VICES & SIN

Vices are habits of doing evil. There are seven basic vices:

Pride is an inordinate self-esteem.

Covetousness , the same as avarice,
greed, etc., is an inordinate desire for
worldly goods.

Lust is the desire for sins of the
flesh; for impure thoughts, words, or
actions.

Anger comes under the Fifth Com-
mandment. It is followed by hatred,
the desire of revenge, etc.

Gluttony is the sin of eating or
drinking too much.

Envy is the desire to see another
meet with misfortune that we may be
benefited by it.

Sloth is committed when we idle our
time, and are lazy; when we are indif-
ferent about serving God; when we do
anything slowly and poorly and in a
way that shows we would rather not
do it. They are slothful who lie in bed
late in the morning and neglect their
duty. Slothful people are often untidy
in their personal appearance...

Baltimore Catechism

We have no evidence of lust in Macbeth's behaviour, though Malcolm says he
is "luxurious", and we know that we know a character not only by what he
says and does, but by what others say about him. Malcolm, when testing Mac-
duff to see if he might not be a spy, says that he himself is guilty of lust.

If Macbeth is slothful, it is because he neglects his duty. (That may be
stretching it.)

The only possible example of gluttony in Macbeth is the Porter. It's interest-
ing that gluttony is a source more of humour than of opprobrium.