Fergana state university

Chapter 3 Greed, Power and Pride

Rich pride mounts rich pride And begets insolence.
Pampered insolence begets
Anarchy. (Hughes TO 38)

The selected poems treat issues of greed and pride, failings which determine human action and frequently involve a misuse of power. Pride, covetousness, envy and gluttony occur in a Christian list of deadly sins as early as the sixth century (Macmillan Dictionary of the Bible), and covetousness, the desire for another’s possessions, is an even older prohibition (Exodus 20:17). Greed as a concept encompasses self-interested beliefs and actions – grasping and grabbing with no consideration for others – and in the selected poems greedy protagonists eventually suffer. Pride in its derogatory sense – an overweening opinion of one’s own qualities, or an arrogant bearing or conduct – is intertwined with motives of self-interest and a rapacious need to exercise power. Power has contrary connotations in the poems discussed, at times linked with greed and self- interest, and an ability to control, punish, destroy and kill, but occasionally identified with selfless beneficial actions. A powerful ruler was essential for the survival of ancient social groups living under the threat of war, enslavement and death. However these same groups were at risk if the king’s power was not applied justly. The issues of greed, pride and misuse of power continue to be relevant for modern readers as forces underlying commercial and political action. When rapacity is the primary motivator driving the desire for power, self-interest sucks everyone into a vortex of disaster. A just

social order, the only defence against these consequences, is needed to prevent such disasters.

Early Christian moral theology documented deadly sins, but their problem-causing potential, which extends into the modern world, was recognised in more ancient times, and forms some of the subject matter of the selected poems. Hughes’ Tales from Ovid reverberates with pernicious actions, and justice is notably absent from these retellings of myths about the gods. Coercion, injustice and the misuse of power, as well as the possibility of a just solution, are notions that analysis exposes in Heaney’s The Cure at Troy. As shown in Chapter 2 above, justice emerges also as a resolution in Hughes’ The Oresteia, which examines issues of greed and pride and the abuse of power when the wealth of the throne of Argos helps to motivate Aegisthus’ and Clytemnestra’s crimes. In contrast, Agamemnon displays humble characteristics on his return from Troy, and in Hughes’ Alcestis Heracles uses power and strength benevolently to retrieve Alcestis from the God of Death. That power can be used wisely or unwisely is also demonstrated in Heaney’s Beowulf, where desire for territory and treasure are among the chief motives of rulers. While praising the hero and his kingly abilities, Beowulf also cites examples of bad rulers, and exposes the powerlessness of women in the societies depicted. However this paradigm is not apposite for all women in the selected poems, as evidenced by Alcestis and Clytemnestra, while Heaney’s “Death of Orpheus” depicts a band of women aligned with the powerful Furies. The poetic language dealing with greed, power and pride varies from conversational and temperate to lyrical, passionate and trenchant. Heaney enlists Ulster vernacular, forges contrary images of beauty and

brutality and still sings the songs of Orpheus even as he is torn apart. Hughes’ language is fluid, fluctuating from gentle and lyrical to colloquial, brutal or glacial as he exposes “the depths man will crawl to” (TO 40).

Greed

The selected poems explore the issue of greed and its immediate or future punishment. Because the narrative of Beowulf is overlaid with Christian doctrine, a denunciation of sins might be expected to take the form of a thunderous oration. Hrothgar’s discourse

(56) on the dangers of power does include warnings against covetousness:

His old possessions seem paltry to him now.

He covets and resents; dishonours custom
and bestows no gold; (Heaney B 56) However, rather than the anticipated fiery oration, Heaney’s verbs in this passage, “seem”, “resents”, “bestows” (B 56), are tepid and controlled, confirming the view that this is a minor digression. The cautionary example concludes with the inevitability of death and the dispersal of the covetous man’s goods (57), and the audience, presumably familiar with the relevant moral theology, is reminded to “choose eternal rewards” rather than earthly goods (57). Punishment for covetousness may not be immediate but

waits in the afterlife.

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While Heaney’s Beowulf thus suspends punishment and passion, “Midas” and “Erisychthon” in Hughes’ Tales from Ovid explore greed in more depth. Hughes’ vigorous language makes the stupidity and selfishness of greed and its immediate punishment vivid for modern readers when the poetry depicts the extreme consequences

which can result from this behaviour. In the well-known tale, Bacchus grants the greedy Midas’ wish: “Let whatever I touch become gold” (Hughes Ov 202). Similarly, Erisychthon is greedy for monetary gain, and in pursuing it offends the goddess Ceres who curses him with gluttony (85-94). Unlike Heaney’s temperate language in Beowulf, Hughes’ poetry is explicit, with blade-sharp images and musical flights like the lilting cadenza of Pan’s piping (Ov 207).