Temptation and greed are significant elements in the three stories, as many of the characters’ actions are a result of bad decisions made due to these forces. In Alice in Wonderland, Alice’s food related temptations are what cause her change of size and her progression through the world of Wonderland. Alice is often not even hungry when confronted with items of food in the story, it is their presence that tempts her to eat them: “In the middle of the court was a table, with a large dish of tarts upon it: they looked so good, that it made Alice quite hungry to look at them” (96). It is her lack of restraint when it comes to her appetite that causes her change of size and her lack of power throughout much of the story. Gluttony is displayed for …show more content…
Her greed for food causes her to make egotistic decisions which may be the reason for her death later on in the tale. Hansel and Gretel are faced with temptation when they come across the witch’s house deep in the forest, “[t]he old woman had only pretended to be so kind… she was a wicked witch who waylaid children and had built her house out of bread to entice them” (145). It is their temptation that leads them into a precarious situation, which almost brings them to their death. The children find a particular temptation in not the foods that are the most filling, but those that are the sweetest, something to question when they claim to be so hungry: “‘I’ll take a piece of the roof. You Gretel, had better take some of the window; it’s sweet.’” (145). In many ways the witch is similar to the children’s mother in terms of her greediness and want to benefit herself. The mother deserts the children so she can no longer starve, and in doing this shows no grief, while the witch plans to eat the children and in preparing for this also fails to show angst. Temptation, in all three stories has a negative connotation attached to