Mammon in literature, film, and popular culture

The Hebrew term mammon, personifying money in the New Testament, has led to many adaptations in literature, film, and popular culture. In John Milton's Paradise Lost, Mammon is a fallen angel, described as being "more interested in heaven's pavements" than the leader. He tells the other fallen angels to be content in Hell. In Past and Present (1843), Thomas Carlyle describes Victorian England's worship of money as the "Gospel of Mammonism". The Phantom of the Opera worships Mammon in Frederick Forsyth's The Phantom of Manhattan. In The Alchemist by Ben Jonson, Sir Epicure Mammon is a man obsessed with material wealth. O. Henry's short story "Mammon and the Archer" is about two young people who seem to find genuine attraction, untainted by their parent's wealth, but the story has the trademark O. Henry twist. The archer of the title is a reference to Cupid. In Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman, Lucifer is destroyed in the second war between angels and devils, leaving Mammon in charge of Hell. The Book Of Mozilla uses Mammon as a metaphor for Microsoft Internet Explorer. In Constantine, Mammon is the son of Lucifer/Satan himself, conceived before his father fell from Heaven but born after Satan was sent to Hell. He has a lust for power and tries to gain control over Earth with the aid of renegade angel Gabriel (Gabriel seeking to make humanity worthy of God's love by forcing them to endure Hell on Earth). He is defeated when Constantine manages to summon Lucifer to collect him by attempting suicide. Lucifer then destroys Gabriel's wings and banishes Mammon back to Hell, stating that he prefers to wait and see Earth come to him on its own. In the comic book series Spawn, Mammon is depicted as a handsome gentleman, suave and sophisticated, who often assists Spawn in his quests. This demon is often seen making attractive deals with humans for their souls and is thought to be quite persuasive. While originally thought of as the Devil himself, he is later revealed to originally be one of a faction of angels who took no side in the struggle between Hell and Heaven and were thus shunned by both.