Comparing Evil In Macbeth And Beowulf

Evil comes in many different forms; sometimes there is a clear line between good and evil, but there are times where evil can overcome good. The two stories that represents these two forms are Macbeth and Beowulf. In Macbeth, the story starts out with Macbeth who is a loyal servant to King Duncan. His wife convinces Macbeth to kill King Duncan to gain power and become the new king. After hesitating, he murders King Duncan and this starts transforming him into a paranoid person. His paranoia causes him to order the deaths of close friends and allies. This transformation demonstrates how evil takes over good compared to Beowulf where there is already an evil creature present. Beowulf is a story about an evil creature named Grendel who terrorizes the castle of Hrothgar, killing many. Hrothgar calls Beowulf to kill Grendel and other villains which shows the distinct line between good and evil. Evil is worse in Macbeth, because it slowly seeps in and ultimately takes over Macbeth’s character, whereas in Beowulf, it is stagnant, remaining in the souls of the

These are not considered evil until he caves into the temptation of power (Gimelli Martin 165). His weakness is shown when he makes the decision to murder King Duncan and secures the position as king. He even goes as far to murder his friend, Banquo, because he feels uneasy about his suspicions (182-183). At this point in the story he is even comparable to Satan, “Like Satan, Macbeth becomes the chief equivocator in his own hell, unwittingly uttering objective truths to his subjects even while telling subjective lies.” (183). An example of this is when Macbeth becomes king but cannot trust his own friends and allies. Instead he kills them and their families. Evil is shown in Macbeth by taking over someone mentally causing a change in them while in Beowulf there is already a villain from the start of the