Greed

Greed

See also Stinginess.

Almayer’s Folly

lust for gold leads to decline. [Br. Lit.: Almayer’s Folly]

Alonso

Shakespearean symbol of avarice. [Br. Lit.: The Tempest]

Béline

fans husband’s hypochondria to get his money. [Fr. Lit.: Le Malade Imaginaire]

Barak’s wife

agrees to sell shadow, symbol of her fertility. [Aust. Opera: R. Strauss, Woman Without a Shadow, Westerman, 432]

Brown, Joe

turns in partner Joe Christmas for reward money. [Am. Lit.: Light in August]

Common Lot, The

the get-rich-quick club. [Am. Lit.: The Common Lot, Hart, 369]

Crawley, Pitt

inherits, marries, and hoards money. [Br. Lit.: Vanity Fair]

Eugénie Grandet

wealth as raison d’être. [Fr. Lit.: Eugenie Grandet, Magill I, 258–260]

Financier, The

riches as raison d’être. [Am. Lit.: The Financier, Magill I, 280–282]

Gehazi

behind master’s back, takes money he declined. [O.T.: II Kings 5:21–22]

Griffiths, Clyde

insatiable desire for wealth causes his downfall. [Am. Lit.: An American Tragedy]

Hoard, Walkadine

hastily marries courtesan posing as wealthy widow. [Br. Lit.: A Trick to Catch the Old One]

Kibroth-hattaavah

Hebrew place name: where greedy were buried. [O.T.: Numbers, 11:33–35]

Lucre, Pecunious

duped into succoring profligate nephew by lure of a fortune. [Br. Lit.: A Trick To Catch the Old One]

Mammon

avaricious fallen angel. [Br. Lit.: Paradise Lost]

Mammon, Sir Epicure

avaricious knight; seeks philosopher’s stone for Midas touch. [Br. Lit.: The Alchemist]

Mansion, The

shows material advantages of respectability winning over kinship. [Am. Lit.: The Mansion, Hart, 520]

Midas

greedy king whose touch turned everything to gold. [Classical Myth.: Bulfinch, 42–44]

Montgomery

mercenary chief proverbially kept for himself all the booty. [Fr. Hist.: Brewer Dictionary, 618]

Naboth’s Vineyard

another’s possession gotten, by hook or crook. [O.T.: I Kings, 21]

New Grub Street

place of ruthless contest among moneymongers. [Br. Lit.: New Grub Street, Magill I, 647–649]

Osmond, Gilbert

marries Isabel Archer for her money. [Am. Lit.: The Portrait of a Lady, Magill I, 766–768]

Overreach, Sir Giles

grasping usurer, unscrupulous and ambitious. [Br. Lit.: A New Way to Pay Old Debts, Wheeler, 275]

Pardoner’s Tale

three brothers kill each other for treasure. [Br. Lit.: Canterbury Tales, “Pardoner’s Tale”]

pig

medieval symbol of avarice. [Art: Hall, 247]

Putnam, Abbie

marries old man in anticipation of inheritance. [Am. Lit.: Desire Under the Elms]

Scrooge, Ebenezer

byword for greedy miser. [Br. Lit.: A Christmas Carol]

Sisyphus

condemned to impossible task for his avarice. [Gk. Myth.: Wheeler, 1011]