The Writing Post

“Knowing was a temptation. What you don’t know won’t tempt you.“ Margaret Atwood. The Handmaid’s Tale

Food, laziness, and material possessions; lying, cheating, and stealing. These are true-life vices, and they are also ones found in fictional settings. Writing fictional characters can be difficult. Yet, writers must understand that temptation and vice are powerful literary tools for creating endearing heroes and complex villains.

The Temptation of Adam and Eve

To begin, in perhaps the most famous example of temptation, Adam and Eve gave into their temptations and vices in the Garden of Eden.

As stated in The Holy Bible: King James Version: “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat … And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons” (King James).

In this context, the Lord punishes Adam and Eve to live in toil–they are to be human. Their short-term wants doomed them forever, and kept them from paradise. As such, there is no way they could aspire to the convictions of community that is necessary for a productive life.

What this says of writing fictional characters is rather direct. Temptation in literature takes the form of vices; typically the ones that entice us the most. Characters in dramas want what they can’t have—hero and villain alike.

Temptation and Vice in Hansel and Gretel

In folklore, temptation is a reoccurring theme. It fits the religious morality stories present in the Bible—but for children. For instance, in the story of “Hansel and Gretel,” the children’s parents leave them to die in the woods. After becoming lost, they come to a candy house where they are nearly murdered by an evil witch.

As it relates to our main point regarding temptation and vice, the candy house attracts Hansel and Gretel. There, a witch nearly eats them due to their thievery and her hunger for child flesh. In these stories, it is endlessly fascinating to see that authors tempt children into doing childish things. Eating candy and being naïve are commonplace in a child’s life. Nevertheless, overindulgence wreaks havoc on those naive enough to pursue it to its end.

As stated in “Hansel and Gretel” in Grimm Stories: “… when they came nearer they saw that the house was built of bread, and roofed with cakes; and the window was of transparent sugar… So Hansel reached up and broke off a bit of the roof, just to see how it tasted, and Gretel stood by the window and gnawed at it … And they went on eating, never disturbing themselves. Hansel, who found that the roof tasted very nice, took down a great piece of it, and Gretel pulled out a large round window-pane, and sat her down and began upon it.”

Writing fictional characters in stories often asks the writer to find vices that will hurt their darlings. These vices include love, drugs, fame, and excess. These wants often end in disaster or the character learns a lesson (theme) and changes (dynamically). While there are a variety of ways to interpret this idea, creating conflict in a character’s life is paramount in great stories.

Temptation and Vice in Frankenstein

Moreover, this theme appears in stories beyond physical temptation. For instance, the temptation of playing God in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein causes Dr. Frankenstein to create a monster who he can’t possibly love. In the story, Dr. Frankenstein studies for years to learn how to reanimate life. However, his creation is so horrible that he flees from it, only to be haunted by its specter until he dies in an attempt at revenge for his own foibles.

Frankenstein’s temptation to create a living creature was too great a motivator for him to ignore. His education and background both compelled him to commit an act against nature in a violent, vice-driven explosion of science. When reproached by his monster, it tells him: “Yet it is in your power to recompense me, and deliver them from an evil which it only remains for you to make so great…”

Writing fictional characters also means writing them to pursue their interests. However, this doesn’t have to lead to strictly good outcomes. Just because a character is talented doesn’t mean that talent will save them from retribution.

Temptation and Vice in “Goblin Market”

Furthermore, in “Goblin Market” by Christina Rossetti, a strange goblin-run market tempts two young girls with its tantalizing delicacies. The story is a morality play, and features two children, Laura and Lizzie. They attempt to avoid a Goblin Market where all manner of delicious foods are displayed.

The goblins scream for patronage: “Come by our orchard fruits, / Come buy, come buy;” enticing anybody who can hear their voice to visit their stand. And who could resist? There are a variety of mouth-watering sweets: “Apricots, strawberries;– / … grapes fresh from the vine, / Pomegranates full and fine,” and so on.

Temptation is real for adults, but it’s especially real for children who have not honed and tempered discipline as a way of life. “We must not look at goblin men, / We must not buy their fruits:” Laura and Lizzie tell each other, afraid of what the goblins have used to feed the fruits “thirsty roots.” Later, they discuss the fruit as “honey to the throat / But poison in the blood.”

The girls discover, much like a well-written character would, that the love of fruits and sweets are not necessary to have an enjoyable life. Rather, those around you, our community, provide this meaning, as “… there is no friend like a sister / In calm or stormy weather;” Perhaps through these exploits characters learn that their vices can drive them to a more meaningful existence, if only to deny them. Consequently, their temptation leads them to a better understanding of the world around them.

Conclusion

Many more examples of this theme exist in literature. Some examples include the near destruction of Odysseus’s ship by the Sirens in The Odyssey the temptation of wealth in The Great Gatsby, the One Ring in The Lord of the Rings, and the characters’ vice in regaining its power. Writers can use all these examples to flesh out their characters.

By giving characters–protagonists and antagonists–fatal flaws and dark traits, the writer is creating a lived-in world, which goes beyond realistic fiction. Temptation, as we know it, is a dangerous threat to life and happiness. By marking characters with this type of defect, writers actually enrich the reading experience. Ultimately, what characters desire truly makes stories worth reading.

Works Cited

Grimm, Jacob and Wilhelm. “Hansel and Grethel.” The Complete Fairy Tales, translated by Jean Hersholt, Anchor Books, 1975.

Rossetti, Christina. “Goblin Market.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, 10th ed., W. W. Norton & Company, 2018

Shelley, Mary. “Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus.” Edited by J. Paul Hunter, Oxford University Press, 2012.

“The Holy Bible: King James Version.” King James Bible Online, https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Genesis-2-4_3-24/.