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Beau Boulton
Deborah Warshaw
British Literature Period 2
12/17/14
Evil is a word that everyone probably hears on a daily basis. But what
is evil? Its a simple question, and just about anyone has a simple answer for
it. Evil is bad, its something that goes against what is commonly considered
morally right. But the fact that people have such a simple meaning for it
shows in itself that evil has lost its true meaning. Evil is meant to go so much
deeper than just bad. It is meant to mean something truly inhuman, some
incomprehensible deed that no sane and compassionate person would ever
be able to bring themselves to. The true implications of the word evil have
been the topic of debate for centuries. And yet, this debate has also brought
about discussion as to whether or not evil things actually are evil, or just
misunderstood. The world has come to be known more and more as a
morally gray place. And as we have come to believe less and less in
something corrupted to its core, evil has lost its meaning as such. It has
become nothing more than a synonym for very bad. Seamus Heaneys
translation of Beowulf shows the normality of the concept of evil, and Mary
Shelleys Frankenstein demonstrates the moral ambiguity of people. Evil, as
is evidenced by Beowulf and Frankenstein, is a banal concept.

Beowulf is a prime example of the banality of evil, not because of the

events that take place in the text, but because of how readers are likely to
view said events. We dont take Beowulfs portrayals of evil seriously. To us,
dragons and monsters are fairy-tales that have
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been told to the point of clich. The dragon began to belch out flames and
burn bright homesteads; there was a hot glow that scared everyone, for the
vile sky-winger would leave nothing alive in his wake, (Heaney 157).
Readers today wouldnt read this and feel sorrow for those who lost their
homes and their lives, or fear for a mighty dragon that may destroy all that
they hold dear. They wouldnt see the pure evil of this malevolent being.
They would see a fantastical tale, a fiction to entertain their imagination.
Beowulf was written and set in a time when people did believe in true evil,
and the word had not yet lost meaning and become overused and
commonplace. They believed that these monsters held nothing but ill intent,
and were descended from one of the first evil beings on earth. However, we
are no longer in any such time. The descriptions of these atrocities
committed by fearsome monsters, and of the anguish people felt toward
them, are now considered nothing more than exaggerated fiction.
In Frankenstein, there is a large theme of calling evils legitimacy into
question. One such way that the book questions whether or not something is
truly evil is when the monster claims that he was not truly evil as he knew
nothing else and evil was his good. The monster argues that he was made

evil by the world and by Frankenstein denying him the opportunity to live as
a good person. He says that evil became his good, and as such, lost all
meaning to him. I had cast off all feeling Evil thenceforth became my
good, (Shelley 188). The monster had had no feelings expressed toward him
in life but evil ones, and had devoted his life to evil deeds. The
oversaturation of evil forced him to feel nothing for it. Evil was the norm for
him. Another way Frankenstein demonstrates peoples lack of ability to take
evil seriously is the fact that in the novel they constantly ignore or try to
justify evil doings. All throughout the book, evil acts are
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committed against innocent people and go completely ignored. Am I to be
thought the only criminal, when all human kind sinned against me? Why do
you not hate Felix, who drove his friend from his door with contumely? Why
do you not execrate the rustic who sought to destroy the savior of his child?
(189). All throughout the novel, people commit evil acts against the monster,
such as when Felix drove him away when he had don no wrong, and when
the old man shot the monster after he had just saved the old mans child.
These injustices go completely ignored, and are not even seen as evil by
most. This may be passed off as understandable due to the frightening
nature of the monster, but these are not the only instances of this
happening. Justine, a friend of the Frankenstein family, is wrongfully
executed for murdering the young boy William, a deed which she did not
commit. This wrongful execution is evil that is thought by most characters to

be justified, and therefore not evil. Frankenstein does deal with the idea of
evil in that it asks whether the monster was truly evil, or Victor Frankenstein
himself. This still proves the absence of any idea of true evil, however, as it
places both characters in a moral limbo. It calls into question whether there
is any true evil being committed.
These pieces of literature help readers take a look into the concept of
evil, and how people view it these days. But these ideas should not only be
applied to literature. Taking a look at evil in these works can also help to look
at evil and how it is understood in the world in general. Works like Beowulf
and Frankenstein help to see how morally gray people like to view the world,
and how stories of true evil have become commonplace and unrealistic.

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Works Cited
Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus, The 1818 Text. New
York: Oxford UP,
2008. Print.
Heaney, Seamus. Beowulf: A New Verse Translation. New York: Farrar, Straus,
and Giroux,
2000. Print.