Analyze the Main CharacterThe main character named Elphaba, in the novel Wicked, raises the debate to whether evil is inherited genetically or developed by social injustice. Elphaba, having been born with a pale green skin tone and razor sharp teeth was automatically rejected by society at birth. As she grew older she developed a vast knowledge of the world around her which led her desire to be influential towards the greater good. Even though her intentions were genuinely efficacious she was labeled wicked due to the narrow views on eccentricity throughout society. This is the conflict in which Elphaba was to succumb in order to fulfill her desire to better the world.…
Almost every story has an antagonist. The Scarlet Letter and Moby Dick are no exception. The characters that allow evil to manifest itself in these stories are Captain Ahab and Roger Chillingworth. There are many differences in Mr. Ahab and Mr. Chillingworth and how they become evil.…
One way is the opposition between the two. Such a relationship is illustrated through the Cain and Abel allusions in the novel. Another relationship is that the two must coexist. This relation is represented by the arrival of both the church and the brothel in town at the same time. Good comes from evil is the third relationship. Cathy making Adam appear all the more pure shows this relation. The last relationship is that both terms are relative (Fonterose, Joseph. p.3381). Caleb Trask is illustrated as being a man more evil than others are. This innate wickedness varies from the immoral values of other characters such as Charles or Cathy-Kate. The wickedness is attributed to Caleb’s ability to choose between good and evil and his choosing of the latter (Levant, Howard. p.240). In East of Eden, good is associated with individual morals. Examples of such would be abstinence from sexual activity and virtues like generosity and self-respect. Evil is illustrated through acts such as prostitution and murder (Fonterose, Joseph. p. 3381). Sex is treated as a carnal act that cannot be good. It is a sin; where in other Steinbeck novels, it would be easily accepted. The sex in East of Eden is considered extremely bad and thus an evil action (Fonterose, Joseph.…
Cathy utilizes manipulation to drive thoughts into people. Charles warns Adam of this by saying to him, “She’ll destroy you,” (C). An example of her power of mental capabilities is when she burnt her parent’s house down, locking them inside. No one suspected her because she gave people the impression that she was a sweet and innocent…
To further a message Ruth Park displays that the world of human relationships can be quite difficult terrain to traverse, it can be seen that Ruth creates a protagonist, Abigail Kirk, which at the early stages of the novel displays a mean-spirited personality. She does not yet change in the early courses of the novel but infact gives off a self- interested and relatively intolerant personality which seems to be a problem for young people, Park is suggesting. For example, at the early stages of the novel Abigail doesn’t understand the relationship and situation of her mother and father, yet she still reacts in an immature manner. “ ...hit him hard on the nose.” From this example of Abigail’s…
In East of Eden, the issue of subjective love is reoccurring throughout the novel. Charles, from a young age, is able to sense the favoritism and begins to resent it deeply. This resentment and preferential love comes to a head when Adam puts minimal effort into giving his father a stray puppy for his birthday and Charles works hard to save money to buy his father an…
In The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, Abigail Williams- the main character- is a wicked, confident girl who lies to get what she wants. Abigail defends her name and her life through evil means. The Crucible is most forcefully portrayed through Abigail Williams. Evil is shown through Abigail in many ways. Abigail utilizes three main ways to complete her evil desires. Abigail shows her evil through harlotry, lunacy, and accusations. Abigail is a harlot, and from such harlotry stemmed the evils of The Crucible. Her relationship with John Proctor and her animosity towards Elizabeth Proctor all stem from her evil ways of lechery. Abigail loved John, but John only had lust for her because of strains in his marriage. This lust became evident.…
To say that there is no good in evil is to deny the very reality of evil’s existence. Black and white thinking such as the topic previously stated is what truly can hurt us the most. When you look at moral issues you must acknowledge that it is a grey spectrum, with many different viewpoints. If I told any person who has actually read East of Eden that I admired Cathy? They would think me insane and possibly give me some nasty looks, as well as cross the street when I walk past. But since you have to read this essay, I think it’s fair that I make my point. Cathy is a real go-getter, she does what she has to to make ends meet. She isn’t easily swayed, and has a strong moral foundation, whether or not it’s a good one is a moot point. Lastly, she’s not easily discouraged. Even in the face of direct adversity, she brushes herself off and keeps on trucking.…
