People’s Capacity for Evil

The phenomenon of evil is a complicated and relative idea. Opinions vary regarding this topic. Evil can be attributes one is born with; perhaps interpreted as mental illness or a misunderstanding of acceptable behavior and reasoning resulting in an evil act or practice. It may also be traits learned or commonly accepted in a particular society that a third person perspective may not acknowledge or agree with. These ideas being considered may attribute to one carrying out or practicing acts of evil. Although there are many aspects on this subject to potentially debate, a couple in particular will be addressed utilizing what is known of two authors; Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne, employing their literary works, “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Young Goodman Brown,” it can be concluded that people are susceptible to evil and/or evil acts for a myriad of reasons. This conclusion is based independently on these two stories as they were expressed during their time. Edgar Allen Poe’s story of Montresor and his thirst for revenge presents ambiguity at the beginning of the story. The readers have no inclination as to why he is so desperate to seek vengeance other than Fortunato has insulted him to such a degree that he feels death must not allude the culprit. For most, murder, more importantly, premeditated murder is an evil in its own right. Common sense dictates that matters of insult or embarrassment may be solved without such a heinous end. If one were to give the narrator the benefit of the doubt premised on Fortunato’s transgressions being warranted of death than reason dictates that it may not be evil but justice. As the story continues, the reader is privy to Montresor’s plan. Instead of settling their issues in a civilized manner, his true intent is stated and the realization is made that it is a biased revenge. He will use discretion as this is a personal vendetta and no one can have knowledge of his intentions. He states, “I must not only

Cited: Baym, Nina and Levine, Robert. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc. 2012 Hawthorne, Nathaniel. “Young Goodman Brown.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Nina Baym New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc. 2012. 386-395. Print Poe, Edgar Allen. “The Cask of Amontillado.” The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 8th ed. Nina Baym. New York: W.W. Norton & Company Inc. 2012. 714-719. Print