According to Francine Prose, gluttony often disguises itself in different forms, like the need to get a little more, the desire to have something more delicious, or the temptation to have a snack between the meals. In the film, ‘The Merchant of Four Seasons,’ Hans, a fruit vender, is invited by an attractive married woman in her house. The woman had fallen in love with him since his youth.
He, however, declines this offer. This incidence shows gluttony on the side of the woman who, in spite of being married, is still attracted to Hans. Gluttony is also revealed in Hans’ flashback. He recalls the time when he was a police officer and was fired after subverting justice by having oral sex with a woman that he had arrested.
According to Prose, gluttony can forestall the hour of need. It usually results in someone desiring to have something a little more delicious or having more than enough. It is the uncontrolled appetite that manifests in different forms. As per the views of Gregory the Great, gluttony in most cases manifests itself in the way a person eats, how he/she plans and thinks about eating.
Hans, in the film, ‘The Merchants of Four Seasons,’ goes to a bar and intoxicates himself with alcohol. His life is brought to an abrupt end when he takes alcohol despite being diagnosed with a heart attack. Like lust, the sin of gluttony is usually committed out of necessity and the desire for pleasure.
The two sins are therefore complex as man’s survival is based on them. Without the desire to eat, humans would become extinct. It is therefore important for religion to acknowledge this reality.
Hunger and sexual desire are engraved within the human instincts and cannot be tackled the same way other sins like pride, greed and envy are tackled. According to John Cassian, lust and gluttony should be treated as illnesses that need to be cured. Traditionally, gluttony has been associated with people in their acts of relaxing and enjoying while satisfying their bodily desires.
Just as in the case where people are expected to procreate without being lustful, it is also possible to eat to one’s satisfaction without savoring food. It is therefore necessary that one eats that which is sufficient certain him/her rather than eating to satisfy a person’s obsessions, cravings or pleasure.
In Fassbinder’s film, Han’s wife is picked by a man on the street and they go to have sex while her husband is in hospital. When she reconciles with the husband, she lets him know that she had been attracted to him just because he was comical and not for any other reason. This is a clear manifestation of lust as she is not contended with her husband but instead goes a head to have an extramarital affair.
Irmgard also advices Han’s servant, Anzell, to increase the price of the produce he was selling and they share the extra cash. She did this knowing well that Hans was stalking him and this resulted in the servant being fired. Irmgard therefore exhibits gluttony. In accordance with Prose’s view that gluttons are people with underlying psychological problems, Irmgard had some underlying pains.
She often had quarrels with her husband as he did not have ‘a respectable job.’ He also assaults her and to add on that, he is an alcohol addict. After he is incapacitated by a heart attack, he becomes alienated as a man of the house and this prompts his wife to start eying Harry, their servant. After Hans’ death, he resumes his role as the man of the house.
Hans’ desire for pleasure drives him to engage in several activities as a street merchant. In desperation, due to the pressure from his family members who always looked down upon him because of his job, he resorts to drinking and violence. He also opts to revisit his former lover.
After he gets out of the bar while drunk, he goes and beats up his wife who then leaves him. This does not resolve his problems as his wife cheats on him with another man. Drinking is what kills him and even after his death the wife marries his servant. All these twists point to the aspects of gluttony and its end results.
According to Father Evagrius of Pontus, gluttony usually results in lust, which is as a result of laziness in fasting and the harboring of evil thoughts. It is a sign of moral perverseness. Compulsive eaters and drinkers are usually perceived as freaks, unfortunate human specimens or even losers. They are believed to be having low self esteem or have some experience of past abuses and use these as a cover up for their inner pains.
Gluttony is therefore perceived as a form of weakness and pollution of the human intellect. In Fassbinder’s film, Hans is looked down upon by the other family members who are higher on the social class. He therefore resorts to drinking so as to cover up for his inner pains. Even after he is diagnosed with a heart attack, he still goes ahead to drink against the medical recommendations and this results in his death.
In the recent past, the sin of gluttony has become distinct and it manifests itself in the form of obesity and weight gain. Gluttony can therefore no longer be classified as a form of pleasure. Gluttons are believed to be misfits who do not have the capability for self control.
They eventually become overweight and for some it might even be difficult for a person to go through a door. They often become items of news. People are often thrilled by the news celebrities gaining or loosing significant amounts of weight. Some go to every length to cut significant amounts of weight in preparation for weddings. Obese people are often perceived as being obsessed with different flavors and tastes of food.