Following her Latin teacher’s suicide, Cathy runs away from home and due to this, is severely whipped. During the spanking, the young girl again manipulates her dad in order to stop the whipping, as we can see, she “screamed, writhed, cried, begged, and the blows instantly became lighter” (83). Steinbeck describes this using an enumeration to emphasize Cathy’s power over people, who in reality does not seem to suffer. Her eyes and her face are indeed constantly describes as “cold” and “calm,” which shows that Cathy not only controls other people, but must also control herself to be convincing. Although the girl seems to have won, she has not. She finally realizes that her parents have power over her, and are the only people she cannot use her sexuality against. Only they can withstand her. Moreover, Cathy believes they are the only ones who do not see her for whom she really is-evil. She is already “past sixteen” but they see her as a “baby,” although Cathy is, at that point, already self-aware of whom she is. She begins to hate them, as they are the exact opposite of her. They are good. She then decides to dispose of them. However, she must first fool them. Indeed, The passage preceding Cathy’s parricide depicts Cathy as a changed person. Catherine is illustrated through the semantic field of success and beauty “thoughtful,” (83) “good student,” (83) “smarter,” (84) “beautiful,” (84) “fresh” (85) and “pretty” (85). Her parents have then absolutely no idea of what will happen next. Steinbeck describes the fire as one that “rose, flared, roared, crashed and crumbled,” personifying the fire as an animal through this enumeration (85). It magnifies the fact that there is no way out for the Ames. Cathy, furthermore, decides to fake her own death: the coroners and helpers “could find no tooth or bone” (86). Through this, Cathy realizes that by…
evil is not only shown in East of Eden, or in all literature for that matter, but it is also a theme in life. Toni Morrison, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature, suggested this about goodness, “an act of selflessness that can be taught and learned; as narcissism driven by a desire to think well of oneself; and as an inherent, embedded gene. No discussion of goodness is complete, she added, without a consideration of evil” (The Harvard Crimson). Morrison also goes onto to talk about an interesting school shooting that took place in an Amish community where the community forgave the shooter and wanted the best for him. This in an interesting parallel to Lee in East of Eden. Lee realized that Cathy was born pure evil, it is in her DNA and she has no desire for goodness. Where Cal’s concerned, Lee can see that has has the desire for goodness and because of this he should be forgiven and helped. Lee sees both evil and good struggling to escape in Cal, but gives him the guidance he needs to let goodness…
She is a naïve virgin who excitedly marries a shallow rich and emotionless Marquis. She comes from a family who is not quite poor but with limited financial resources you need to get married to survive; she is aware that marquis is well endowed and insists that although she cannot resist him but does not love him; the marriage is simply how it ought to be. But, choosing to be swept away by glamour and wealth she continues to ignore the dangers. She always mentions how every time she looks at him he looks as though he is hiding behind a mask and it isn’t until the opera where she realizes one expression, lust; he sees her only as a sexual object. At the time this makes her excited due to her naivety, this is made clear when she says she recalls, "for the first time in my innocent and confined life, I sensed in myself a potentiality for corruption that took my breath away." (11 Carter) Not aware that targeted her for her innocence and how easy it would be to corrupt her young mind. Showering her with symbols of bad luck (the opal ring) and doom (Ruby Chocker) unaware that him and his staff are always maintaining a gaze upon her; waiting for her to make mistakes so he could punish her. As time goes on, the more time she spends more time with her husband the excitement fades into loneliness and feelings of oppression; always performing for her husband and being molded by all…
her selfish and evil ways, causes the destruction of many people in the town of…
Cathy utilizes her main adeptness, manipulation, throughout her childhood to gain potency. Cathy’s childhood is not kindred to anyone’s childhood. As soon as John Steinbeck introduces Cathy, he utilizes words that could only describe a monster, “ There was a time when a girl like Cathy would have been called possessed by the devil” (73). She was described as a monster that was brought into the world and a human that was possessed by the devil, and continues to be a manipulative monster throughout the whole story. Cathy kills her parents in a devious way, by putting a apron in the oven locking all the doors and running out of the house, preserving herself. Her devilish personality perpetuates on throughout the rest of her life, later discovering that she is fearful of the good. She runs off and moves out east and meets a man named Mr. Edwards who offers her a job at the whore house. Here she discovers her power of manipulation and makes her way to the top. Steinbeck says, “ Cathy learned that by the manipulation and use of this one part of people she could gain and keep power over nearly anyone” (75). Cathy takes advantage of her ability to manipulate people to gain more power. Soon after Mr. Edwards employs Cathy with a job, he falls in love with her blinded by her beauty. Upon realizing her incident with her parents, Mr. Edwards beats Cathy which leads her to the trasks family, where Adam immediately falls in love with…
In the play The Crucible, Abigail Williams is believed to be the most wicked character of them all. Abigail plays a 16 year old, liar – vindictive, who believes in witchcraft. Abigail makes wide accusations towards other characters throughout the play to deflect her own flaws. Abigail is the so called “bully,” bossing all of the other girls around, who should have just as much say in what they do as Abby. Without Abigail in this play, there really would not be too much evil because she truly brings the repugnance out of everyone. One example of Abigail being a bully is proven by the girls when they were brought into court when Abigail was there to testify against Mary Warren. The only thing the girls felt strongly about, was repeating the fact about how Abigail continuously bossed them around.…
Ruth Morse--The young, bourgeois university student who captivates Eden while tutoring him in English. Though initially both attracted and repelled by…