Thursday, February 6, 2014
A Return to "Evil."
At the beginning of the year we wrote some blog posts exploring how
concepts of "evil," threat, fear and desire are dramatized in stories
like Dracula. Now we're returning to these ideas as we get ready to
read Shakespeare's Macbeth. For this blog post, discuss and explore the
ideas of "evil," fear and desire in our culture: you can focus on one
concept or you could discuss how the three concepts interrelate or
reinforce each other. What is "evil"? What kinds of things do we fear
or desire, and why? Why are these things so deeply ingrained in us?
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As humans, the feeling of being afraid resides in all our minds from past experiences and current unknowns. Everyone has felt afraid and feared the worst. Authors can use the overlying feeling of fear derived in characters and objects against other characters to bind opposites together. Through this connection, relationships are formed and enemies can be established. While the characters might be wishing to stay apart from evil, the fear being expressed will seek and find its victims. Since fear is a mental feeling, it can be felt in a safe environment away from its evil origins. Fear can also be felt in a repetitive manner, solely based upon one previous experience. A similarity attributed to fear, is its common access points that most humans have been exposed to and reacted similarly to. Some common access points of fear are death, darkness, and gore. All of these fear producing subjects are intertwined together by their association with evil. Close near to these access points is evilness, which lurks and slowly deteriorates one's mind. Evilness and fear cannot coexist with purity and joy. Either of these two powers will independently exist in our minds and solely impact our decisions. One might be led into an evil situation with a pure mind, and experience a shrill of energy from fear they experience. This fear will turn from jolted enjoyment, into haunting horrors. These horrors can allow the lurking evilness to enter and overtake one's good-nature. With evilness inside one's mind, the desire for fear can be evident and lead one into enjoying evil.
ReplyDeleteEverybody experiences the feeling of being afraid, desiring something, and witnessing "evil". Authors of novels such as Dracula, The Crucible, and Macbeth, use these concepts and feelings and create a writing style to attend to those feelings. This will keep the reader intrigued and wanting more. These feelings can greatly influence the decisions of a character which will in turn affect the events in the novel. From personal experience, fear and desire are the two most powerful feelings someone could portray. When in fear, mental confrontations occur which usually relate back to what we know as "evil". For example, someone might fear skydiving because they don't want their parachute to malfunction in result of death. Death is a big concept with many meanings that all relate back to "evil". When we think of evil, we think of the depths of hell, and Satan, or the Devil. In complete comparison, the feeling of desire is overpowering enough to affect ones decisions as well. For example, someone might desire love. Love is also a vast concept with many meanings. This does not relate back to "evil", however, it relates back to ones mind set which is the base to all of our choices in life. All of these feelings can alter someone's state of mind quite a bit, leading to the defeat of ones conscience.
ReplyDeleteIn our culture today, people like to be afraid. They like the feeling of suspense. They enjoy the feeling of fear itself. For instance, when reading a horror novel, the author tends to create such dilemmas for the characters, that even the reader starts to feel uneasy, tensed and scared. This is the very feeling that makes the reader go on and on, wanting to know what happens next. Not only with books, however, the moment when people clutch onto their seats, and cover their eyes even though they are looking through their fingers, also makes them wanting more even though it might be scary. We tend to stay as far away as possible from our fears, but then we also desire that feeling of being afraid and tensed. When our heart rate gets faster, the tension increases, and our palms start to sweat, we automatically want to se what will happen next and it become hard to control. That feeling of not knowing legitimately kills us from inside and this is what lets us keep on going. Desire and fear go hand in hand. We are afraid, but we want more of it. The crave the feeling of being scared, and this desire makes us more susceptible to our fears, which makes the entire idea of evil and fear get harder to get rid of.
ReplyDeleteBeing “evil” means different things to different people. Some people think that creatures such as the devil or ghosts are evil but others think that people like teachers or bosses can be “evil”. I think that everybody has evil inside them, what makes you evil is if you choose to show it. Things like the devil or supernatural creatures choose to be evil. They choose to hurt people and spread fear amongst people because of reasons that I do not know. But the feeling fear is not all bad to feel every once in a while. The feeling is like a huge adrenaline rush throughout the body. It makes us feel more alive than ever when we experience it. Many people desire this feeling and chase after it. Their only goal in life is to experience this feeling every day. That is why many people travel doing daredevil stunts like base jumping or skydiving to feel the fear of knowing that they are in a life or death situation. This same feeling can be felt at places like scary movies or haunted houses. These industries make million on people flocking in the see movies the give them the feeling of fear and make them feel alive. Hundreds of kids go to Connors farm for the haunted corn field or Hammond’s castle to feel this adrenaline rush. This is a great feeling that everybody loves and desires. This is also why there are so many show and nuts that go to the most haunted places in the world to search for ghost and supernatural being because of the fear and the curiosity.
