...Good Vs. Evil In Beowulf, the conflict between good and evil is the poem's main and most important aspect. The poet makes it clear that good and evil doesn’t exist as only opposites, but that both qualities are present in everyone. Beowulf represents the ability to do good or to perform acts selflessly and in help of others. Goodness is also showed throughout this epic as having the ability to cleanse evil. Even though evil is presented by Grendel, Grendel's mother, and the dragon, who are filled with a desire to act against people and ultimately destroy them, even pride, a human quality, is presented in Beowulf as a sign that evil exists. This story might even be considered a classic because it mainly talks about the old fashion good vs. evil, hero vs. villain. Beowulf and the three monsters show the significant difference between good and evil, and why god will always prevail. At the beginning of the play, one reads about Grendel, who is a man eating monster who is feared by everyone. Grendel represents sin and evil throughout the story in various ways. Evil is first shown by the monster Grendel when, “Suddenly then the God-cursed brute was creating havoc: greedy and grim, he grabbed thirty men from their resting places and rushed to his lair”. (Beowulf 120-124). Grendel lives in the darkness and has absolutely no remorse on human life. This shows a very big quality of an evil being and how the Anglo-Saxons viewed evil in forms of monsters. Evil is also thought to be greedy...
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...The Universal Theme of Beowulf: Good VS. Evil Dragons, witches, ghosts, aliens, or just ordinary folks: in most stories there’s a good force and an evil force that battle each other. This one of the most commons themes in literature and has been all throughout history. The universal theme Good versus Evil is presented in Beowulf, in which good always wins. “With envy and anger an evil spirit/endured the dole in his dark abode”(I, 35-36) Grendel, one of the main characters of Beowulf, is described as angry and jealous. This creates in him the spirit of evil. He is also described in, “till one(Grendel) began/ to fashion evils, that fiend of Hell./ Grendel this monster grim was called,/march-reiver mighty, in moorland living,/ in fen and...
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...There’s evil within every one of us but is everyone born or created evil? In the novels Brighton Rock published in 1938 by Graham Greene and East of Eden published in 1952 by John Steinbeck the theme good vs evil incorporated into their plot and characters. Each novel consists of a protagonist that acts as the good in the novel while the antagonist is portrayed as evil resulting is character conflicts throughout the story. Using the Psychoanalytic lens the reader can analyse the personalities and the behaviour of the antagonists to determine that evil is created not born. The antagonists prove this by their violent behaviours shown, Their mentality and lifestyle and by demonstrating how everyone starts off good but they can slowly turn evil...
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...The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Good versus evil, the primary plot to numerous literary genres, is concretely displayed in every Western text. Whether it is cowboys versus Indians, the law versus outlaws, or cattlemen versus cattle rustlers, the audience always sides with one side, and it is always the side of “good”. The Western genre is carefully crafted to influence the audience in siding with a certain character. Authors and directors develop distinct yet similar characters to show the relationship between good and evil. In general, the respectable guys consist of the hero, generally cowboy, and his woman. The hero is written in as a complex character with several sides to resonate with a wider variety of readers/watchers....
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...Just based off of the reading and the video my opinion is that people believe in the power of evil because they also believe there is a power of good. A lot of religions do this where they believe things in form of the "manichean frame." The belief in manicheanism or the manichean frame is that people believe that the world is consistently in conflict with lightness vs darkness, good vs. evil, or Yin vs. Yang. Essentially, people would find it hard to believe that a great omnipotent god who serves as the moral authority of the world would allow all the evil things in the world to happen. With consistent evil things we see in the news around the world on a daily basis the idea of a higher darker power at the work such as Satan makes more sense to people in terms of answering for horrible things such as...
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...The naturally good world has been corrupted by evil, and a God is going to restore the world itself to its nature. Apparently, the restoration is indeed obvious. It is shown through the everlasting teachings of kindness, harmony, and peace through generations of men. Men are smart, but they are selfish and ignorant, making them unable to invent such moral teachings. Hence, those teachings, or Law, come from another source—God—which is far from selfishness. Indeed, Christianity is sensible, for there are evidences that God is making changes in humanity. If there is a God, then who God is by the way? Those who believe in God have always questioned the Supreme Being in whom they believed day by day. Eventually, they start to make the answers...
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...There is no distinct line between good and evil, as there is a range of human nature. Life may seem black and white, but is often actually shades of gray. If Shakespeare is writing about his “stand on human nature in King Lear by looking at specific characters in the play”, as Analysis of King Lear puts it, he is not writing that humans belong in a group of sinners or angels. Contrary to what the essay asserts, people cannot be inherently evil or inherently good. King Lear, written by William Shakespeare, features a large cast that displays the range of human personalities. In particular, Edmund merely falls on the more extreme end, as he is not entirely evil. No person is completely and utterly without morals. Contrasting Edmund, on the other...
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...Imagine what the world would be like if evil always triumphed the good in everything, would humanity cease to exist? Evil within humanity and situations evoked by the character’s actions is reiterated in King Lear through nature. Within each character in the play there is both good and evil, how much of it depends on the character. Shakespeare uses this aspect to foreshadow the tragic events forthcoming. In King Lear by William Shakespeare one of the predominant themes used throughout the play is evil over throwing good in extreme situations. Nature is used throughout the play to describe whether characters are good or malevolent. When it comes to the characters, if they are good hearted, they are described as gullible or clueless (“The Theme...
