The 7 deadly sins vs. The 7 heavenly virtues.

[Boromir88]

Good posts everyone!

Now I have a few more questions.

Feanor, do you think the way Boromir generally was, for example, Angry, Lustful, Greedy...etc, do you think that had anything to do with his death? Or, maybe to put it as, do you think that's part of the reason he "died?" Where, people like Gandalf, Frodo, Sam, who are genrally "trustful" and let's say "good" were able to suceed? Or do you think that Tolkien didn't intend that?

Nurumaial, good job for distinguishing the difference between "good" pride, and "bad" pride. Good pride, meaning you are proud of you accomplishments, but not to the point where you are "arrogant" or "pompous," that is bad pride. Good job, for pointing out the difference.

Elianna, thanks for the different definitions, I believe from the site I got this from has the same definitions. Just to be more helpful, here is the site where I got the info.
http://deadlysins.com/

Mark_30, you welcome, very good point. So would you say another example would be, Boromir's lack of "hope," for he thought, like his father, that it was pointless to give the ring to a hobbit and march right into Mordor. So, do you think, when he lost that hope, and tried to take the ring from Frodo, that is what ultimately caused his death?

My point is that the 7 Sins & 7 Virtues are generic enough to be seen in any work of literature. That Tolkien was a devout Catholic does not mean that Middle-earth was consciously imbued with Catholic ideas about sin and virtue to any greater extent than a book written by a Jew, an atheist or a Moslem.

I couldn't agree with you more Numenor, you could very easily tie the virtues and sins into any piece of work, literature or movie, in a "good vs. evil" movie. But, I ask, do you think Tolkien (or any other novelist) intends on doing that? Or do you think we are reading too deeply, and since the as you say the "bad people" are just generally "tied" with being greedy, anger, lust?