The Movie SE7EN

History and existence of Seven Deadly Sins has inspired many writers and directors to produce movies and arts like the movie “SE7EN” starring Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt and Kevin Spacey. Movie is about a man (Kevin Spacey) who considers himself like a GUN OF GOD who is assigned to kill 7 people each of whom commits one of the Seven Deadly Sins to create an unforgettable scene for people to get lessons from it. Like the Kevin Spacey says in the movie the issue is still studied and still in the minds of people. In the movie Kevin Spacey punishes everyone, but he gives the harshest punishment to the officer (Brad Pitt) for committing PRIDE.

Seven Deadly Sins

Known also as CAPITAL VICES or CARDINAL SINS, The Seven Deadly Sins is a classification of the vices which has been used since the dawn of "Christianity" to educate believers regarding the tendency of human to the sin. The reason they are called “DEADLY” is that one committing them is not to be forgiven and should be penalized to death. The latest Deadly Sins are thought to be the followings:

- Gluttony

- Wrath

- Greed

- Sloth

- Pride

- Envy

- Lust

The above list has experienced many changes through its development which has begun in 4th Century. You can also see Latin-translated version of his work below.

Gula (gluttony)
Fornicatio (fornication, lust)
Avaritia (avarice/greed)
Tristitia (sorrow/despair)
Ira (wrath)
Acedia (acedia)
Vanagloria (vainglory)
Superbia (Pride)

Gluttony: This is also, like some other major sins, is about excessiveness of a habit. This is related to over-consumption of a good, generally food.

Wrath: Can be summarized as uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger. Desire to seek revenge outside of the workings of the justice system and generally wishing to do evil or harm to others.

Greed: Greed is applied to the acquisition of wealth in particular by church.

Sloth: Sloth is defined as spiritual or emotional apathy, neglecting what God has spoken, and being physically and emotionally inactive. To sum up, “Carelessness” to everything.

Pride: Appreciating oneself and humiliating, ignoring what others do.


Envy: occurs when a person lacks another's (perceived) superior quality, achievement, or possession and either desires it or wishes that the other lacked it.

Lust: Excessive thoughts or desire of a sexual nature.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

It was New Year at the court of King Arthur. Queen and all the knights of the Round Table were celebrating the Holiday. Suddenly the door opened and everybody turned round, a knight rode into the room on a magnificent horse the knight and his horse were completely green! The strange green knight got off his horse and spoke "I know that King Arthur and his knights are famous for their bravery I have come to test their bravery with a little game. Here is my axe one of you, brave knights must try to cut off my head, but next year, on the same day, I will try to do the same to that knight." A brave and honest knight, Sir Gawain, stood up and said: "I will do it: With no hesitation, he took the axe and cut off the Green Knight’s head then the strangest thing happened the Green Knight picked up his head, got on his horse and left the room. Ten months later, Sir Gawain went off to find the Green Knight. He came to a magnificent castle. The lord of the castle invited him to stay for the New Year Sir Gawain and the lord made an agreement. They agreed to give each other anything they received. The next day, the lord of the castle went out hunting Sir Gawain stayed in bed, suddenly the lady of the castle, the lord’s wife came into his room. She was beautiful. She kissed Sir Gawain and then left. When the lord of the castle returned, he gave Sir Gawain a deer he had caught. Sir Gawain gave the lord a kiss. The next day the same thing happened. On the third day the lady of the castle kissed Sir Gawain and then gave him a special belt. She said it would save his life. Sir Gawain did not give the belt to the lord of the castle because he thought it might be useful when he went to see the Green Knight.
On the New Year day, Sir Gawain went to meet the Green Knight as they had agreed, the Green Knight took the axe, he was going to cut off Sir Gawain’s head when suddenly he stopped, he tried a second time, but again stopped. The third time he cut Sir Gawain’s neck a little, but didn’t hurt him. Sir Gawain was angry. He said: "Why did you try three times? We agreed only once." The Green Knight told him that he was, in fact, the lord of the castle "I didn’t cut you the first two times because you were honest for two days, but on the third day, you didn’t tell me about the belt So I had to cut you!" Sir Gawain returned to King Arthur’s court. He was sad because he had not been honest. He decided to wear the belt around his neck for the rest of his life. He told King Arthur: "When I become arrogant, I can look at the belt and remember that I am not a perfect knight."

