Mrs. Strangeworth In The Possibility Of Evil By Shirley Jackson

“A Rose for Emily” written by William Faulkner and “The Possibility of Evil” written by Shirley Jackson have both created characters in which they display evil. Emily Grierson and Adela Strangeworth have different wishes of outcome, when it comes to what they have done, but yet are still quite similar. Both stories take place in rather small, quiet towns, where it doesn’t seem that most others are aware of what these women do. Both Emily and Adela’s similarities and actions display their possibility of evil. Adela Strangeworth writes negative notes, accusing people of things, that she has no real evidence of.

There are contrasting opinions about Cathy Ames within the characters from Steinbeck’s novel East of Eden, some of which are her neighbors whom she left them behind with "a scent of sweetness” (Steinbeck; Ch. 8); then there are other characters who thought of her as an inhuman monster who manipulates to do evil and destroy someone’s life. Her beauty does not reflect her actions, making her an innocent illusion, sugar coated, with despicable sprinkles, and poisonous filling. She mostly has evil intentions behind every - even good - action. Cathy can be nice and do good actions, but only with a selfish reason behind it, which shows how Steinbeck portrayed distorted evil in a woman and how this façade is all revealed and hated.

Overall, anyone can see that Abigail had bad intentions from the beginning and she only cares about herself. By looking at The Crucible, one can see that Abigail Williams develops the theme of reputation, which is important because people who fear losing their reputation spread hysteria. She only wants John Proctor and to take Elizabeth Proctor’s spot. She is so evil that she risked innocent people’s life over a

Mary Warren is a character who generally has good intentions but does not have the bravery and uprightness to follow through with these intentions. She becomes part of the court that condemns witches and seems to be proud of it and enjoys the power that comes to her with it, but she begins to feel guilty when innocent people are being harmed because of it. When it seems that she will do what is honourable and just, she breaks down and proclaims that “[Proctor] wake me every night, his eyes were like coals and his fingers claw my neck” (119). Here, Mary is snapping under the pressure when she cannot do what is right by revealing the truth but rather being corrupted by Abigail and doing what lacks any uprightness and scapegoating John by accusing him of witchcraft, which ultimately leads to his death. Another character who is used to show the dangers of acting without integrity is Reverend Parris.

The symbols in The Possibility of Evil by Shirley Jackson have figurative meanings to them that depict their role in the story. The flowers symbolize as a loved being for Miss Strangeworth since she takes care of them dearly and protects them from the wickedness in her town. The envelopes symbolize Miss Strangeworth wickedness spreading her cruelty and hurting other people. Miss Strangeworth pretends to be a kind person, but when no one is watching her she depicts the cruelty inside of her showing the possibility of evil inside of everybody. Artists and the writers make these symbols to provide lore and create an expansive world.

The author establishes this issue well in the cases of Sophie Wender, Rosalind Morton, and Aunt Harriet. These individuals are undoubtedly the most developed emotionally, as well as the most assertive and genuine representations of present day women, shown throughout the novel.. Nevertheless their way of acting is considered “sinful” because they stray from the gendered norms, this is exceedingly present in Aunt Harriet. She is desperate to keep her child even though the baby is considered a deviation. Her attempts at tricking the inspector falls short as her own sister and her husband deny her pursuit and disdain her.

The Puritans ran from persecution but then used the witch hunt to persecute innocent people based on the word of the women and men who had ulterior motives. The women used this opportunity to punish people they long had problems or resentment for. These women- Abigail, Tituba, and Mary- were aware of the power they felt when they were being heard by people in their community who were deemed Godly, upstanding citizens. So, they loved the sense of power they felt. Although the townspeople of Salem used religion as the reason for the witch hunt, the witch hunt created chaos because people started using it a revenge mechanism.

The only thing she cared about was that the city forbids her to do anything outside of the law. Ismene has no courage to stand by her family because of her beliefs that people shouldn’t do anything that the law doesn’t permit. She said, “we’ll die, the worst of all if we violate the laws and override the

Golden girl talks about how hard life their life of highschool is and her ruining her friendship. The whole story is her lying and being mean to her best friend. Sympathy is something that should be earned Body 1: She should earn sympathy rather than not. She should need to go out and apologize in a meaningful way. People who decide that they are everything or want to be everything don't really deserve sympathy people should be righteous and friendly to each other and especially if you’re friends don't go

Thus, this theme of light against darkness was seen throughout the entire novel due to various character’s problems with deciding what was good and evil to themselves and to the society. After it was discovered that Hester committed adultery and she was sentenced to her punishment, her beauty almost immediately deteriorated. Her hair was pulled back and hidden under a bonnet unlike its past looseness. The townspeople did not view Hester as an evil person, but her sin made her hide her light from everyone. The sun was used to describe the goodness and pureness a character has.