Schoeck_2010_EnvyATheoryOfSocialBehaviour.pdf

190 THE ENVIOUS MAN IN FICTION
others. This envy is like the devil, who always rejoices in human
suffering.
Envy, according to Chaucer, breeds malice. If attempts to annoy one's
neighbour fail, there are plenty of ways of doing him harm, such as
burning down his house or poisoning or stabbing his cattle.
In Milton's Paradise Lost, the function of envy is clearly evident in the
story of man's creation:
Now Satan speaks:
Adam says to Eve:
Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?
Th 'infernal serpent! He it was, whose guile,
Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived
The mother of mankind . ...
Satan-so call him now, his former name
Is heard no more in heav'n-he ofthefirst
If not the first Archangel, great in power;
Infavour and pre-eminence, yetfraught
With envy against the Son of God, that day
Honoured by his great Father; and proclaimed
Messiah King anointed, could not bear
Thro' pride that sight, and thought himself impaired.
... Revenge, atfirst thought sweet,
Bitter ere long, back on itself recoils:
Let it; I reck not, so it light well aimed,
Since higher Ifall short, on him who next
Provokes my envy, this new favourite
Of heav'n, this man of clay, son of despite,
Whom us the more to spite, his Maker raised
From dust: spite then with spite is best repaid.
... for thou know'st
What hath been warned us, what maliciousfoe,
Envying our happiness, and of his own
Despairing, seeks to work our woe and shame
By sly assault; and somewhere nigh at hand