Sette Vizi Capitali - Tesina

Indice

1. Introduzione

2

2. Avarizia

4

3. Lussuria

7

4. Ira

9

5. Gola

13

6. Invidia

15

7. Accidia

17

8. Superbia

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I 7 vizi capitali

I sette peccati capitali

Hieronymus Bosch,

I vizi capitali sono delle inclinazioni profonde, morali e comportamentali, dell'anima umana. Sono ritenuti "capitali" poiché più gravi, riguardanti la profondità della natura umana. L'uso dell'aggettivo capitali riprende metaforicamente l'accezione del termine "capo" come colui che presiede e che guida, infatti sono origine e guida di molti peccati.

Si parla di una causalità impulsiva e occasionale, a motivo particolarmente, a detta di San Tommaso, del fine: colui che è dominato da qualche vizio capitale è capace di commettere qualunque peccato o delitto pur di soddisfare la sua viziosa passione.

Una sommaria descrizione dei vizi capitali comparve già in Aristotele, che li definì gli "abiti del male". Al pari delle virtù, i vizi (dal latino = mancanza, difetto, ma anche abitudine deviata, storta, fuori dal retto sentiero) deriverebbero infatti dalla ripetizione di azioni, che formano nel soggetto che le compie una sorta di "abito" che lo inclina in una certa direzione o abitudine. Ma essendo vizi, e non virtù, tali abitudini non promuovono la crescita interiore, nobile e spirituale, ma al contrario la distruggono.

2

I sette vizi capitali sono desideri ordinati verso lo spirito del male, cioè Satana, dai quali tutti i peccati traggono origine e che causano la morte dell'anima. A questi sono contrapposte le tre Virtù teologali (Fede, Speranza e Carità) e le quattro Virtù cardinali (Giustizia, Fortezza, Temperanza, Prudenza).

L'elenco dei vizi fu analizzato dal primo Cristianesimo ad opera dei primi monaci, tra cui Evagrio Pontico e Cassiano. A Evagrio si deve la prima classificazione dei vizi capitali; egli individuò otto "spiriti o pensieri malvagi" (logismoi): gola, lussuria, avarizia, ira, tristezza (inclusa nei vizi capitali durante il Medioevo dalla Chiesa, in quanto questo sentimento indicava il non apprezzare le opere che Dio aveva compiuto per gli uomini), accidia, vanagloria e superbia. Il vizio dell'invidia fu aggiunto successivamente.

Gli otto vizi elencati da Evagrio furono ricondotti a sette nella tradizione occidentale e per ricordarli si usa l'acronimo SALIGIA:

• Superbia (desiderio irrefrenabile di essere superiori, fino al disprezzo di ordini, leggi, rispetto altrui).
• Avarizia (scarsa disponibilità a spendere e a donare ciò che si possiede).
• Lussuria (desiderio irrefrenabile del piacere sessuale fine a se stesso).
• Invidia (tristezza per il bene altrui, percepito come male proprio).
• Gola (meglio conosciuta come ingordigia, abbandono ed esagerazione nei piaceri della tavola, e non solo).
• Ira (irrefrenabile desiderio di vendicare violentemente un torto subito).
• Accidia (torpore malinconico, inerzia nel vivere e nel compiere opere di bene).

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Greed

Greed is the inordinate desire to possess wealth, goods, or objects of abstract value with the intention to keep it for one's self, far beyond the dictates of basic survival and comfort. It is applied to a markedly high desire for and pursuit of wealth, status, and power.

The sin of greed is best represented by Ebenezer Scrooge, an old, greedy, selfish and cold-hearted man. Ebenezer is the protagonist of "A Christmas Carol", a short story written by Charles Dickens (1812-1870) and published in 1843.

Dickens always wrote about people and situations of his time; his personal experiences, first as a child when he had to work to support his family and later as a court reporter and a journalist, had made him familiar with the harsh living working conditions of poor urban people. He concentrates mostly on the detailed description of the setting. The use of his experiences as a subject of his novels made him one of the most realistic writers of the Victorian Age.

Dickens looked unfavourably at the new kind of society that was developing as a result of the changes brought in England by the Industrial Revolution. In his view, one the worst effects was that they fostered man's greed for money and material possessions, killing his imaginative power and capacity to feel. For Dickens it was only through love, goodness and philanthropy that the world could be improved.

"A Christmas Carol" has the mark of a fairy tale because of the presence of supernatural elements in the form of ghosts, but it represents perfectly the other side of the Victorian Age, the one behind the rich and developed England. Great Britain was one of the most developed and powerful countries in the whole world, it was a model to imitate for the other european countries. During the Victorian Age there were many new inventions for the industry and scientific discoveries for the human knowledge, for example Darwin's theory of evolution; but England wasn't the perfect country. It is what we call the "Victorian compromise" that characterized the apparently rich country: in opposition to the developed side, there were poor people that worked too much without getting paid enough to support their families. They lived in the slams, small and unhygenical habitations, where the deseases could spread out very fast; in fact a very big number of workers died either in the factories or in the slams.

Dickens has the tremendous capacity to perfectly recreate a setting: he makes the reader feel, not only the atmosphere of Christmas time in London, but also be aware of the poorness and the miserable conditions of the working class. Poorness makes people understand the importance of money and its value, but men tend to become greedy and afraid to lose their havings; they are selfish and careless, just like our greedy man, Ebenezer Scrooge.

