Grendel And Macbeth

Evil is a subject the world cannot avoid with its constant corruption. Almost everything in the world today seems to revolve around the concept of evil; whether it comes from music, movies, literature, and society in general. Although British literature stories mainly have the concept of good vs. evil, they shed the most light on the evil aspect of people. The stories include the motives and reasons that go with the intentions of evil that will be carried out in the story. Most of the stories we read this semester in English have a lot of evil incorporated in them. The character Grendel from, “Grendel” and the characters Macbeth and Lady Macbeth from, “Macbeth” were all somehow corrupted by evil. Theorists like Sigmund Freud, who believed that evil is internal, and Elaine Pagel, who believed evil is external, have theories that can be used to prove how and why these characters turned evil. Pagel’s and Freud’s theories of evil can be used to analyze the characters of Grendel, Macbeth, and Lady Macbeth on their motivations to commit evil acts. Sigmund Freud is essential because of his theories on how and why people can be evil. Sigmund Freud believed that evil is desirable, and that evil is somewhat of a choice that you make. Freud said that "He had only to assimilate this new contrast between a moral self and an …show more content…
Lady Macbeth closely personifies evil in the story of, “Macbeth”. When Macbeth chooses not to kill Duncan, Lady Macbeth tells him to do it anyways because she holds “some type of power” (Notes) over him to persuade him. The comparison of Lady Macbeth and Macbeth to Adam and Eve can be argued through the similar events in both stories. When in the Garden of Eden, Eve hands Adam the apple from the serpent then convinces him to take a bite. Lady Macbeth, on the other hand, compares in the act when she convinces Macbeth to commit the evil atrocities he does throughout the