Independent Study and the Big Question

In my independent study novel, Sammy's Hill, the main character really tried to make good choices and the only actions she make that could be construed as evil were having sex with her boyfriend on the first date and constantly drinking alcohol every night. These choices were frivolous decisions made emotionally and without much thought. They sometimes got Sammy into trouble but rarely had a significant impact on her life. The people who did make conscious evil decisions were probably the politicians in the book. They chose to increase their personal power on Capitol Hill rather than help their constituents. Often, many politicians choose what they think will give them the greatest personal gain over helping the people who voted to put them in power.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Stephen had to make many important decisions in Portrait, and one of them was the choice between following his religion as a devout Catholic and becoming an artist and immersing himself in the ways of the world. This relates to my big question because many of the choices Stephen makes to become a better artist are not ones that society looks upon as 'good' and tend to lean more toward 'evil' on the moral judgement scale. Stephen makes these choices because they are what's best for him; they are not based upon what anyone else wants him to do. In the beginning of the novel, he visits a prostitute, which definitely constitutes evil. He does this, however, to learn how to relate to people better. He later learns that visiting a prostitute does not constitute the love and beauty he looks for in women. Maybe his stray from moral choices was simply an experiment. The choice of evil over what is morally upstanding might just be something people dabble in before learning it will not really provide much help in later life.

Contemporary Issues and Big Question

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Crime and Punishment and Big Question

In Crime and Punishment Raskolnikov commits an evil act but evil does not seem to motivate him. In his mind it is a medium that helps him achieve what he feels is a betterment of society. One character that is motivated by evil, however, is Svidrigailov. Because he fears the afterlife, Svidrigailov is determined to take as much pleasure as possible from his life on Earth. He does not specifically look for ways to be evil, but what he enjoys the most is usually sinister and helps create his illustrious character.

Henry IV and Big Question

I think this question could relate to Hal at the beginning of the play pretty well. It could be one of the reasons he chooses to spend his youth among Falstaff and the pub crawlers. He knows they are evil people and he must one day become king and break all ties with them; he says, "I know you all, and will awhile uphold/ the unyoked humor of your idleness./ Yet herein I will imitate the sun,/ Who doth permit the base contagious clouds/ To smother up his beauty from the world,/ That, when he please again to be himself,/ Being wanted, he may be more wondered at/ By breaking through the foul and ugly mists/Of vapors that did seem to strangle him" (Act I, scene 2, lines 202-210). Hal’s motivation for spending time with these wrongdoers is that once he does decide to be the “good son”, he will look all the more splendid when he triumphantly returns to his father. Perhaps he became tired of the boring life he lived in the royal court and wanted to spend some time having fun. It could have been solely to make his father appreciate him: a struggle for attention. Either way, Hal does seem to enjoy himself with Falstaff and crew.

Oedipus and Big Question

My question was why is evil so attractive.

This could relate to Oedipus through the way that he blamed people for his own mistakes. For example, he blames Kreon for his father's death and gets angry at Tyresius when the blind seer tells him the truth. In this instance, evil was attractive to him because he could not look inside himself and see his own guilt.

Why is Evil so Attractive?

This question intrigues me because I think there is a different attraction for each person: money, power, etc. I think it would be interesting to explore/contrast someone who kills someone for money versus someone who kills a person for the sake of enjoyment. Is the motivation for these two different scenarios essentially the same? Where does evil come from? If it is inside of us, what awakens it? Is evil the "easy way out"? What are the temptations in our lives? Is revenge necessarily bad in all contexts? There is definitely something alluring about being "bad", rebelling, and disobeying rules for me and I often wonder if it is because I have been forced to be "good" my whole life.