Envy and Wrath. Although set in the twentieth century the origins of the seven deadly
sins date back as far as the time the bible was being written. Instead of being listed all at
once they occur in different sections throughout. It was Dante Alighieri (1265 - 1321),
however, a Catholic priest who listed them together in his book the Divine Comedy as a
method to teach virtue and the dangers of the individual relenting to their base
desires.(Unknown: 1996)
But the question this leads me to ask is; what kind of reality does God actually have? If,
hundreds of years ago when civilization was unaware of the world, all one had to believe
in was God and the afterlife of heaven, how does that compare to nowadays where we are
aware of the world we live in? nowadays there are more and more people turning against
religion, but does that mean they still withhold moral values? And if a wrong is not a sin
what does it mean to them and are they actually born to be evil or born to recognize evil
and avoid it even though the threat of the devil is not occurring. Atheist philosopher
Nietzsche commonly used the phrase ‘God is dead’ to describe how a number of people
in modern day do not need to believe in God, therefore acts such as the seven deadly sins
may be seen as wrong but not, anymore sinful. Nietzsche believed that humans should
look past the idea of ‘evil’ if we want to realise our full potential for
living(Grundy:2005). His idea was that humans were living as what he described as a
‘herd’, living by everybody else morals and values, so that life can be kept sensible.
Therefore his concept of evil was that we are conformed to not commit evil and when we
do we are going against how people want life to be but we are starting to express
emotions that are really inside of us but what humanity wants us to keep hidden
(Salubri:1997). ‘The death of God’, however can not just be interpreted in Nietzsche’s
view. Neietzch used the phrase to describe atheism and how the thought of God is no
longer needed. It is known as ‘radical theology’ and can mean different things altogether.
There is also the view that there once was a God and that admiration and praise once had
its place, but somewhere along history God has died and the world has changed, therefore
evil is unjustified nowadays (Sams: 2005). Kant, on the other hand rejects the Neietzch
theory as his ideas of morals and evil are completely different. Kante believed we are free
to distinguish our own morals and what can be classed as evil, therefore we are capable
of making the decision as to what is right or wrong. "Act only on that maxim whereby at
the same time you can will that it shall become a universal law"(Unknown: 2005). In
other words, if we are to commit an evil we should imagine what would become of the
world if we were to all do the same. These theories are particularly important when
discussing the film seven, in order to trace the concept of the idea of evil in seven and
how we should respond to evil that is defended in the film.
Seven involves four main characters; Mills, Somerset, Jon Doe and Tracey (Mill’s wife).
Somerset and Mills find themselves teamed together to investigate the gruesome murders
that begin to occur and eventually start to show their own characteristics and
representations, throughout the film. The murderer John Doe is portrayed throughout the
film as a man with serious psychological problems, easy to understand why one could
come to the conclusion that he represents the devil, he commits seven gruesome murders
in which he justifies by stating that his victims were committing sins of religion anyway.
However, the irony is that these sins would lead to a spiritual destruction therefore it was
not his place to become involved. To explain the idea of evil in seven with regards to the
character John Doe it is vital for one to analyse the concept of the devil himself. It is clear
that John Doe hated the world as he cannot be as he wanted to be, thus he was struck with
envy. The devil is an important factor to discuss evil as the bible state that “all God
created was good” (Devil: 2005), meaning that the Devil must have been created good
originally. If that lays the case then does that mean we are all created good and evil is
inflicted upon ourselves? Kant suggests that ‘nothing is good in itself, except good will’
suggesting that no action we participate is either good or bad just the way we plan the
outcome to be morally (Bivins: 2005).
The presumption that John Does represents the devil can be made in many ways. In seven
John Does is patient and calm, all the way until the end of the film as long as he was the
one in control and powerful he was getting along well. Even though it was acts that were
of an evil nature as long as they bought him power he did not mind. Extremely similar to
the devil, an example would be another passage from the bible “Satan rules the world
through deception and sin, not legitimately by God” (Devil: 2005). However, the problem
we have with the existence of the devil is with the devil comes evil, author Peter Kreeft
quoted in one of his books:
The problem of evil is the most serious problem in the world. It is also the one serious
objection to the existence of God. More people have abandoned their faith because of the
problem of evil than for any other reason. It is certainly the greatest test of faith, the
greatest temptation to unbelief. And it's not just an intellectual objection. We feel it. We
live it. That's why the Book of Job is so arresting.
(Kreetf:1988)
Leading back to the question what kind of reality does God actually have? As mentioned
the bible states all God created was good so how did the world get this way? Why did the
devil appear with his sinful temptations? It may seem like an unanswerable question but
even empirical philosophers seem to believe it can be answered. Somebody who practices
empirical theism thinks you cannot answer a question on the world unless you have
experienced it, thinkers such as Hume demonstrate this. However, Hume does believe
one can answer the question of Gods existence without experiencing God firsthand as the
universe is so complex and everything fits together perfectly, therefore there must be an
intelligent being that created us, thus God. Meaning that we can learn to associate God
with evil and accept god with all the wrongs in the world, even if we do not necessarily
agree.
Another way to understand evil in the film seven is to also try to understand the role of
good throughout the film. My thoughts on the film were that John Doe represented the
devil and that Somerset represented God. As viewers, we see how Doe was content on
destroying life as Mills knew it; however Somerset did not seem to be affected personally
by Doe, could this be because Doe is aware Somerset is plating the role of God?. Back to
what I mentioned earlier about Doe committing murders on people that were committing
sins on earth, at the end scene in the car Somerset seems to agrees with Doe, yet although
realising that their consensus does not justify Doe's irrational, yet seemingly rational
killings. This leads me to believe that Somerset is speaking as God that there are many
people on earth committing what are classed as deadly sins.
In conclusion I have discovered that the idea of evil in seven is portrayed through Doe
and although the crimes he committed were on what he would call sinners, these people if
believed in religion would meet their fate spiritually. Doe was portraying the devil in
wanting power and the feeling he was in control of the situation he created. By reading
other philosophers theories I have concluded that evil is portrayed in how the viewer
wants to portray it. If one believes that we are born good and that we decide our fate then
Seven can be taken as a film that sees Doe as the evil being and the people he gruesomely
killed as everyday people who just lost their way somewhere along the line, but however
committing ‘sins’ such as the seven deadly sins they are deciding their own fate, Doe on
the other hand was deciding other peoples which I believe is rightfully evil.
