Evil in Shakespeare's Macbeth, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Evil in Shakespeare's Macbeth, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

Evil has always been in everyone's lives. Some people have it more

than others. There are places in the world where evil almost takes

over. It crops up in all kinds of places, all over the world. In these

texts, "Macbeth", "Frankenstein" and "The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll

and Mr. Hyde" there is a definite theme of evil throughout. In this

essay I will write about what evil there is specifically in each of

these texts. I will start with "Macbeth" because it has the most

overriding evil out of the three.

In the play Macbeth, by William Shakespeare, the leading character is

Macbeth. He is a good, loyal nobleman in Scotland. At the beginning he

has the title of "Thane of Glamis". He has just fought a battle and is

on his way back to the king.

The first time we come across evil in this film is while he is walking

across a heath. Three witches appear to Macbeth and his friend Banquo.

Witches have always been considered as evil beings; later in the play

we find this to be true. The first witch says, "All hail Macbeth, hail

to thee, Thane of Glamis", the second witch continues "All hail

Macbeth, hail to thee, Thane of Cawdor" and the third witch then says

"All hail Macbeth, that shalt be king hereafter." Basically the

witches are telling Macbeth that he will become the Thane of Cawdor

and then king. Telling the future has been considered as an evil thing

to do, by some. They then go on to tell Banquo that his descendants

will be kings. A messenger then comes to the heath and tells Macbeth

he has been appointed Thane of Cawdor.

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... middle of paper ...

...e is pure evil,

all he does is evil actions, he pushes over a small girl in the

street, kills a man for no reason and kills himself (killing yourself

is evil as it is taking the responsibility away from God to kill you

off when he sees fit).

By using his potion that he created, he has created a character of

complete evil, this is, of course a wrong thing to do.

In conclusion I would like to say that in most stories, not all, but

most, the good comes off as the winner. In real life this is not

always the case. Readers like to read about evil, and what it would be

like if all the novels, and plays containing evil were real.

Evil is a very overriding theme in some people's lives. It is the same

in these three texts, although, in all of them the evil is eradicated

in the end, not always the case in everyday life.