The Seven Deadly Sins (play) The Seven Deadly Sins (play) The Seven Deadly Sins was a two-part play written c. 1585, attributed to Richard Tarlton, and most likely premiered by his company, Queen Elizabeth's Men. The play drew upon the medieval tradition of the morality play; though it was very popular in its time, no copy of either part has survived. The play is significant, however, because the "plot" of "Part 2" still exists; it was discovered in the cover of a 17th-century manuscript play, "The Tell Tale", in a collection at Dulwich College. Originally assumed to be part of Edward Alleyn's papers, subsequent investigation
Seven deadly sins disordered love for individuals, thus possessing at least the redeeming feature of mutuality, unlike the graver sins, which constitute an increasingly agonised focusing upon the solitary self (a process begun with the more serious sin of gluttony). It is generally thought to be the least serious capital sin as it is an abuse of a faculty that humans share with animals, and sins of the flesh are less grievous than spiritual sins (love excessive, not love turning ever further awry toward hatred of man and God). In Dante's "Purgatorio", the penitents walk deliberately through the purifying flames of the uppermost