Money. One object that defines success in this material world is wealth. Though many people strive to obtain wealth, some become consumed by the effort and it transforms into pure greed. In The Conquest of New Spain, Bernal Diaz tells his true history of the takeover of the Aztecs in Mexico. Using this memoir, Diaz explains how he took part in the conquest of Mexico under Hernando Cortes as a foot soldier and witnessed most main events first-hand. Diaz’s book demonstrates many aspects of human nature that one can find still affecting the world today. Throughout Diaz’s account we find the desire for gold and other valuables motivating men in ways that change history, for better or for worse. In this record and in general, we find greed often has unjust consequences for those on the bottom while those on top reap a majority of the benefits. It seems greed almost inevitably finds its way into society’s power structure, which still demonstrates itself today in American politics.

            This desire for valuable objects, known as greed, comes in several forms. When someone thinks greed, usually he or she thinks of a person that desires all the money in the world, or someone that does not want to share any of the money he or she has. However, other definitions exist. Greed can manifest itself as the desire not only for wealth but also power, and any material object one may find valuable. Depending on the time and place, this means greed shows itself in different ways.

            Diaz speaks quite a lot in his memoir about how money motivated trade with the Native Americans or Indians at first, and later contributed to driving the Spaniards to the ultimate conquest of Mexico. Since even before Cortes’s expedition, greed motivated the Spaniards to go to Mexico. While deciding who would go on this expedition, a couple higher-ups agreed “…to appoint Cortes Captain-General of the whole fleet, and that the three of them would divide the spoil of gold, silver, and jewels that fell into Cortes’ share” (Diaz 45). This implies that none of the lower men who would actually go on this expedition and do all the work of communicating and trading or conquering the Indians would get any real monetary gain. Despite spending many months, lives, and hardships on the mainland fighting the Indians, these three men – Andres de Duero, King Charles’ accountant Amador de Lares, and Hernando Cortes himself – made a secret pact to take all the riches for themselves.

            Much later in the story, Cortes captures the King of Mexico Montezuma while in his hospitality. During Montezuma’s captivity, Cortes tries to coerce Montezuma into further cooperation by promising to, “give him dominion over even more lands” (Diaz 249). Though this does not necessarily work, Cortes’s attempt at appealing to Montezuma’s own greed says something about Cortes. Cortes willingly says anything he must say to get others on his side, which in the end would gain him more riches. His greed goes beyond concern for others at this point, knowing well that he would never do anything he did not have to for Montezuma in order to gain more gold. Soon Cortes receives Montezuma’s hidden stash of gold that used to belong to Montezuma’s father. Although Cortes and his company show their appreciation for Montezuma’s great generosity for the enormous gift, “a third of it was now missing, having been taking away and hidden for the benefit of Cortes, the captains, and the Mercedarian friar” (Diaz 273). Only after this the royal fifth and other expenses had their payment taken out, as well as Cortes’s own fifth. Once all these fees had their payments filled, the soldiers received the remaining gold, which had diminished to nearly nothing when they split it amongst every soldier. As stated earlier, greed ends in unjust consequences for those at the bottom, in this case mere foot soldiers.

Cortes got the biggest cut and others on top got more than the rest. In essence, Cortes took from his company an amount of money that never belonged to him in the first place. In an article titled “The Many Faces of Greed,” Frank Sonnenberg says greedy people “take…even at the expense of their friends or colleagues” (Sonnenberg). Cortes willingly steals from his soldiers that risked their lives with him on the battlefield, and this emphasizes his greed even more. It proves that he only went on this expedition for his own interests, his own gains. Imagine how his soldiers felt getting close to nothing while putting in the same effort and going through the same hardships as Cortes. Cortes lies and cheats throughout the narrative to get what he wants and put up false images. This kind of unethical behavior does not stop here, though; it demonstrates a theme in human nature, one that still affects the world today.

Today in America we find enormous amounts of money distorting politics and the government in general, even the legislative branch. Take the current election season for example. It has become common knowledge that huge quantities of money are given to certain presidential candidates so that they may support the interests of those givers. This works because those candidates would not otherwise have that money if they did not represent those interests. For example, on the republican side, every candidate denies the truth in climate change research. If one looks at who supplies these candidates with money, many of their largest contributors represent the oil industry. Scientific research suggests that the oil companies play one of the largest roles in climate change today. If the republican presidential candidates confirmed climate change as legitimate, they would lose their contributions from oil companies since it does not represent their interests. So, in order to continue receiving that flow of money, these candidates say what these companies tell them, regardless of what they may really believe. These kinds of companies appeal to the candidates’ needs for money to continue fueling the companies’ greed. If the companies’ interests continue to be legal, they continue to make money. If one candidate’s purpose is to shut down or limit the oil industry, those oil companies will support other opposing candidates in order for their money to continue growing. Their greed drives them to support these candidates, even if their actions destroy the earth, so that they may have more money. This defines greed itself, “promoting selfishness… and creating a preoccupation with the acquisition and preservation of material things and possessions” (Dante’s Inferno). In this situation, money leads to those material possessions, so the companies go after the money. The effects of greed have never seemed more prevalent as in politics today. Its result has been an unfair representation of interests among the American people. The rules seem to be no longer set by real ethics, but by who offers enough money. In other words, “the rules of American life today are determined not by the church on Main Street, but by the money changers on Wall Street” (Winning, Greed). Now one would hope this does not mean the money changers shift the rules in their favor and against what we know as right, but for the most part they unfortunately do, as explained above. This has caused the middle class to shrink as people in the middle and at the bottom lose money while those on top make all the gains. The theme that exists between Cortes’s greed and corporate greed today could not be clearer.

Greed, having been titled a deadly sin, could not have positive consequences for its practice. The desire for wealth only grows as one gains wealth, and it turns into an insatiable thirst. This does not only prove true throughout history, but it continues affecting the world in unthinkable ways today. Though the effects of greed do not always seem evident, they always show through the cracks. Unfortunately, these effects often become more than anyone bargained for: perhaps a fragile economy, or even a corrupt political or criminal justice system. The best way to fix these problems may be to analyze the motivation of people’s and companies’ actions, along with the ethics of it, and if greed appears as a great factor when it has enough revenue, that entity should not have the right to grow any larger, just like Cortes should have been confronted by his people about taking most of the gold for himself.

 

 

Works Cited

Dante’s Inferno. “Seven Deadly Sins”.  n.p. n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.

Winning, Greed, and Self-Interest: Michael Josephson. Films On Demand. Films Media Group, 1988. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.

Sonnenberg, Frank. The Many Faces of Greed. Frank Sonnenberg, 3 May 2011. Web. 13 Feb. 2016.