Gluttony is therefore more of a psychological disorder than a sin. It cannot be put in the same category as other dangerous sins like pride and envy which in some cases result in other people being harmed. It only harms the glutton and makes him/her less attractive.
Gluttons are perceived as people with a psychological problem who tend to cover up their condition by finding solace in food, drinks and other pleasures. This is quite evident when Hans resorts to drinking because of the frustrations he gets from his family and the society at large.
By succumbing to gluttony, someone simply substitutes the place of God with his/her stomach. This vice often leads to other vices like flattery. Gluttons are often perceived as people who have a weak moral defense as they are unable to control themselves. In ‘The Merchant of four seasons,’ Hans is under much pressure. He has just returned from a French Foreign Legion and has high hopes of becoming economically stable.
Unfortunately this does not happen according to his expectation and the expectation of his bourgeois family. He had been fired from the police force after dallying with an offender who lured him into having oral sex with her. The pressure mounts when it turns out that the only job he can land himself is that of a fruit peddler. His rich family is against this idea as it is perceived as a job for the low class people.
He is in turn perceived as a loser. He is even not allowed to marry his first love on the basis that he is a mere fruit peddler. Hans opts to marry another woman who turns out to be a manipulative wife. At one point Hans gets drunk, goes home and decides to beat her up. She then opts to leave him and this leaves him devastated.
His own wife cheats on him with another man. All these pressures are evidently the cause of Hans’ drinking habit. When he is incapacitated by the heart attack, Hans hires someone who helps him with the fruit vending business. The servant performs his duties quite well, much better than he himself did.
This does not, however, give him any comfort as he feels secluded and incapable of playing his role as the man of the house. He in the end opts to resort to drinking again and this terminates his life.
Gluttony can be perceived as the worship of human senses especially the sense of taste. People substitute the place of God with material things like food hence making their stomachs to be like their gods. In the film, Hans resorts to alcohol to find solace. This might be perceived as a form of worship as he opts for liquor in his pursuit of happiness and this leads to his destruction.
Gluttony has been known to cause of lechery and debauchery. These are all products of weak moral defenses. In the film, both Hans and his wife seem to have fallen prey to this as they are in a situation where they cannot control their obsessions. Hans is obsessed with alcohol and it leads to his destruction. Irmgard, on the other hand, is lured into having sex with another man who is not her husband.
Her desire for more money pushes her to plan with their servant to overprice the produce so as to get the extra money. This in turn results in the servant being fired by Hans. All these are signs of a weak moral defense as they both do anything in their capacity to get whatever they are obsessed with. Gluttony is not only related to food and drinking but it also entails overindulgence in other pleasurable acts like sex.
Overeating has been known to result in other evils which include loutishness, unseemly joy and dullness of mind, uncleanness and talkativeness. Gluttony often results when someone overindulges to the level where he/she becomes less conscious of the outward implication but concentrates on the inward gratification. It makes someone to stop thinking rationally.
The film ends with Hans opting to drink against the doctor’s advice. His demise is as a result of his obsession with alcohol. This is a clear signal that gluttony often ends in self destruction unlike other vices. His obsession with alcohol resulted in many other misfortunes. For instance, it causes him to become violent, beat up his wife who in the process leaves him.
This in turn begets infidelity as the wife opts to have an affair with another man and their daughter finds them in the act. It even leads to his death. This is an evidence of what the sin of gluttony can do. According to how the story ends, it is quite evident that gluttony makes people to think irrationally as evident in Hans’ obsession with alcohol, which prompts him to drink against the doctor’s advice.
Hans’s decision to propose a toast to those who had made him to be the person that he was is quite ironic. This is because they despised him and perceived him as a loser. By him opting not to toast his wife, it is a clear indication that he was sure she would end up with Harry, his servant. This is due to the fact that he felt obsolete after being incapacitated by a heart attack and Harry had taken up most of his roles.
He dies in his state of shame and dishonor. The film therefore seems to clearly indicate that gluttony and lust always result in self destruction, an incidence that occurs to Hans who finds no other way of redeeming himself.
Works Cited
Elsässer, Thomas. Fassbinder’s Germany: History Identity Subject. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2006. Print.
Prose, Francine. Gluttony : The Seven Deadly Sins. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003. Print.