Good Vs. Evil In Beowulf

Concepts can change over time; they can either become very specific or vague. The concept of good vs. evil has always been around; however, as time has gone on, the more vague it has become. It’s in any story written; someone is always “the good guy” and someone is always “the bad guy.” Some stories are very clear who is good and who is evil, Beowulf; some stories could go either way, Macbeth; and some stories appear as if they don’t even have a character who is good and one who is evil, Frankenstein. In life there is good people and there are bad people, but they aren’t so clearly defined as in Beowulf. Shakespeare's Macbeth most accurately portrays good vs. evil in today's world. The characters in Macbeth change over time, either becoming

1000. Out of the three different stories that contain the concept of good vs. evil, Beowulf is the most specific who is good and who is evil. Beowulf is the hero who is going to save the damsel in distress, in this case the village of Harlot. In the story, Beowulf is characterized as a hero; nothing about him says “villain.” The story says that there was “nowhere on Earth or under the spreading sky or between the seas, neither south nor north, was there a warrior worthier to rule over men” (Beowulf, 377-380). He is the epitome of a hero who is going to save everyone. “They have seen my strength for themselves, have watched me risen from the darkness of war, dripping with my enemies’ blood” (Beowulf, 152-153). Beowulf was already in battle once, he has the experience that Harlot would need in order to save their kingdom. Beowulf also chose the mightiest men he could find, the bravest and best of Geats” (Beowulf, 120-121), so that he could win against Grendel. He’s got the best men on his side to win and save everyone. Beowulf is very clearly the hero, where Grendel is very clearly villain. He goes to the nearby village, Harlot, “killing as often as he could, coming alone, bloodthirsty and horrible” (Beowulf, 80-81). Grendel can take on the whole village by himself, where Beowulf needs a whole army behind him. Similar to Beowulf, Grendel is characterized as the epitome of a villain. He’s “a powerful monster, living down

Unlike Beowulf, Frankenstein doesn’t clearly define who is good and who is evil, even though there is a “monster.” And like Macbeth, Frankenstein has characters that are both good and evil; however, in Frankenstein those characters aren’t as distinctly both as the characters in Macbeth. Victor could be the evil one because he was the one who originally created the monster. “After days and nights of incredible labour and fatigue, I succeeded in discovering the cause of generation and life; nay, more, I became myself capable of bestowing animation upon lifeless matter” (Shelley, 38). Victor decided to create the monster all by himself and with no help. He could have decided that creating a monster would be a bad idea, but he decided to take this information farther and create a “human being.” Victor was also the one who got scared, of his own monster, and ran away. He left the monster to figure things out on his own, and dealing with people who were scared of him. “It was one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs” (Shelley, 43). However, Victor might also be good. Although he created the monster and left it to fend for itself, he decided that created a female form of the monster would not be a good