Throughout Naguib Mahfouz's 1947 masterpiece Midaq Alley, the microcosmic nature of the alley transforms its powerfully realized characters into living interpretations of sin. More specifically, Mahfouz creates characters to represent the seven deadly sins of the Christian church, with almost all characters fitting perfectly into their respective wedge in Hieronymus Bosch's famous painting. Some characters fall into more than one sin, but each falls into any of the classifications of Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Wrath, Envy, and Pride. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay According to the church, as well as the famous Renaissance author Dante, lust is the least offensive of the sins and is defined as an intense desire. This sin is often interpreted as representing sexual desire, including in Mahfouz's novel. Therefore, he is most present in the stories of Mr. Kirsha as he woos the young salesman at the clothing store and on his way home (46-52), and of Salim Alwan, who eats a special recipe of "cooked green wheat", mixed with pieces of pigeon meat and ground nutmeg” which had a “magical effect [that] began at night and lasted for two full hours of pure delight” (67). Interestingly, Alwan unfailingly eats his grain bowl, which represents Nimis, every day. According to Aquinas, Nimis is a form of gluttony in which the author overeats. Gluttony is defined by the church as excessive indulgence, of which Alwan lives a life until his heart attack, when he becomes a cruel and embittered man. Determined to be different from his father, Hussain Kirsha becomes consumed by greed, which is similar to Lust and occasionally Gluttony, but is desire in the materialistic sense. Hussain Kirsha flees to join the British Imperial Army. She joins other characters like Saniya Afifiy, who “had a passion for coffee, cigarettes and hoarding banknotes. He kept them in a small ivory chest hidden in the back of his clothes closet and arranged them in packs of five and ten, delighting in looking at them, counting them and rearranging them” (18). Furthermore, it is revealed that Zaita and Dr. Booshy are quite greedy as they are caught stealing gold teeth from recently deceased people and then placing them in the mouths of the living and splitting the profits instead of performing legitimate practices that would slightly decrease the profit. (224-228). Finally, Ibrahim Faraj lures women under the pretext of courting them only for them to later discover that he, as Hamida says, "[is] not a man, [he] is a pimp" (196), which allows him to spend sums extravagantly with money by courting other women and repeating the cycle (160-168, 183-198). These characters show the many varieties of Greed, highlighting one of humanity's greatest social and spiritual flaws that affects everyone as Kirsha profoundly states; “If money is the goal and object of those vying for power, then there is clearly no harm in money being the goal of poor voters” (151), which deftly defines the idea that greed does not discriminate between people of any status Unlike the restless and greedy citizens, Uncle Kamil is a very happy man, which unfortunately leads him to doze off at work and not do much of anything. Kamil and Sheikh Darwish sit back and do very little, falling prey to the sin known as Indolence, or the act of simply being lazy, Mahfouz demonstrates Kamil's utter laziness when describing his business practices: “It's a habit of Uncle Kamil, also his right, to fall asleep with a whip resting on his lap... and barely manages to complete the sale of asweet before being overwhelmed by the desire to sleep” (2) Unlike Uncle Kamil, who falls asleep at work, Sheikh Darwish is an old man who has very little life left, yet he. it is often inserted into the story to demonstrate something about what the characters have done, almost being a theatrical part within the story itself. He is absent for most of the novel and appears only when required, as if he were a secondary fortune-telling machine, moving and speaking only when a dollar is inserted. His first appearance personifies this description when the old poet and Mr. Kirsha begin to argue: “At this point the distracted, statuesque man wearing the gold-rimmed glasses and tie moved for the first time. He turned his gaze towards the roof of the café and sighed so deeply that his friends almost expected pieces of flesh to come out as the air passed... He slowly lowered his head, moving it left and right as he did so, with the movements they gradually decrease in extent until it finally returns to its previous immobile position. Once again he sank into oblivion.” (6-7). Sheikh Darwish moved only to interrupt the conversation with enigmatic disdain towards Mr. Kirsha before simply returning to his previous position, once again becoming lifeless and sluggish. Returning to Mr. Kirsha, he and his wife are controlled by their anger while simply defining Wrath. During a fight between the two, Mrs. Kirsha attacks the boy Kirsha saw and shouts "you want to ruin my house, you rake and son of a rake!" and then "she threw herself at him, punching him and slapping him forcefully. His tarboosh fell and blood ran from his nose. Then she grabbed his tie and pulled until his voice died in a strangled gasp. (100). After Kirsha distances his wife from her boyfriend, Mahfouz writes that “[Mrs. Kirsha]'s cloak fell to the ground and her blood now boiled” (101) which shows the fury and anger that had built up within her due to her husband's adulterous acts. Kirsha also demonstrates her fury when Hussain Kirsha tells her father that he wishes to leave to find a new life on his own. As it is described, Kirsha “went into a rage and slapped Hussain hard in the face with the palm of her hand…[Kirsha] attacked again, but her mother stepped between them, taking the blows herself. Kirsha stopped hitting and shouted, "Take your black face away from me!" … As far as I'm concerned you're dead and gone to hell!'” (117). Also, surprisingly, Husniya, the baker's humble wife, is also very angry. She is often shown beating her husband: “It was especially happy for Zaita to see [Husniya] beating her husband. He did it at the slightest mistake. Jaada's days seemed full of mistakes, for which he was constantly punished." (129). Mrs. Afifiy, although not only greedy, is also a very envious woman. She goes to Umm Hamida for help in finding a suitor, an act provoked by her envy of Hamida, who will marry Abbas. Similarly, Umm Hamida also envies her daughter, but for her appearance instead of her marriage because Umm Hamida's beauty is fading while Hamida remains a radiant young woman. This leads to some tension and several arguments between mother and daughter. Zaita also falls into this group with his envy of Jaada. Although he seems to hate Jaada at first, it is soon revealed that he is jealous of Jaada for having Husniya as his wife. Ultimately, Hamida's envy of the factory girls and their wealth leads to her tragic downfall due to her greatest sin. Unfortunately, the sweet young Hamida leads the parade of sinful characters who represent the worst sin of the Christian church:" (139),.