A Human Is Not A Creature That Can Be Good Or Bad Essay

How can you tell if a “bad guy”--the villain, the monster, the thief--is necessarily a bad guy? Is it by the images they choose to ink on their skin? Their crooked smile, or maybe perhaps the way they like to crack their knuckles? Maybe it’s just their attire: it’s too dark, too scary. And what of their eyes? There’s something there...something about the way they’re placed, something about how they flicker and gleam with every mention of what they desire. But what of their feelings? The ever-circling wheels of emotions from deep inside that manage to control the raging tides of life? Do they not care like we do?

Good v. Evil, it’s way more than just a concept, it’s more of a lifelong struggle inside of you. What more could you do when evil is shown all around you? Many of us may see the struggle between good and evil in the people we come across everyday. Flawed individuals may be perceived as good but are bad in the eyes of someone else; it all comes down to how you see it. The exposure to things and memories you make help impact the good in you. In order to further evaluate the argument of how good can come out of evil and good can show up even when it’s not right in front of you, can be shown in both William Golding’s novel Lord of the flies and the Anonymous Anglo-Saxon poem of Beowulf. This essay asserts that,

“I have no spur to prick the sides of my intent, but only vaulting ambition, which o'erlaps itself and falls on th’ other-” (Shakespeare 321). Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth portrays many characters with high aspirations that not only shape the plot and action of the story, but also the themes. Additionally, the intentions of the characters and the intensity of their pursuit varies as the action of the play progresses. Throughout The Tragedy of Macbeth, main characters exemplify the positive and negative influence of ambitions through their thoughts, traits, actions, and motivations.

Good versus Evil is an important concept. Evil sometimes overcomes our good but never exceeds good. The difference between evil and good is that good is an ability to have empathy and compassion towards other people. Evil is people who are selfish, self-absorbed and don’t have empathy towards others. Literature plays a vital role in developing concepts of good and evil and effectively portrays the morals of its time period. In the novels Dracula and The Strange Case of Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, the authors explore the human nature of good and evil in men from different perspectives of Dracula, Mr. Hyde and Dr. Jekyll.

In the memoir “A Long Way Gone” by Ishmael Beah, there are several examples of people who show they are capable of evil, because everyone is.

"Let not light see my black and deep desires./ The eye wink at the hand, yet let that be/ Which the eye fears, when it is done, to see" (i, iv, 53-55). Only light enable people to see, but sinners can't see through light owing to their blindness. These black and deep desires are the one corroding the light, bedimming those righteous decisions, in which it could come after anyone. The Shakespearean play of The Tragedy of Macbeth projected a reasonable and moral man on his downfall path. This tragedy originates from the rapacious desire that erodes Macbeth's self-consciousness and completely distorts his heroic character. Certainly, Macbeth's ambitions that blind his eyes must be seem as a dangerous and terrifying identity.

In Shakespeare’s “Macbeth”, destruction is wrought when ambition goes rampant by moral constraints. “Macbeth” amplifies the fight amidst good vs evil, analyzing the psychological effects of King Duncan's murder. This tragedy concerned the plunge of a great man (King) from his position of nobility to humility on behalf of his ambitious pride. This pride causes the downfall of Macbeth that triggers a series of deaths down the line. Ambition is the driving force of the play.

Robert Louis Stevenson, a famous Scottish writer, once said, “All human beings are commingled out of good and evil.” Not one person is completely good or evil; everyone possesses both characteristics. In the literary pieces of John Gardner’s, “Grendel,” unknown author of, “Beowulf,” and Robert Louis Stevenson’s, “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,” the characters are portrayed as having both qualities of good and evil, proving there to be a duality of decency/immorality, righteousness/depravity, and virtue/evil.

