Lust Desire and Deception

Lust and vanity

---

Each book in the series features cover artwork by Charming Baker. I read Ah, Sweet Mystery of Life from Lust , the tale of a farmer who knows how to predict the gender of his calves, I cheated slightly with the next story as I had already read The Landlady from Madness , the story is also included in Trickery. In Cruelty I read The Butler, a clever tale of how the servants of an obnoxious man get their revenge in a brilliantly sneaky way.

I devoured Lamb to the Slaughter from Deception , a brilliantly executed story of a wife who dispatches her husband, and the evidence of his murder in a cunning and amusing way. Each one offers a tempting array of short stories to indulge in. Each shows a skillful turn of phrase, they are shining examples of the story-telling flair and brilliance Roald Dahl possessed.

Now I just need to decide which one to read first. In these ten tales of maddening lust Roald Dahl explores how our darkest impulses reveal who we really are. Our greatest fear is of losing control — above all, of losing control of ourselves. In these ten unsettling tales of unexpected madness Roald Dahl explores what happens when we let go of our sanity. Why do we lie? Why do we deceive those we love most?

What do we fear revealing?

Search form

In these ten tales of deception Roald Dahl explores our tireless efforts to hide the truth about ourselves. Even when we mean to be kind we can sometimes be cruel. We each have a streak of nastiness inside us. In these ten tales of cruelty Roald Dahl explores how and why it is we make others suffer. Roald Dahl was a spy, ace fighter-pilot, chocolate historian and medical inventor.

He really was a great storyteller, even if perhaps some of the cruelty he detected in others he actually found in himself.

You are commenting using your WordPress. Joseph's brothers are jealous of their father's special treatment of him and angered that Joseph tells his father of their wrongdoing. They decide to kidnap and sell Joseph into slavery at the tender age of 17 to avenge their dishonor. Joseph is brought to Egypt and is purchased by Potiphar, who is one of pharaoh's officers.

Potiphar discovers that Joseph is surprisingly honest, diligent and bright for a common slave, and puts him in charge of all the affairs of his house. It is here that God tests Joseph with desire and deception, thereby giving him the opportunity to rise above the coarse materialism and temptations of the world, and take his place as one of Jewish people's righteous forefathers. The immoral culture that Joseph finds himself immersed in is best expressed by his master's wife, who casts her eye on Joseph, and is filled with an insatiable lust for the young man.

Yet he refuses her every advance. Then one day, when it is just the two of them in the house, his master's wife sees the opportunity to fulfill her carnal desires. She grabs his garment and implores him "Lie with me. Here he is, a slave boy in a foreign land, with no family or friends, and no civil rights. And he suddenly finds the mistress of the household and one of the most powerful women in Egypt offering herself to him.

It must have been powerfully flattering. Furthermore, he knows that if he does not submit to her, she can create any story she wishes and do whatever else is required to have him punished for his refusal. Joseph also has to consider the fact that even though his master treats him very well, and trusts him completely, Potiphar is still the master and Joseph is still the slave. Joseph is still by law just a piece of property. But it is at this moment that Joseph is reminded of the pattern of deception and desire that has caused so much pain to his family, and he must choose whether to follow that path, or blaze a new one more fitting for God's holy nation.

No doubt Joseph reflects on the history of his ancestors. It started with Adam and Eve. They should have rejoiced with their blessings and not lusted after the one thing they could not have -- the forbidden fruit.

Top Authors

But the serpent deceives Eve. He excites her forbidden desire, saying to her, "G-d has made the fruit on the tree of knowledge of good and evil forbidden because He fears that if you consume it you will obtain His powers and become divine.

She then deceives Adam to eat the fruit, and afterward they try to hide from G-d because of their sin. Their actions bring corruption into the world, breeding insatiability, longing and insatiable desire. And it is now through cunning and fraudulent means that mankind will attempt to obtain what they want. In this lies the key to human corruption. The effects of their sin are contagious. Following his parents' example, Cain, in a jealous fit, strikes down his brother Abel.

Deception and Desire: An Overview of Genesis

And like his parents, he believes he can deceive G-d. Isaac must contrive the same story many years later with Rebecca to save his life from Abimelech king of the Philistines. Lot's daughters believe he is the only man alive after they escape the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. They encourage him to imbibe large quantities of wine, and they then have relations with him during his intoxication.

Esau is able to convince his father that he is saintly when in reality he is the complete opposite. Isaac cannot see his son's faults, and desires to give him the firstborn blessing. Rebecca turns to deception in order to correct her husband's blindness -- more metaphorical than literal -- and give the blessing to its more deserving recipient, Jacob, whom she now ropes into the dupery.

Deception, Desire, Lust, Sex, Anger - Gay Life Perspective

In a world where evil outmaneuvers good, Jacob learns from his adversaries and becomes a master of outwitting the wicked in order to survive. Laban swindles him into marrying the wrong sister but Jacob fights back and uses manipulation to take most of Laban's wealth and flock. When Jacob concludes that he must leave his father in law, the Bible says, "Jacob stole the heart of Laban" by fleeing without telling him.

Soon afterward, Rachel thieves her father's idols and then deceives his search for them by feigning sickness. Simon and Levi tell the city of Shechem to circumcise themselves in order that they may become one people.

They deceive the entire town, and in an act of vengeance for the brutal rape of their sister kill all the men while they are recovering from their surgery. Joseph then thinks back to his father Jacob's mistake of favoring him over his brothers, and giving him a special coat, sewing enmity between his children.

Jacob's sons eventually sell Joseph as a slave and deceive their father into believing that Joseph is dead. They bring him the very coat he personally constructed for Joseph, filled with blood, and Jacob concludes that Joseph has been torn limb from limb. This pattern continues even after Joseph is sold. Judah promises Tamar his third son, but does not intend to let them marry. Tamar then disguises herself and seduces Judah in order to become pregnant and carry a child from the house of Jacob.

When analyzing all of these events, Joseph can see a pattern.

Bestselling Series

The lies and deceit of his uncles Laban and Esau are all for wicked purposes. Lot's daughters' intentions are morally ambiguous given the circumstances.

But his own ancestors are different. Abraham and Isaac understandably mislead about their wives to avoid their being murdered. Jacob misleads his father to prevent his wicked brother from receiving a blessing that he will use for evil. Jacob also manipulates Laban to obtain what is rightfully his. Rachel, Joseph's mother, beguiles her father Laban by stealing his idols and lying to him about having done so, both to prevent her father from worshipping them and to ensure he does not use them to divine Jacob's intentions of fleeing.

So far, all these misrepresentations have a somewhat justifiable purpose. But then afterward, Simon and Levi deceive the city of Shechem to take revenge, and the brothers lie to their father about selling Joseph as a slave, all because of their jealousy. Judah deceives Tamar about his third son out of convenience, and Tamar lies to Judah in order to fulfill her desire to have children with holy lineage. Joseph sees that all the untruths are creating ever greater moral ambiguity.

He understands the obvious fact that G-d hates falsehood.

• The RIng of Osiris
• The Little Sapling
• Theoretische Philosophie, Teil 3: Die Wirklichkeit der Substanz (German Edition)
• Population and family in the Low Countries II (Publications of the Netherlands Interuniversity Demographic Institute (NIDI) and the Population and Family Study Centre (CBGS))
• La soledad y una voz (Spanish Edition)
• The Sabbath, The Law, and The New Covenant