ReplyDeleteTo me fear and evil basically mean the same thing. They both associate with a discomforting feeling in a human. Although the noun use of evil usually causes one to feel fear, in a movie for example. Many people every day go to movies across the country and a lot of them scary. Mostly based on an “evil” character. Now the science behind making a good and effective scary movie is actually quite impressive. What the directors and script writers have to do to ensure fear in the hearts of the audience. Although scary movies are a good example of evil and fear, they are also expected by the audience and therefore I don’t consider being true evil. Now there are many people across the globe who we Americans consider to be evil. We call them terrorists. Now to us they are what we think of as evil. They cause the fear in every Americans heart that their loved one may not return home from the war or even that they themselves could be killed on American soil. But in truth they are only evil to their oppositions. To them and their families and followers (the terrorists) they are they hero’s and we are the evil ones interfering with their way of life. So overall the definition of evil and fear can only be defined by who is telling you because if you ask the world you will have a numerous amount of different answers. And that’s because everyone’s different and no ones perfect.
ReplyDeleteThe idea of fear, evil and desire are all present in our culture each person in his own way is affected by these ideas. Everyone is affected by the thought of society around them, as a society "evil" may be perceived as a sinister or even abstract action or thought on the part of a person. What is perceived as evil may lead a group of people to shun or stray away from such attributes. Each individual has personal fear and desires such as death and love respectively. We fear or desire things based on an ingrained idea that leads one to desire or fear something. When we first learn about something we are told about it from a perspective that leads us to either fear or desire that particular idea. An example of this is seen with the idea of death when we are told about death we see it in a negative perspective that eventually leads us to shun this idea. Conversely, if society thought about death in a positive light then perhaps we would be taught about this idea in like manner and view it as a desire not as a fear. At times desire and fear may meet and one overrides the other leading to a resolute action. We may even project our fears or desires on someone else allowing it to spread through multiple people changing the way a specific idea is seen. Our fears, desires, and what we perceive as evil are not ideas that we instinctively have instead they are attributes that we develop over time through experience and what we are told that shapes these ideas.
ReplyDeleteEvil can have many meanings. Everybody at some point in their life goes through a situation when they feel scared or tense. Whether it’s in a movie, a book, or a real life situation, you have experienced a frightened feeling. If someone mentioned the word ‘evil’ to me, I would automatically think of scary movies and sneaky people. A regular definition of the word is: “profound immorality, wickedness, and depravity, esp. when regarded as a supernatural force.” People have their own definitions. Mine would be: a person who is looking to ruin somebody and/or a situation for revenge or just for the fun of it. Some people are obsessed with horror and evil films. Humans just love the chill they get down their spine from seeing something that most likely wouldn’t happen in real life. In my opinion I can’t stand the gory movies. But I LOVE the evil types of movies. It is because they keep me intrigued throughout. A real life example of fear and evil is death. No matter who you are, everyone has their opinion of death. Fear relates to death in many ways. A real life example of desire is love. Most people want love. But then again, many people fear love. These feelings are deeply ingrained in us.
ReplyDeleteI believe fear and evil are a part of our everyday lives. To the extent we bear each one is always different. The human brain will always ponder various ideas and put ourselves into different theoretical situations. People often have nightmares, feel threatened by bullies or even by objects such as tests or certain situations. This is where fear and evil differentiate! Being fearful of something isn’t always a bad thing, it can make you better prepared or put more thought into it. Evil is something of its own. This attribute can only be applied by perspective. We, as Americans, find Al-Qaeda to be very evil, and threatening people from the idea they will attack our country as terrorists. In reality though, they believe what they are doing is right based on how they have been raised and from what their society has taught them to believe. Evil isn’t what I believe someone is born with. Societies install it into people through bad experiences, unfair treatment, cruel beliefs and much more. Evil is what is found to be immoral. Hitler is definitely immoral and evil, but to his culture, the Nazi’s, what he did certainly was not evil but productive to their group. What we individually determine to be evil is assessed from what we have personally dealt with, and have been taught. We learn history so we do not make the mistakes of the evil that has come before our time. A conscious is only helpful if taught to be. We fear the unknown and the possibilities. We fear what is unknown. As FDR once said “The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself.”