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...Good vs. Evil The Brothers Grimm in their story, “Little Red Cap,” teach their audience that it is good to obey the rules one is given. For example, the main character, Little Red Cap, was instructed by her mother to bring cake and wine to her grandmother’s house and to not stray from the path. However, she meets the wolf who convinces her otherwise, “As soon as she picked one she saw an even more beautiful one somewhere else and went after it, and so she went deeper and deeper into the woods,” (Grimm 14). This example illustrates the claim that it is good to obey because if she would have listened to her mother and stayed on the path straight to her grandmothers house, the wolf wouldn’t have been able to beat her there to quietly eat her grandmother. Therefore, it’s good to obey ones orders to ensure the safety of oneself and those around them. This version of the tale by the Brothers Grimm was specifically written for an audience of German children in the 19th century. The claim that it is good to obey is very important to the audience because it taught children to listen to their parents so that they would not get in trouble or harm, which was very important during that time period of authoritarian culture in Germany. It’s important because parents would use these stories in order to teach their children lessons in an entertaining manner that would help them understand its importance. The Brothers Grimm use the bad character in the story to teach the lesson that it is bad...
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...There has been a lot of confusion about whether human nature is good or evil. Confucius believed that “all people [h]ave a duty to observe the rites and rituals handed by their ancestors” (Mencius 94). Two of Confucius’s followers, Mencius and Hsun Tzu had different views on his belief. Mencius believed that man is “[i]nherently good and with proper training could be perfect” (94). However, Tzu believed that man is “[i]nerently evil and required rites to keep them in check (Mencius 94). Looking back thought out history evil has always been naturally inside of us due to our selfishness, disregard for authority and our greediness. Man is only aware of his own needs, wants, pain, and pleasures. In “Examples of Selfish People,” Taylor describes...
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...Audrey Runner Media: Good or Evil? I can remember what it was like to watch television as a child, in the morning while eating cereal, and how it felt playing on my Nintendo 64 and believing that piece of technology to be “cutting edge”. I also remember from an early education stand point that as a class in kindergarten we were introduced to computers, and told we would need to know how to use these when we were older. In reality, I have been born and raised in an era where technology is viewed more as a machine and not as the thriving life source of our community as it is now. Today we have digital technology everywhere; in our pockets, in our homes, in our cars, for some - even in their glasses. We are never too far from our technology or the access to social media it possesses. Social media is taking over our world. Now is this a good or bad thing? My answer to that is it always has been and always will be – there is no wrong or right. Meaning that technology and media in itself has always been progressing and digital media is just another step. Today’s media is in an ever progressing state, and it will continue to grow; such is the nature of media and social relations in themselves. Technology today has given us the ability to interact with one another much differently than we have in the past, it also has reached new heights in our ability to share and distribute knowledge, but one of the biggest problems is that of the generation gap between the technologically savvy and...
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...The Ontelles Odyssey depicts a struggle involving the power of truth, love, courage, and perseverance of a man that has the ability to change the world and become the king. The basic theme is good versus evil. Ontelles is a mystical world that has two suns, which is very similar to Saturn. The people of Ontelles are superstitious, they read the stars. For example, the flight of birds can be interpreted as good or bad omens. In order, to prevent “surprises” the people of the village will give lip reverence to the gods. Each human child on Ontelles is required to have their village, name, and birthday burned on the back of their neck after eight days their birth. All the villages of Ontelles are required to supply sixty percent to support the...
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...Do you think you would ever have sympathy for a murderer? What if the person was tricked into killing his wife? What if his “friend” told him that his wife was cheating on him, with one of his other friends? Do you think you could feel bad for them? Well in the story, Othello by William Shakespeare, the readers have to debate if you would have sympathy for one, or not. Are you born evil, or do you become evil? That is a question that many people ask themselves. In my opinion I think someone becomes evil. I think it all depends on how they were raised, if they have been betrayed in anyway, or how they’ve been treated in their lives. I feel like Iago tricked Othello because in his eyes he thinks Othello betrayed him by giving Cassio his spot...
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...“Who knows? In the world below perhaps such actions are no crime,” (lines 795-96) Antigone retorts when Creon labels her brother as ‘evil’ for fighting against Thebes. Throughout the play, good and evil-right and wrong, influence many of the character’s words and actions. Likewise, as the plot progresses, Creon is educated on a sense of justice not known by many kings; righteous justice. And through his interactions with Antigone, the king is informed of the sense of justice he had overlooked for so long. But by the time he realizes the fatal flaw, his entire life had already spiraled out of control. Antigone’s sense of justice lied with that of the gods; whereas, Creon’s lied with the laws he had set forth and the belief that anything that stood against his laws was evil. “Zeus did not announce those laws to me. And justice living with the gods below sent no such laws for men.” (lines 509-10) Antigone states to Creon in an effort to show that his laws were feeble in comparison to that of the gods. However,...
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...“This case is as simple as black and white”. It is referring to the racial aspect of the case,, as well as Tom's obvious innocence. And Atticus realizes that he is defending Tom in front of a prejudiced jury and that the lack of evidence has no bearing on the outcome of the trial. The universal message in To Kill a Mockingbird is the Coexistence of Good and Evil. Since they are raised in a loving and kind environment by an educated and good man of sterling values, Jeremy and Jean Louise Finch grow up believing in the innate goodness of mankind. Having a more mature perspective, their father believes that good and evil both surely exist, but he feels that what is good prevails in most people. They are 3 things that make the up the theme...
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