We in the twentieth century would be much more hard-pressed to define evil than would people of either Chaucer's or Dante's time. Medieval Christians would have a source for it -- Satan -- and if could easily devise a series of ecclesiastical checklists to test its presence and its power. In our secular world, evil has come down to something that hurts people for no explicable reason: the bombing of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, the burning of black churches in the South. We have taken evil out of the hands of Satan, and placed it in the hands of man. In doing so, we have made it less absolute, and in many ways less real.…
In his article, Lyle H. Kendall Jr gives several examples and points to prove Madeline is a vampire: her appearance, the feeling of the presence of evil presented from the household, and the experiences with her evil spirit. Although Madeline only appears a sparse three times throughout the story, Kendall describes them as “nevertheless fraught with darkly suggestive significance.” A few days after the death of Madeline someone notices “the mockery of a faint blush upon the bosom and the face, and that suspiciously lingering smile upon the lip which is so terrible in death.” The narrator notices that he feels the presence of evil. The feeling is so strong that he reigns his horse wondering if he should go inside and thinking of all the unusual…
Summary: James Rachels addresses the conflicts of evil in his book “Problems from Philosophy” by providing various forms of logical problems. The author points out the different possible explanations to why evil would exist. The first major idea Rachels makes is that perhaps pain is essential to caution people of danger. He goes on to suggest that this would not account for why some people are born with deadly diseases. Another idea he makes is that evil helps people appreciate the good in life. One would not be able to distinguish the good in life if evil did not exist. However, this does not explain why the world needs so much evil to exist, instead of letting a few bad things happen occasionally. The third idea the author makes questions why bad things happen to good people. Rachels suggests maybe those bad things that occur in life are…
Good and evil are polar opposites, yet one cannot exist without the other. To understand this intricate relationship, one must have a clear understanding on what exactly good and evil are. These two are not always so black and white, but good can be defined as acting agreeably with societical and personal values. Evil can be defined as going against those values. However, as societies and humans differ, so do their moral codes. What is seen as good in one society or time may be seen as evil in another. Two more factors to consider are intentions and actions. They are two separate entities. Actions are seen, and judged, by everyone else, but intentions are known only by the doer. This is why there is no clear-cut line between good and evil.…
In The Scarlet Letter, Nathaniel Hawthorne writes the vindictive and sly Roger Chillingworth mostly as a two-dimensional character. Throughout the course of the story, Chillingworth seems to become the representative of pure evil and malevolence. However, Chillingworth was not always this way. Before the present story even begins, Chillingworth was known as an intelligent and industrious scholar. The drastic change from the Chillingworth of the past and the Chillingworth by the end of book due to his lust for vengeance is a major part of what makes him a perfect symbol of the nature of evil.…
Everyone, no matter what age remembers their childhood and the “bad guys”, no matter what book, movie, or game there was an antagonist. There must be one, it’s a part of writing and storytelling, at the creation of woman and man, God made the Snake to trick Eve into eating the forbidden fruit of the tree. Most of the time, their name had the word “evil” in it, they were the antagonist for the good heroine to beat up and save the girl at the end of their story. However, the word “evil” has been generalized over the years, after being plastered on so many characters for so long. From the change of times, the situation that causes the word to be introduced into the conversation has changed also. We’ve gone through so many wars, genocides, and…
Throughout the course history, the term “evil” was utilized to describe everything: all manner of ills, natural impulse, and wrongdoings. However, today it is mainly employed to accentuate a criminal act; trading on the word’s aura of religious finality. The definition of “evil” has definitely become progressively unsettled even as it has narrowed, yet the term has justified itself to be an unshakeable one in our moral lexicon.…
Shirley Jackson’s “The Possibility of Evil” is a short story about a seemingly sweet little old woman, living in a small town with a house and prized bed of roses outside that has been in her family for three generations. The woman, Miss Strangeworth, is narrated as she goes through her normal Tuesday routine stopping to chat with the other locals. Upon doing so, she notices the solemn looks on some and speculates to herself about why the town has to consume itself with the possibility of evil. In an attempt to clean up the town, she writes several horrific letters to those who looked distraught, implying that maybe her letters are what upset the townspeople in the first place. After Miss Strangeworth dropped one of the letters at the post office one night, a local boy personally delivered it himself when he could not catch her before she left. The next morning, she received a letter looking similar to those she sends out. Opening the letter, she is shocked to read that she should look to see what used to be her roses. The central idea of this story is that evil could reside in any of us, even those you would least expect.…
Evil is an act that distorts moral order, which is contrary to the character of God. Just ask yourself this claim such as; “There cannot be good without evil” This is a metaphysical idea about the structure of reality. Part of that idea is that everything in existence must co-exist in a sort of balance or symmetry. Evil likes to reminds me of abortion, deliberate termination of a pregnancy by surgical or medical means.…
From Jean C. Cooper’s book I have decided to choose weapon for the symbol of evil. Weapon, in J. C. Cooper’s Illustrated Encyclopedia of Traditional Symbols is defined as “power, often supernatural power; dominion; protection, also destruction” (CITE). In addition to this, Cooper also noted that playing with weapons is the triumph of love over war. However, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, a weapon is “a thing designed or used for inflicting bodily harm or physical damage” (CITE). Evidently, the differences between both definitions is clear, as Cooper’s book depicts weapon as a deep and emotional word, while on the other hand, Oxford dictionary describes weapon in a much broader and candid sense. From reading the Oxford dictionaries definition, I learn that in summary, a weapon is something used to cause harm, but when I review Cooper’s description, a weapon can be used for evil as well as virtuous and beneficial purposes.…
In “Beyond Good and Evil”, Friedrich Nietzsche argues that “life is will to power” (p.68). In this paper, I will argue for this argument because I believe that people are controlled by elements of power exist in every aspect of life.…
Good and evil. The source of the each begins within every one of us, deep down we all know what is right and what is wrong. As humans we seek the easy way; however this easy way is not always the moral path. To Kill a Mockingbird explores the belief that good and evil exist in all of us. Somewhere in the path of our life we begin to creep from purity to the corruption of our consciences with each of us falling between those two extremes. We all rely on people like Atticus Finch to carry the burden of doing what is right. To Kill a Mockingbird strives to sort out good from evil and what our human tendencies are when confronted with ethical choices between the two.…
In your personal opinion, is Adela Strangeworth inherently evil or was evil something that was socially constructed within her as a person? Explain.…
Unfortunately, it is a rather difficult word to pin point the meaning. Let’s start with the Webster dictionary definition of evil. It reads, “Morally reprehensible: arising from actual imputed bad character or conduct: causing discomfort or repulsion: causing harm” (Merriam Webster). The definition helps bring clarity, but it still doesn’t answer all the questions evil provokes. Let’s start with who evil effects. People are typically the primary victims of evil, but it can also include nature, society, and animals. Evil is not always equally distributed to people. Some people have to deal with more hardship than other people. Other people have to deal…
Every human being has the capacity to be evil, whether he chooses to show it or not. That man walking his dog down the street, the aged woman sitting on the park bench, and even the loving couple feeding ducks by the pond all have degrees of malevolence in them. Just because evil is not visible does not mean it does not exist. “The madness would lie instead in the fact that both of those qualities, the savage and the splendid, can exist in one creature, one person, often in one instant” (Kruger, para.1). Evil is inherent in everybody, and that evil and goodness simultaneously exists within all humans.…