ReplyDeleteThe idea of evil, fear, and desire surround our culture. Stories like Dracula and Macbeth along with countless movie and television shows dramatize our fears, desires, and what we perceive to be evil. Our culture today, has taken what we fear most and used it to draw us into their stories or TV shows. They have essentially made us desire our fears. Watching your fears play out in front of you may seem terrifying, though most people get a rush from it. As bizarre as it seems, people actually enjoy being afraid while they are in a controlled setting. Watching something totally unrealistic or "out of this world" is desiring to people because they know it couldn't possibly happen in real life. Desire and fear are closely related to each other. An overwhelming desire can often lead us to fearful situations. While some people may desire something, others may think of it as taboo and fear it. Some people may desire love or a relationship. While others may be fearful of making a big commitment. What fear, evil, and desire really mean depends on what your perception is and who you are as a person. Our culture around us and how we see the world helps to ingrain these ideas into our lives.
ReplyDeleteWhat is evil? In our culture during this time period evil is many things. It is found in the form of people who defy our laws and morals. Murder is evil. If a person kills someone we either sentence them to a life in prison or have them face the death penalty. The prisoners usually find both options to be bad and or evil, and even some innocent people stand against the ladder of the two. Other law offenders we find to be of the evil variety are pedophiles, rapists, and people who steal. Some people might justify stealing as it is sometimes a necessary act of survival, but the other two I mentioned in my last sentenced are viewed as horrible acts almost worldwide. People usually place violating someone right next to killing them, and to do both is considered completely and without a doubt inhumane.
ReplyDeleteThe meanings of evil, fear, and desire have been perceived many different ways in the culture that we live in. In many cases to be evil is known to be a bad trait. Eventually in everyone’s lifetime a part of their “evil” side may come out. Many people see evil as being a “bad” thing, where as many other people don’t see anything wrong about being evil and conniving. Living in the culture that we do, everyday there is some crazy story on the news that makes me wonder what makes people so evil to the point where they can hurt hundreds of people. When it comes to fear and desire I believe that these two terms have a lot in common when it comes to our culture. To be afraid is an awful feeling, not being able to know what happens next, or to not know where you may be in 10 years. For example going to see the new scary movie at the movie theater, even though you know you’re going to have to cover your eyes the whole film because of all the scary scenes. Yet I enjoyed it? Why desire something that I feared so much? Most likely when new scary movies come out I’ll probably go see those too. What makes me wanting more? I believe fear intrigues people so much that people cannot get enough of it. They desire the feeling they get when they watch a scary movie so much that they always come back for more. I’m the type of person that always gets afraid of trying something new, yet when I do I just want keep doing it. There is a connection between all three of these terms in the present day culture. I guess the best way I can put it is; many people fear what may be evil, but yet people desire facing their fears.
ReplyDeleteEvil is something that is bad that makes us scared or hurt. We often fear things that are scary and dark that can hurt us or hurt the people that we care about. People fear snakes and spiders but their not really evil, they may look scary or different in appearance but most of the time they are not deadly or very harmful we just don't like them because their different and we don't grasp that concept to the best of our abilities. We have many desires such as money but money could be thought of as evil to some people. It creates war and big problems in the world. Money is nice because we use it to buy things so everybody wants it, but that's what makes it deadly. We fight over money and that is what should be thought of as evil its such a meaning full item to us but its just a piece of paper in reality. Evil is all around us in different objects that we may think are great and good but in reality look around and see where the evil really truly lies.
