirring up the dirt always have clean shirts to play around in” (“The Beatles” 1). They contrast the social classes and showing that the corrupt always have their dapper clothing and do not have a worry about getting dirty. Through the song they portray the piggies without a care, becoming blind to the corruption and unintentionally do harm to each other as shown in the lyrics “…you can see them out for diner, with their piggy wives clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon” (“The Beatles” 1). This shows how oblivious the working class has become to the corruption of the world and how they can take without care, and for such mindset nothing is ever enough, and something is always lacking. The Beatles correctly portrays how greed can overcome a person’s morals and make them insensitive to another human and causing them to act