‘Macbeth’ is a play in which a Lord and his Lady come into supreme power through acts of injustice and despicable inhumanities. In the play Macbeth there is no main focal theme that overrules the others; the play however has several underlying themes, namely there are important themes i.e. good and evil (like ying and yang), greed and power, guilt and conscience, fear, ambition – this leads to the murder of other people illustrating to the reader that even the most sane of people can result to character diminishing methods to get what they want. These particular themes are the most prominent and when closely looked at, it can help to understand characters and meanings behind the play. The theme of ambition is very important in this play,

It is dangerously naive to believe that some people are innately ‘good’ while others are innately ‘evil’ or ‘bad’. In today’s society, ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are relative - one person’s ‘good’ is another’s ‘evil’. These qualities are also flexible. For example, people who chose to behave in a cruel manor can display ‘good’ qualities such as kindness or empathy. Moreover, a supposedly ‘good’ individual can act out due to anger or annoyance.

F. Scott Fitzgerald once said,“That is part of the beauty of all literature. You discover that your longings are universal longings, that you’re not lonely and isolated from anyone. You belong”. However, how could it be, that the longings represented in Macbeth demonstrate the longings of human nature itself? The author of the play, William Shakespeare, is perhaps best known for the thorough understanding of human nature represented within his plays, therefore, the constant struggle between the good and evil is evident throughout the play Macbeth as characters such as Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and Banquo struggle between the importance of their morals and their strong longings towards power. In real life, individuals can find themselves relating to the characters of the play as their beliefs might transition from putting their longings before their morals or vice versa. Macbeth is a play in which the psychology of human nature is analyzed repeatedly as it encounters temptations and allows the characters to choose a path of light or darkness.

In the tragedy Macbeth; the reader witnesses the inevitable downfall of the tragic hero Macbeth as he attempts to do the impractical. While Macbeth turns from an admirable nobleman into the traitor fiend that is the result of his wife’s relentless coaxing, the reader distinguishes more and more of the “appearance versus reality” or the “things are not what they seem” theme that intertwines with Macbeth’s hubris thus leading to his downfall. As Macbeth furthers his plans, which fall in step with the weird sisters’ prophecy, he uses, “False face must hide what the false heart doth know,” (Macbeth, Act1.Scene7.Line82) in order to deceive his fellow noblemen and fulfill the prophecy of his becoming the Thane of Cawdor and the King of

Our ambitions are what drives us to do the things that we do, it is what motivates us to achieve our goals and desires. Most of the time however, we go too far and overstep our boundaries and sometimes our moral codes all to get what we want and this is evident in Williams Shakespeare’s play The Tragedy of Macbeth. Macbeth represents all of us in some way albeit to an exaggerated state because like Macbeth, we are greedy and desire more than what we need or really want. On a more fundamental level, Macbeth represents the corruptible side of all of us and how easily we can give up who we are and what we believe in, all in order to reach our goals. Macbeth’s desire for power and his fear leads him to overstep his boundaries and not only kill

In this play, there is a noticeable difference between the natural way in which humans want to act against what is considered natural in society. Elements of society cause the characters to be able to justify unnatural actions. Shakespeare thoroughly laces this play with the concept of humans are neither good nor evil by nature.

The universe is composed of both good and evil beings. The good humans are always nice and thoughtful of other people. The evil characters, on the other hand, keep on hurting and harming their fellows. In most cases, people do not like associating with evil characters. These people are avoided, and they live a lonely life without friends. The reason is that good and evil will always be two parallel elements that will never meet. In a typical and real-world setting, good and evil characters are determined by their actions. For instance, an evil person could set a trap for luring their closest friend into danger. Conversely, in the fictional world, evil characters are differentiated from the good ones by giving them terrifying and monstrous images. The novel Dracula by Bram Stoker is one book that uses vampires to portray evil. Some people find pleasure in doing good while others find joy in doing evil to others. But everyone is entitled to choosing their paths and personalities. The question is, between good and evil, what is the noblest thing to emulate? The Dracula novel gives a series of events that answers the question. Evil will never surpass goodness, and neither will the two ever cross lines; instead, goodness will always win the battle.