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table are the Britain’s greatest legendary figures. In the story with the help of Merlin’s magic, King Uther marries the beautiful Igraine on condition that Uther gives him their firstborn. When Arthur is born, Merlin hides him. On Uther’s death, civil war breaks out. One day young Arthur travels to London, with his step father, Sir Ector, and Arthur pulls the sword out of a stone. The stone has the followings written on it: ONLY THE REAL KING CAN TAKE THE SWORD FROM THE STONE, so Arthur becomes the next king. Arthur quickly gathers around him the bravest and best knights in the kingdom and marries Guinevere, the most beautiful woman in Great Britain. Merlin makes a round table for the knights at Camelot, the most important city in Britain. Arthur comes across Queen Annoure’s castle. Annoure wants him to marry her. As Arthur escapes, she orders Sir Pellinore to kill him. Unaware that he is fighting Arthur, Pellinore wounds him lightly but then realises who he is. Since Arthur’s sword breaks in the fight, Merlin takes Arthur to the Lady of the Lake, who hands Arthur a magic sword called Excalibur. Morgan le Fay hates Arthur and tricks him and one of his knights into a fight in which neither knows the other’s identity. This time Arthur is severely wounded and goes to a nunnery to be healed. Morgan follows him, steals his magic scabbard and throws it into a lake. Lady Vivien wants to be the greatest magician in the world and tricks Merlin into getting into a cave he cannot get out of. Legend says Merlin is still trapped in this cave. When Sir Meligrance kidnaps Guinevere, Sir Lancelot rescues her. Meligrance is forgiven by Guinevere but he locks Lancelot into a room and tells Arthur that Guinevere has run away with him because she loves him. When Lancelot escapes, he kills Meligrance for being a liar. Tristan gets poisoned in his fight against the King of Ireland’s son and travels to Ireland to get cured. Without knowing Tristan is his son’s murderer, the king asks him to teach his daughter, Isolt, to play the harp. Tristan and Isolt fall in love but Isolt has to marry King Mark, Tristan’s uncle, and Tristan becomes a Knight of the Round Table. When Sir Tristan learns Isolt has been kidnapped, he fights Sir Palamides, her captor, and takes her to King Mark who suspects Tristan and Isolt are in love and kills Tristan. Isolt dies of sadness and King Mark is killed by one of Arthur’s knights. An old man sits Galahad, Sir Lancelot’s son, at the only vacant place on the Round Table, reserved for the best knight. Once dubbed a knight, Galahad takes a long journey in search of the Grail which, according to an apparition, is in the country. As many knights accompany him, the brotherhood of the Round Table is practically dissolved. They finally find the Grail on a ship at sea which takes them to a city. In the city, the old man makes Galahad king and foretells the latter’s imminent death. When the other knights return, Arthur can sense the end of the Round Table is near. In Arthur’s absence, Sir Mordred attempts to kidnap Guinevere. Arthur returns and one of Mordred’s men kills Sir Gawain, Arthur’s knight. In Arthur’s sleep, the dead Gawain advises him to wait for Sir Lancelot’s help. The fight against Mordred’s men starts by accident. As many knights die, an enraged Arthur kills Mordred and gets a deadly wound. Arthur asks Sir Bedivere to throw Excalibur into the lake. When Bedivere finally does so, the Lady of the Lake takes it. Arthur’s last wish is to be taken to the lake. A boat with five ladies in black is waiting for him. Before leaving, Arthur promises to return whenever his country needs him and asks Bedivere to tell his story. King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table are Britain’s greatest legendary figures.

Middle Ages In Britain

The Middle Ages is the period of time between the 10^th and the 15^th century. During this period Churches become rich, and the religion plays an important role in the society it effects all the branches of society, the literature is effected as well. This goes on up to the rise of renaissance (the end of the 14^th century).

The Norman Conquest

By the year of 1066 William, the Duke of Normandy, invaded the Kingdom of England, defeated the English king Harold II and became the king. This historical fact is also known as the Norman Conquest, this incident changed the course English history and culture. The immediate consequence of the Conquest was the introduction of feudalism, a new kind of aristocracy. Along with this came the Northern dialect French as the normal language of the aristocracy, this continued to be used until the 15th century. English, however, remained the language of the mass, of the uncultivated. Again, all the important positions in the church were given to the French clergy, who would use Latin as the language for learning. This provided the much-needed stimulus to the intellectual life of the English people, as it opened their ways to the classical worlds of Greece and Rome. By the beginning of the 14th century English became universal for all practical purposes, but it was no longer purely a tongue of the Anglo-Saxons; Now it was the transformed English also known as Middle English forming the base for the Modern English. The most prominent change in the field of literature was that the Old English poetic themes and forms were replaced by the French romance and allegory. The love poetry of the troubadours of Southern France and the war poetry of the trouveres of the Northern France together in combination produced a new kind of poetry called romance. In this Chanson de Roland became the model of the romances. On the other hand, Roman de la Rose became a model for the medieval allegorical love poetry. In consideration of the type of production, the literature following the conquest can roughly be divided in some groups:
1. “The matter of Britain”, dealing with the stories of King Arthur
2. “The matter of England”, celebrating the English heroes
3. “The matter of France”, connected with the French king Charlemagne the Great
4. “The matter of Greece and Rome”, connected with the classical heroes like Alexander.
The period following the Conquest saw the rise of a body of popular tales, a great majority of which is in verse often having a moral. Some of them are short anecdotes, called exemplum, teaching a lesson or illustrating a point. There are also the writing of some chronicles, mainly based on legends and imagination. The striking exception is the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles, describing the miseries of the English under their ruthless French rulers. The Norman Conquest caused the death of the Old English lyrics Age.

Courtly Love

Courtly love was a medieval European conception of nobly expressing love, desire and admiration. Generally, courtly love was secret and between members of the noble members of society. In courtly love the lover accepts the independence of his mistress and tries to make himself worthy of her by acting bravely and honorably and by doing whatever deeds she might desire. Sexual satisfaction may not have been a goal, but the love was not entirely Platonic either, as it was based on sexual attraction.

In courtly love the knight loves a lady of higher status, the wife of his lord, a lady of higher status, usually the rich and powerful woman, and the lady is also affected by the knight. The "Lovers" in the context of courtly love do not refer to sex, but rather the act of emotional loving. In courtly love the lovers are usually star-crossed lovers who never come together and die without being together.