7 Deadly Sins: Covetousness (long)

[Peg Kerr]

No: HPFGUIDX 2877

Covetousness is the ardent desire to possess something belonging to
someone else.  This aspect of possession makes covetousness different
from, for example, gluttony, which also involves a desire.  If you covet
something, you want to have it--and your desire, if fulfilled, deprives
someone else of that thing, who should rightfully have it.

Perhaps you might remember the Ten Commandments warning against
"coveting your neighbor's wife," which raises the question of the
similarity between covetousness and lust--until you understand that in
this cultural context, the word "covet" is used because a "wife" was
considered a possession, a piece of property.  (Peg rips at her hair for
a moment and then decides to set aside the provocation inherent in this
observation and go back to her original thread of thought.  Nope, nope,
we'll Not Go There.)

The biggest instance of coveting in the series, in my opinion, involves
the item which provides the title of the first book: The philosopher's
stone.  Voldemort wants the philosopher's stone in order to
re-incorporate--I mean that literally, in the sense of the Latin root,
corpus for 'body.'  He wants a body back; more than that, he wants
eternal life.  The stone belongs to Nicolas Flamel, and so Voldemort is
determined to steal it.

Voldemort's coveting of the stone leads to a host of other evils.
First, he tries theft (attempting to take the stone from Gringotts.)  He
tricks Hagrid into betraying Dumbledore's trust and revealing the secret
of how to get past Fluffy.  He ensnares and bullies Quirrel, enslaving
him to his will and (eventually) leaving him to die.  He kills a unicorn
to drink its blood, a terrible sin with a terrible price.  So,
covetousness leads to greed, attempted theft, lies, betrayal, violence.

Harry can defeat him only because he does not want the stone himself--it
is that fact that allows him to use the Mirror of Erised to find the
stone without giving it away to Voldemort.

There is a more muted example in _Goblet of Fire_.  Here, the coveted
object is more abstract--it is the position of school champion, picked
by the Goblet of Fire, that is desired by many, and eventually, the
position of the Triwizard champion.  Harry is accused by several
students, particularly Draco, of coveting what is rightfully Cedric's
("Support Cedric Diggory--the Real Hogwarts Champion").  Harry at first
is innocent of this charge.  He might instead be called an
"anti-covetor."  He had thought of what it might be like to be the
Hogwarts Champion, but once he had heard about the age line he didn't
consider entering the competition.  But when the Goblet of Fire spits
his name out, and he finds himself to be a champion, he really doesn't
want the role--even though, and perhaps especially though, everyone
thought he did, and thought he was willing to cheat and lie to break the
rules to do it.  Most hurtfully for Harry, Ron thought so, and their
friendship fractures because Ron reveals that he covets what,
ironically, Harry never really wanted in the first place.

Harry, in time, as he works through the tasks, comes to accept his role
as champion, to the point that he really does want the Triwizard cup in
the maze, just at the point he realizes that Cedric has won it.  At that
point, the cup represents to Harry everything that Harry thinks Cedric
has that Harry wants--the true, unqualified right to be called a
champion, the admiration of his peers (especially Cho).  And yet, Harry
resists temptation here, just as he did in the first book.  He does not
take what does not truly belong to him.  When Cedric refuses the cup,
too, Harry suggests that it be shared.  By doing so, Harry is actually
unmaking the sin of coveting; deconstructing it: a possession meant for
just one is shared between two.

(Too bad that Voldemort was waiting at the other end.)

I've suggested before that Harry's upbringing with the Dursleys has
perhaps served to "innoculate" him against the temptations of the 7
deadly sin, because Dudley in particular was such an awful example.
Dudley had a multitude of possessions, but Harry saw that they didn't
give him any particular pleasure.  He would get a toy and then break it
and forget about it.  Rowling speaks specifically about how Dudley
coveted things--he would want something if he saw that Harry had it.

(Again, I make passing mention of the frequent rumor that Snape "covets"
the Defense against the Dark Arts position.  Yes, yes, I know it's just
a rumor.)

A couple more passing mentions:  Hagrid covets dragon eggs.  His desire
to own an illegal egg causes him to let slip Fluffy's secret, as I've
mentioned, and the end result, Norbert, of course, gets Harry, Ron and
Hermione in a Heap O' Trouble.

Draco seems covetous to me--he wants Harry's Quidditch glory (just as,
it is hinted, Severus once wanted James').  He also seems to resent any
of the professors' attention that Hermione, with her superior academic
skills, deflects from him.

I can't really think of a boffo ending to this post except . . . ok,
that's enough for now.

Peg