The battle between Good and Evil has been an ongoing game ever since. There is only a fine line between what is Good and what is Evil, there is an impossibility of Good existing in a world where Evil is absent. The boundaries between the traditional meanings of were rather clear and relevant when Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm wrote down their collected stories in the nineteenth century. But as of today, the evil myth and the borders between reality and fiction as well as history, literature and philosophy are blurred, and so are the roles of Good and Evil.
Evil – probably one of the most fascinating topics, not just in fairy tales, but throughout literature. Evil characters are the substance of not just today’s movie industry, but also of classic fairy tales. It does not matter if it involves a wicked witch, a unbeloved stepmother, Evil is omnipresent when it comes to fairy tales. There is one rather tremendous issue when it comes to Evil, though. Evil is not always immediately Evil. There are several differences and one can only imagine how tough it is to
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But fairy tales are certainly more than just entertaining stories for children. Fairy and folk tales have been a part of human society for ages now and they still pay a rather significant role in our lives. Those fascinating stories have traveled from oral story-telling to movie theaters and computer screens. 200 years ago until now – fairy tales are engaging for people from all age groups. Even though there are different fairy tales all over the world, most of them are very similar which suggests that there is a certain structure to all of them. In her book Shadow and Evil in Fairy Tales, Marie-Louise von Franz states that “Fairy tales are most generally human in their structure” and “In each type of tale you can study the
This theme is evident as villains and figures of evil are often associated with darkness, the protagonists always beat the antagonists, and heroes need to cooperate. Villains and figures of evil are often associated with darkness, many times throughout the course of the book, Kingdom Keepers: Disney After Dark. For example, this is evident in the quote, “ ‘No more cold. No more Maleficent. You freed me!’
Humans have the ability to be evil inside them ever since birth; and British Literature is a good analysis on how evil is presented in people’s lives and how people ‘become’ evil, such as how Grendel and Macbeth become evil in their respective stories. There are many theories on why people act evil, including theories from, Hannah Arendt, Elaine Pagal, and Thomas Hobbs. Most of the theories say generally the same thing. Evil is essentially a part of a human’s character and nature, and the evil inside of one can be triggered by a number of things, such as self interest and being influenced to do evil. All the British Literature that was read in this course has contained evil, as evil is an essential part to make a story.
For this final reading response, I have decided to look in depth at Thomas Nelson’s piece of writing called Darkness in the Look and to also interpret and analyze specific aspects of this particular reading. In the reading, Nelson does quite a wonderful job analyzing Disney’s representations of evil over the decades between 1938 and 1974. His view is that darkness in Disney was used in the first few films to convey a more haunting, and dramatic form of evil and that as the years progressed, Disney moved away from imagination being directly linked to lightness and darkness within the icon world of Disney. Throughout this response, I will be contrasting, in particular the idea of evil being prevalent in nature and in one’s self to evil being within one entity, or
Beowulf is an Anglo-Saxon story about a hero who encounters many monsters. Given that the story originated from the Anglo-Saxons, there are morals and values pertaining to Anglo-Saxon history. The early Anglo-Saxons were infantile in knowledge and faith when it came to their Christian beliefs. After the Romans invaded England, the later Anglo-Saxons became more knowledgeable about Christianity. Because of Roman influence, the recorded version of Beowulf, which readers now see today, has more biblical imagery than its original, pagan, oral version.
The evil inside people dominates their thoughts, but can be masked with false acts of kindness, like when Mainly Pointer seduced Hulga and told her, “I’ve gotten a lot of interesting things… Pointer ain’t my real name” (O’Connor 9). Every person has told at least one lie. It is a way of life, for humans have selfish or kind intentions that are not said correctly or seen as evil. Throughout all three of these stories, the true evil is revealed in the end.