ReplyDeleteThe definition of “evil” would change depending on who you ask. To me evil is something not only seen as morally wrong, but also something that I fear. As much as most people seem to fear evil, it is strange how we can be so drawn to it as well. A person's obsessive need for power and acceptance can often lead them to do something which most people consider evil. What's interesting is that powerful individuals are something we fear. The idea of someone or something having control over me is a very scary thought, especially if they were to use that power for evil. In my Dracula essay, earlier in the year, I discussed how people are drawn to powerful things and desire to become more like them. When it comes to the concept of evil I think this is also true. We may hate powerful people who do terrible things, but on some level I think we are attracted to the idea as well. I think people are so drawn towards things that frighten them or things they consider evil, because of the weird attraction we seem to have of being in control. In society it seems like it doesn't really matter if what you are doing is evil or wrong, as long as you are the one who gets to make the decisions and have power over others. Our deepest desires and fears both relate back to powerful people and things. How a person uses that power is how we declare them either good or evil.
ReplyDelete"Evil" is a word that can be interpreted in many different ways. Many people refer to this word desribing something bad, ghostly, scary; anything along those lines. The word evil can describe things such as ghosts, spirits, and also things like people and objects. Although evil can be something we fear it may also be something we desire. Some people fear evil because in society it is taught that things evil will harm or frighten you. People also may desire things "evil". It may give them a certain feeling which other things cannot. Alot of people can relate to this in situations such as watching scary movies, we know the things in the movie are evil but we are so intriuged by it and the feelings it brings to us. In more real life situations people may refer to some feelings they have as being evil for an example the emotion of love. Love is a two way road it can lead to something great or disasterous. Many people fear love, they think it will only end up hurting them or leaving them sad or alone, therefore going through life thinking it is "evil". Others, although they know the risks, really desire this because even though it has potential downfalls instead of leading to something bad it could lead to something amazing. Our society and culture greatly impact our views on "evil" and play a big part in whether we fear it or desire it.
ReplyDeleteIn our culture, we live in a world of fear as of now. In my opinion, fear is to be afraid of someone or something. Fear can also be an emotion that’s caused by something that’s dangerous and frightening. As humans, we fear many things, such as other people, animals, losing our freedom, loneliness, death, and etc… We fear other people because we are afraid that we will not get along well with each other and also we’re scared to communicate with other people. Animals can become our biggest fear because there are some animals that are dangerous, wild, and we do not want to go near them. We consider some animals vicious and very deadly. We feared that if we go near those kind of animals they will do something to us. Animals feared the same thing, they’re frightened that if we come close to them then we will hurt them. That’s why animals are vicious, they wanted to protect themselves. As humans, we also fear that we’re going to lose our freedom. Losing our freedom is like losing the power to control our own lives. We fear loneliness and death (they’re kind of related to each other) because once we lose someone, we can never bring them back to life and each day we have to live without that person and so we feel lonely. It’s the worst feeling in the world when we lost someone that’s very important to us. Fear is so deeply ingrained in us and we can never get rid of it because we have to deal with these kind of fears every single day and it will never leave us.
ReplyDeleteToday in our culture we humans enjoy the feeling of fear. Nowadays there are horrifying movies and books that seem to always draw our attention. Why are we so enticed by something that causes evil and harm? The answer is because it is exciting and we like to imagine horrifying and impossible situations, but knowing that it does not affect us. The three concepts: evil, fear, and desire all reinforce each other. Evil our worst fears, but strangely we desire the feeling anticipation and being scared. When a reader feels fear and emotion while reading a book, it leaves them wanting more and so they read on. The same concept also relates to movies. Popular books such as Dracula, The Crucible, and Macbeth all have fear and horror incorporated within them; which is the reason why they are famous. It takes skill for an author to be able to make the reader feel emotion and visualize what is happening. Now in society, some common fears I would have to say is loneliness, failure, and violence. No one wants to feel alone and hopeless, it is one of the worst feelings that can also lead to depression. Also, hearing that you have failed is a harsh word that can ruin the hopes and dreams of anyone. Failing to support a family and meet ones requirements is hard to bare. Finally violence is another fear we all have. Everyday you hear horrific stories on the news of murders, terrorist attacks, and stories of war. To me loneliness, failure, and violence have a different meanings of fear and evil that no one enjoys. Even though we desire fear and evil; it is what truly destroys what we love most along with ourselves.
