Greed
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Greed
See also Stinginess.
Almayer’s Follylust for gold leads to decline. [Br. Lit.: Almayer’s Folly]
Shakespearean symbol of avarice. [Br. Lit.: The Tempest]
fans husband’s hypochondria to get his money. [Fr. Lit.: Le Malade Imaginaire]
agrees to sell shadow, symbol of her fertility. [Aust. Opera: R. Strauss, Woman Without a Shadow, Westerman, 432]
turns in partner Joe Christmas for reward money. [Am. Lit.: Light in August]
the get-rich-quick club. [Am. Lit.: The Common Lot, Hart, 369]
inherits, marries, and hoards money. [Br. Lit.: Vanity Fair]
wealth as raison d’être. [Fr. Lit.: Eugenie Grandet, Magill I, 258–260]
riches as raison d’être. [Am. Lit.: The Financier, Magill I, 280–282]
behind master’s back, takes money he declined. [O.T.: II Kings 5:21–22]
insatiable desire for wealth causes his downfall. [Am. Lit.: An American Tragedy]
hastily marries courtesan posing as wealthy widow. [Br. Lit.: A Trick to Catch the Old One]
Hebrew place name: where greedy were buried. [O.T.: Numbers, 11:33–35]
duped into succoring profligate nephew by lure of a fortune. [Br. Lit.: A Trick To Catch the Old One]
avaricious fallen angel. [Br. Lit.: Paradise Lost]
avaricious knight; seeks philosopher’s stone for Midas touch. [Br. Lit.: The Alchemist]
shows material advantages of respectability winning over kinship. [Am. Lit.: The Mansion, Hart, 520]
greedy king whose touch turned everything to gold. [Classical Myth.: Bulfinch, 42–44]
mercenary chief proverbially kept for himself all the booty. [Fr. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 618]
another’s possession gotten, by hook or crook. [O.T.: I Kings, 21]
place of ruthless contest among moneymongers. [Br. Lit.: New Grub Street, Magill I, 647–649]
marries Isabel Archer for her money. [Am. Lit.: The Portrait of a Lady, Magill I, 766–768]
grasping usurer, unscrupulous and ambitious. [Br. Lit.: A New Way to Pay Old Debts, Wheeler, 275]
three brothers kill each other for treasure. [Br. Lit.: Canterbury Tales, “Pardoner’s Tale”]
medieval symbol of avarice. [Art: Hall, 247]
marries old man in anticipation of inheritance. [Am. Lit.: Desire Under the Elms]
byword for greedy miser. [Br. Lit.: A Christmas Carol]
condemned to impossible task for his avarice. [Gk. Myth.: Wheeler, 1011]
Allusions—Cultural, Literary, Biblical, and Historical: A Thematic Dictionary. Copyright 2008 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.