Evil Actions in the Literature - Essay Example

Introduction The roots of evil are associated with the characters of evil doers and in most cases; evil doers are fond ofevil actions. Evil actions can be said to be the various activities that are intended to cause harm to other members of the society. This paper will look at the various evil actions from one play and a short story. All the cases will be compared with the various frameworks proposed by Todd Calder in his quest to reveal the connections between evil actions and evil doers. Evils actions and evil characters have a direct relationship and all the evils actions intend to harm the harmless. In the play, the evil actions of Minnie Wright led to the death of John; similarly the evils actions of Omelas residents have caused countless youths to wander in the streets. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas” The people who stay in Omelas are evils and their evil deeds are evident in the nudeness of both the priests and the priestesses (Le Guin 1). These priestesses and the priests are always half in ecstasy and they are also willing to copulate with other women and men at any given time. Most of the temples in Omelas have no manners since the evils of prostitution have invaded the whole city including the holy people like the priests and the priestesses who are supposed to show the other people the way to go (Le Guin 2). Apart from the priest and the priestesses, there is a group of beauty nudes who carelessly give themselves to any needy person. The evils deeds of the people of Omelas are also evident in the nature of events taking place in the basement room. The narrator describes the status of the basement room and its various contents. The room is dark and filthy and this provides a good set up for evils deeds. A lot of sorcery actions take place in this room and this is evident in the way the users of this room enter it. The users of this room rarely speak and in the room there is a mistreated child who is rarely fed (Le Guin 2). The condition of the child is weary but nobody seems to care, these people are evil and the way the child is being treated indicates that these people have no shred of tenderness at all. The human in them has faded away and they are acting to appease some kinds of beings other than the Most High God. Cases of young men and women getting mad in the city are also on the rise. The spirit of sorcery and witchcraft practiced by the people of this town makes these people go mad and many of them wander in the streets and they never go back home. The spirit of darkness always engulfs these people making them travel even at the dead of the night (Le Guin 6). Most of the times, people who are bewitched are never conscious of their actions and that makes them walk in the streets of the city as seen in the case of the young men and women from Omelas city. A play in one-act (TRIFLES) The two women in the play are also evil because they managed to hide the truth which could have given the Sheriff and County Attorney some leading clues to the cause of death of Mr. Wright. Both Mrs. Peters and Hale remained in the kitchen and at that moment Mrs. Hale tried to conceal more evidence by giving the roller towel some pull to cover up the scene of the previous deals (Glaspell 1). The two women are busy tidying the kitchen while the men are upstairs to further erase any form of evidence that would expose the truth about the death of the deceased (Glaspell 3). From the conversation of the two women it is evident that Minnie Wright was not a good woman because from the examination of her skirt they realized that there had been some form of commotion between her and the deceased and the deceased was close at the time of murder. Behind the closed upstairs door, the two women are whispering about the possibility of Minnie killing Wright. The rope that was around the neck of John Wright was slipped by Minnie Wright herself and that was her attempt to convince both the Sheriff and County Attorney that somebody might have slipped the rope on John’s neck while he was asleep (Glaspell 4). Tidying the kitchen to further conceal the evidence is an evil act. Some of the evil actions are lies and in such situations the liars are evil therefore, we can conclude that the two women were indeed evil. On their own, they have testified on wrong ground and through their lies, Minnie Wright managed to evade justice. Wrong association causes some people to be evil This clause is true – and more so when compared to the two cases of Omelas city and Trifles play. In the case of Trifles play, Minnie Wright is evil because of the backup that she obtains from both Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters. The two women have aided in concealing the evidence following the commotion between the deceased and Minnie Wright. Similarly, the same applies to Omelas city because at the introduction the narrator tends to wonder about the serenity of the whole city. The security is not that tight even for the rich elderly persons. The reason that may have caused these people to enjoy such a state of mind may be attributed to sorcery and witchcraft. The forces behind sorcery and witchcraft seem to be protecting them against bad omen and therefore they are not in need of security. When one associates with evil people then that person is bound to be evil herself/himself. This is so because as the saying goes, “when in Rome do as the Romans do” which means if you live among evil people then you will also be evil. Framework and ideas from Todd Calder According to Todd Calder, the various evil acts include sadistic torture that may lead to brutal murders and serious harm (Todd 364). Evil doers always have connections with evil acts and the example given is that of Adolf Eichmann, who during his era was able to brutally drive away millions of Jews. This framework developed by Todd Calder tried to explain the connections between evil characters and the acts of evils. Evil Acts The definition of evil acts given by Todd Calder is based on the vice theory of Ross and from the vice theory Todd argues that evil acts are the tendency to cause some significant harm to certain groups of people (Todd 364). This statement is true because even in the case of Omelas city we notice that a certain group of young women and men would all of a sudden leave home and wander in the streets and never return. The wandering of these classes of people was caused by some individuals who intended to do some harm to them. Similarly, in the case of the deceased, the intention was fromhis wife Minnie Wright and therefore, her act was evil. Evil character Evil doers always develop a unique character in them that enables them to succeed in performing an evil act (Todd 367). Just like the case of honesty character these people tend to be truthful in all situations and this is the same for cowardly people who tend to fail in overcoming fear in nearly all the situations. The relationship between Evil Acts and Evil Character According to Todd Calder, all the evil characters are capable of committing evil acts so the relationship between evil acts and character is directly proportional (Todd 369). People who tend to have evil characters are easily capable of performing evil acts and mostly their actions are normal to them. This is true in the case of Omelas city people, since the users of the basement room are fond of kicking the malnourished child every time they enter the room. To them this act is normal and they do not seem to know that it is evil; similarly, by concealing the evidence that could lead to unveiling of the death of the deceased both Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters are aiding evil acts. Ethical Dilemma Ethics call for actions in a given prescribed code of conduct. However, during performance of some types of professional work, people tend to associate with evil. Most of the herbal specialists are at times confused with sorcerers by some members of the society who view these specialists as witches. This is wrong and from the discussed framework of Todd Calder, members of the society should learn to differentiate the works of these people. Conclusion Evil people are always fond of engaging in evil acts unknowingly since according to them these acts are quite normal. The association that people tend to have with evil characters always lead them to becoming evil themselves. The term evil has had different definitions more so from the three authors that are Glaspell, Le Guin, and Calder. According to Calder, evil refers to the various sadistic tortures that are capable of causing harm to people. According to Le Guin, evil refers to the acts of prostitution as well as acts of causing harm to other people. Similarly, the definition of evil by Glaspell refers to the acts of deceiving and covering up the truth. Work Cited Glaspell, Susan. Trifles-a one –act play. New York. Frank Shay Publishers, 1916. pp. 1- 12. Print Todd, Calder. “The Apparent Banality of Evil: The Relationship between Evil Acts and Evil Character.” Journal of Social Philosophy, 34 (3): 364-379, 2003. Print Le Guin, Ursula. “The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas.” New Dimensions Anthology Journal, 3 (1): 1-8, 1973. Print Read More