This Wild Theory Has ‘Friends’ Characters Represent the 7 Deadly Sins
Friends fans all have one vital thing in common.
No matter how many times they’ve seen the same episodes of the Emmy award winning series, they love watching them again and again for nostalgia’s sake. Plus, marathon sessions lead to finding new details about the beloved NBC comedy even more than 15 years after the finale.
There’s a good chance series creators Marta Kauffman and David Crane didn’t intend for Ross, Rachel, Monica, Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey to represent the seven deadly sins. However, a closer inspection proves that their personalities line up perfectly.
How do these six Friends match up to pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and sloth? It’s simple when you think about it.
Monica commits the sin of pride
In Christianity, the seven deadly sins deal with typical vices that humans face daily. The belief is that all wrongdoing can be classified into these specific categories. The first is the sin of pride, which is an ideal match to Monica.
With her fierce competitive streak that pops up multiple times in the series, including when she and Rachel put their apartment on the line during a trivia game (“The Contest”), it’s clear that Monica has a hard time accepting her own shortcomings. So it makes sense that she would be the most prideful of the bunch.
Joey is the most gluttonous of the group
Anyone who’s seen even one episode of Friends know that Joey loves food. The running gag in the group is that if he’d hooked up with Monica, a professional chef, he probably would have gained lots of weight from eating so much.
From his oft-repeated phrase, “Joey doesn’t share food!” to his love of sandwiches and wearing maternity pants to make room for Thanksgiving dinner, it’s clear Joey represents gluttony most of all.
Ross has an issue with wrath
The sin of wrath can also be classified as anger and out of the six Friends castmates, Ross exemplifies this trait best.
He’s well known for overreacting to minor grievances and having screaming tantrums. In one memorable episode, Ross yells at his boss for stealing and then throwing away his favorite sandwich from the company fridge. This outburst of anger results in Ross taking a leave of absence from his job.
If anyone matches up to the sin of wrath, it’s Ross.
Chandler shows signs of sloth
The deadly sin of sloth is about more than just laziness, though that’s a big part of it. A person guily of sloth is generally unmotivated and uninterested in life. This description matches up with Chandler, who stays in a mediocre job and never aspires to more out of life.
It’s true that Chandler finds love with Monica but that’s more from coincidence than effort. And who can forget the time an upbeat Monica tries to get Chandler into a healthy fitness routine? Like a true sloth, he’d rather just go back to bed.
Rachel represents greed
When Rachel reconnects with Monica, she’s not sure how to be an adult. After growing up spoiled and then almost marrying a rich man, she’s not used to working hard or paying her own way. Even after learning some tough truths, Rachel still occasionally falls back on old habits of materialism and selfishness.
She’s a shopaholic and in relationships, can be needy as well. There’s plenty of greed in Rachel even if she does mature over ten seasons.
Phoebe’s sexual expressiveness leads to lust
The sin of lust can be extreme or subtle. For Phoebe, it means admitting to more experimental sexual experiences, which she often describes in graphic fashion. Overall, Phoebe is the most eccentric character and frequently discusses her life before joining the Friends group.
From living on the streets to getting hepatitis from a pimp spitting in her mouth, clearly Phoebe has seen some things. And she represents lust more than the others.
Gunther has the most envy
There are six Friends and seven sins, meaning at least one secondary character needs to stand in for the final deadly vice. The manager at Central Perk is desperately in love with Rachel and envies all her boyfriends, especially Ross. He is also jealous of the six Friends and their camaraderie because he’s always an outsider.
However, the theory that Gunther always reserves the couch so they can sit there means he doesn’t let envy get in the way too much.