The problem of evil is not a new topic in modern day literature, neither was Voltaire’s Candide satyr of the issue. In fact, today the matter is one of the most common themes, especially in dystopian/utopian books where the message seems to be that evil is everywhere, but why? Compare Candide with Suzanne Collin’s Hunger Games series, for instance. Both Candide and Katniss were forced from their homes, leaving behind their loved ones to face a cold world full of every evil-- pride, anger, lust, gluttony, avarice, envy, and sloth. At times it seemed as though they would die, as though they should commit suicide, for why would they want to be in such a malicious world filled with such heartless people; other times they found love, found their
We as human beings both create and endure evil of many different varieties and levels of severity on a daily basis. Evil, both moral and natural, is recognized and spoken of constantly. Whether in sermons declaring the ultimate result of sin and evil from the perspective of the church, the daily news reports updating us on the War in Iraq or informing us of a local murder, or the knowledge of the ongoing struggle to rebuild a community which was destroyed during a catastrophic storm, earthquake, or wildfire, we without a doubt live amidst evil. Many of us have very differing philosophies on the proper way to define evil, for example, whether evil is intentional or a natural balancing force, whether evil is universal, or if one's particular
Good vs Evil is a common theme found in many forms of literature, with The Hobbit being no exception. Bilbo and his company are seen as the good in the book, on a journey to defeat an evil dragon, which is a noble mission. Meanwhile, characters like the dreaded Smaug, Gollum, or the brutish orcs, are the adversaries they face along the way, and are generally sinister in their
The presentation of Good vs. Evil is one of the main themes in the novel, Dracula. The portrayal of good and evil is seen in each character throughout the book. The characters considered “evil” in the novel are Dracula and his vampire brides. Dracula converts humans into vampires and has immense power over certain individuals. Everything he does demonstrates that there is no good in him at all.
Good and evil have been shown multiple times throughout the story. Beowulf versus all the different monsters throughout the story are the most prevalent examples of this dichotomy. Many of the evil forces were Cain, Grendel and his mother, and the dragon. These three portray evil in their fighting and their reasoning for fighting/ murdering others. Cain, the allegory, was evil for fighting out of anger and jealousy.
Many families have many traditions, but one tradition that is common among all households is that they read fairy tales to their children right before they put them to sleep. They do this to fill their minds with good positive thoughts and leave them with something to think about. Religion dictates the characteristics of familiar fairy tales as religion provides a moral and ethical framework for having a good life, an ideal goal parents want their children to have. On the whole, fairy tales are constantly changed to adhere to cultural or social beliefs that are deemed important by diverse people in a community.
These stereotypes have always existed but have been passed down to us, precisely, by these stories. They target the most impressionable part of society, children. The purpose of these tales is to teach children how to behave and in which social norms they must fit into. “Fairy tales are a child's world of imagination and pleasure, but
Justyna Deszcz wrote an article based on Zipes’ political and socio-historical approach and added a variety of facts she had collected from many other authors and articles. Deszcz believes that the reason we have shifted into the submissive and “family-friendly” theme of fairy tales is because “the fairytale has been reduced to a mass-produced commodity, to be purchased and owned, and to bring in considerable profit. What is more, the fairytale is being used as a source and a vehicle of powerful self-mirroring images affirming the existing value system, and thus lulling audiences into passivity and compliance.” This point proves that the original thought of harsh realities needing to be exposed in story telling has converted to just being a profitable way to tell simple-minded children’s
They are not just for children but can help in the lives of adults as well. The fairy tales that we hear today were not written for children in the first place, it was after the late nineteenth century that the tales were changed and made ‘more appropriate’ for children. In case of children’s fairytales in simple terms – they show children how to solve problems, they cross cultural boundaries and at the same time familiarize children with their own traditions and cultures, they develop a child’s imagination and last not the least they teach lessons (moral lessons, life lessons etc.). Thus I think fairytales are an important part of the learning process especially for children, while for adults it can be a source of entertainment or
Evil is a simple word that we learn at a young age and that we understand is bad. However, our youth and innocence prevents us from knowing the weight the word holds. As our understanding of evil develops, we begin to see evil all around us. Although we hold common societal definitions of evil, each person is bound to view evil slightly different from others. Someone might consider alcoholism evil, while others consider it normal: someone might believe racism is evil, while others believe it is natural.