4

"<<There's another fellow,>> muttered Scrooge; who overheard him: <<my clerk, with fifteen shillings a week, and a wife and family, talking about merry Christmas. I'll retry to Bedlam.

This linatic, in letting Scrooge's nephew out, had let two other people in. They were prtly gentlemen, pleasant to behold, and now stood, with their hats off, in Scrooge's office. They had books and papers in their hands, and bowed to him.

<<Scrooge and Marley's, I believe,>> said one of the gentlemen, referring to his list. <<Have I the pleasure of addressing Mr. Scrooge, or Mr. Marley?>>

<<Mr. Marley has been dead these seven years,>> Scrooge replied. <<He died seven years ago, this very night.>>

<<We have no doubt his liberality is well represented by his surviving partner,>> said the gentleman, presenting his credentials.

It certain was; for they had been two kindred spirits. At the ominous word 'liberality,' Scrooge frowned, and shook his head, and handes the credentials back.

<<At this festive season of the year, Mr. Scrooge,>> said the gentleman, taking up a pen, <<it is more than usually desirable that we should make some slight provision for the Pook and Destitutes, who suffer greatly at the present time. Many thousands of thousands are in want of common comforts, sir.>>

<<Are there no prisons?>> asked Scrooge.

<<Plenty of prisons,>> said the gentleman, laying down the pen again.

<<And the Union workhouses?>> demanded Scrooge. <<Are they still in operation?>>

<<They are. Still,>> returned the gentleman, <<I wish I could say they were not.>>

<<The Treadmill and the Poor Law are in full vigour, then?>> said Scrooge.

<<Both very busy, sir.>>

<<Oh! I was afraid, from what you said at first, that something had occurred to stop them in their useful course.>> said Scrooge. <<I'm very glad to hear it.>>

<<Under the impression that they scarcely furnish Christian cheer of mind or body to the multitude,>> returned the gentleman, <<a few of us are endeavouring to raise a fund to buy the Poor some meat and drink. and means of warmth. We choose this time, because it is a time, of all others, when Want is keenly felt, and Abundance rejoice. What shall I put you down for?>>

<<Nothing!>> Scrooge replied.

<<You wish to be anonymous?>>

5

<<I wish to be left alone,>> said Scrooge. <<Since you ask me what I wish, gentlemen, that is my answer. I don't make merry myself at Christmas and I can't affort to make idle people merry. I help to support the establishment I have mentioned - they cost enough; and those who are badly off must go there.>>

<<Many can't go there; and many would rather die.>>

<<If they would rather die,>> said Scrooge, <<they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population. Besides - excuse me - I don't know that.>> "

In this extract, Scrooge is careless and irritated when he listens the request of the two gentlemen, who try to convince him to donate some money to poor people. The selfish man agrees with the spread of prisons and workhouses, that, in that time, were the most miserable places where people unable to support themselves were sent. Workhouses were the manifestation of poverty in England; children were the most affected by them: in fact they were separated from their families, if these couldn't support them, and sent to the parish workhouses. Charles Dickens himself knew the meaning of being a poor child.

Ebenezer Scrooge incarnates all of the immoral behaviours that a man could have. The night before Christmas, Marley's ghost visits him and tells him that he will be visited by three spirits: the Ghost of Christmas past, present and future. After these encounters, Scrooge turns into a cheerful, benevolent, charitable being who cares for other people because he understood the true meaning of life.

Dickens believes in the possibility of a change for the conditions of the lower social class; he is optimistic and he trusts in progress and in the human capacity to understand their faults.

"I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humor with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.

Their faithful Friend and Servant,

C.D. December 1843."

6

The purpose of this short story is to give a moral teaching to the lower class and help them avoid bad habits and enjoy the true value of life: in fact it hides the message of generosity, joy and human sympathy that he wanted to convey to his public. The short novel is said to have been highly influential in making people aware of the inhumanity of utilitarian economic doctrines and awakening their sense of social justice.

Lussuria

La lussuria è l'abbandono al piacere sessuale. È per i cattolici il "vizio impuro", al di fuori della norma morale. Secondo le elaborazioni dottrinali della teologia morale del Cattolicesimo, la lussuria è causa di svariati effetti negativi: ad esempio l'incapacità di controllare le proprie passioni.

Nella dottrina cattolica classica, la lussuria è frutto della concupiscenza della carne (al pari del peccato di gola e dell'accidia) ed infrange sia il Sesto Comandamento che vieta di commettere atti impuri sia il Nono che riguarda il desiderare la donna d'altri.

Nella religione pagana classica poteva essere al contrario considerata un mezzo di contatto con il divino. Al tempo stesso però esisteva il culto di Estia per i greci e Vesta per i romani, che tutelavano il focolare familiare e preservavano la castità.

Nel I secolo d.C., Roma era caratterizzata da una decadenza dei costumi provocata, secondo Giovenale, dai numerosi vizi di cui si stavano macchiando i cittadini romani.

Decimo Giunio Giovenale, nato ad Aquino tra il 55 e il 60 d.C. e morto poco dopo il 127 d.C., si impegnò a scrivere i suoi sedici Sermones, giuntici integri ad eccezione dell'ultimo che è mutilo. La scelta di una poesia satirica non fu casuale: egli ne afferma la necessità e la legittimità poiché essa si ispira alla realtà e mira a flagellare le turpitudini e le ingiustizie della vita sociale. Egli denuncia i comportamenti della società del suo tempo, da lui ritenuta profondamente e irrimediabilmente corrotta.