Characters like Grendel in Beowulf edited by M.A. Roberts, are those who in some way represent the devil. No, this isn’t considering Beowulf as God, but as a God-like figure. He kills those of evil and doesn’t mind the reasons for his death, but for the fact that now he proved to those who praised him, that he is now in control. He controls not only towns, but souls that are no longer with us.
In many stories and comic books, Grendel can be considered the “villain”, and Beowulf as the super hero, more specifically as the joker and batman. Characters like this show people and children that evil does exist in the world, but truthfully, God conquers all. Not in any story or tale have I heard of the bad-guy winning or getting away with it. Instead, the bad guy disappears or gets killed. This could also be as a lesson for most. In most novels or tales, their purposes are to teach people lessons about life. These life lessons teach people everyday formalities that is so common with people.
Evil in the world all started the exact day God come to be what it has become. Bu that, I mean, evil had no exact beginning and nor does it have a reason. It came to be one of life’s empty reasons. No explanation can be given to this, just the fact that not everything in life can or will be enjoying, having a “demon” or devil to hand off the blame to is like having an easy target. In most cases, its what people rely on to stay “pure” to themselves. “The devil made me do it!” will never get old!
You took an interesting approach, Cat. I see the religiously-driven response of evil having "no reason" to be possible, but not necessarily valid. I see what you mean when you say that the villain is killed in many stories, but what about in real life? There are countless unsolved murder cases with perpetrators who are absolutely malevolent in the ways they go about killing and torturing their victims. According to the Bible, the fruit that Eve ate released sin into the world, which can also be seen as evil from a religious perspective. If that was the case, wouldn't God be the creator of evil, since he created Adam, Eve, and the fruit that tempted each of them?
ReplyDeleteHey Cat, I enjoyed reading your essay. I really liked how you made the connection between Grendel, Batman, and the Bible. It put an interesting twist to your essay. I think you could have written a much stronger opening though. Introduce clearer ideas in the beginning and then in your body you can flesh it out as much as you want. In your conclusion, I definitely agree that in the past, people have blamed the "demons" inside them for their malevolent intents. I think you strayed off the topic of evil when you equated demons and evil. Realistically, there are selfish and hateful people in the world, how can you explain that? How can that type of evil be avoided and is there a purpose?
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