ReplyDeleteThe feeling of fear sticks with us much longer than others. It is a much more intense and overwhelming feeling. Everybody has fears. There are common fears which everyone shares but there are also ones that are authentic to you specifically. While people fear similar concepts there intensity is different; you can have the same fear as someone yet be affected by it completely different. Often people are much more absorbed in novels or happenings that bring out their deepest fears. When reading or watching something that includes evil for instance, one is much more attentive than those that contain love or goodness. You typically hear more stories about evilness than those of goodness. Stories about someone doing something bad or evil have a greater impact on us than others. Not only do people tend to enjoy scary movies they tend to be drawn them. People are tempted to watch or read something scary even if they don’t really want to. Reactions to stories or movies containing evil things are always so much more intense than others. I hate being afraid, yet I often find myself experiencing fear, we all do. It’s not easy to overcome. Fear stays with us and we aren’t usually able to easily forget our fears.
ReplyDeleteI don’t think that I know one single person that does not fear something sometime in their life. As humans the idea of evil things scares us or gives us a feeling of fear. I think that I would describe evil as something that is wicked or intending to cause harm. I feel like as human we fear so many different things, such as death, certain situations, other people and so much more. I think the biggest fear of all to humans is the fear of death. I feel like this frightens people the most because its the fear of the unknown. You don’t know what dying is like because there is no one that can explain it to you and you can’t first hand experience it until you are dead. This scares people so much that they can’t know about something until it actually happens. Also as humans, we fear and desire the concept of evil. When you are younger you fear the monsters under your bed and view them as “evil” but when you grow older you desire the need to watch or read things containing evil characters or concepts. The theme of evil is always present in many different types of literature varying from the evil step mom in cinderella, a childrens book to the concept of evil in books such as The Crucible and Macbeth. Our society and culture play a huge part in the way we view evil by presenting it to us in many different forms.
ReplyDeleteEveryone has a fear or has feared something in their life. Some people enjoy the feeling of fear, like watching scary movies and t.v. shows or reading terrifying books. It’s something people nowadays desire. The words desire and fear may often come together, because many of the things we fear are desirable to us Everyone desires to watch or read something that is horrifying or gruesome, watching or reading something like this gives people a rush, because they may fear it but they know that it could never happen to them. It makes everyone want more of it, seeing something bad happen to the main character will always make you want to see what happens next. But we as people do not only desire the feeling of fear from movies, everyone desires the feeling of love. Although love seems like such a great thing, it is also something many people fear. A lot of people also have the fear of losing someone they love. Evil is also closely related to fear because many of the things we fear, we find are “evil”. Including people, we may find a person to be “evil” but not only do we think they are evil we fear them, such as terrorist. Ever since 9/11 we find all the people who look like terrorists to be “evil” from what one group of the, have done and many people when they see someone who even remotely looks like they are from that culture they feel uncomfortable and get scared. With all this said, it shows that these feelings are deeply ingrained in us.
ReplyDeleteIn my blog post about Dracula, which dealt with the same topic, I talked about how Dracula represents many desires that we as humans have, but don’t care to admit to. The same is true for Macbeth. From what we have read, and from what we already knew beforehand, we know that this story focuses partly on Macbeth and Lady Macbeth’s lust for power. They are absolutely vicious with their way of getting it. They are willing to kill people that they know, and who trust them, to make their way up the political and social ladder. As evil as this is, I think that people who are in power, and abuse it, are just as bad, if not worse than those who gain power by cheating, or doing unspeakable things. Kings, Queens, Dictators, Presidents, they all have a huge responsibility to those that they rule over and when you hear of people, such as, Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, or King Uther from the legends of King Arthur and Camelot, they are a true evil in our society, because not only do they not deserve the power they have, they are hurting they people, and denying those that they are responsible for, the lives that they deserve.
ReplyDeleteFear has a constant presence in every humans life. Evil, is able to be interpreted in many different ways. Evil can be interpreted as actions, feelings, or descriptions. A desperate grasp of power, or a way in which someone presents themselves can be interpreted as evil. Evil, as well as fear is constantly in our society. If you were to look at many of the big businesses, there is the corporate bosses and CEO’s, which may represent evil, and there are the people who find themselves working in the mail room who may not be working their next week, these people live in a constant fear. The scenes that play through one's mind while they think of evil are the darkest that humans are capable. The reason behind this is that the word evil has so many meanings there are many different ways that it can be interpreted and the freedom allows one's mind to run wild with such ideas.
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