counterfeiting, or concealing one's true feelings, is part of this motif. everyone seems to lie; good characters as well as evil ones engage in deceit as they attempt to conceal their feelings: beatrice and benedick mask their feelings for one another with bitter insults; don john spies on claudio and hero; don pedro and his 'crew' deceive benedick and beatrice. who hides and what is hidden? how does deceit function in the world of the play, and how does it help the play comment on life in general? a central motif in the play is trickery or deceit, whether for good or evil purposes.
Lastly, Pearl’s abandonment from her father and isolation from society brings about the evil she demonstrates. Arguably, the Puritanical conception of sin confuses these main characters’ knowledge of the nature of evil. Hester and Dimmesdale’s adultery leads to Chillingworth’s transformation into a sinister being as he attempts to impose Puritanical evil on them. For example, Chillingworth’s idea of evil, influenced by the Puritans, helps him decide how to punish the lovers explaining, "I [will leave] thee to the scarlet letter. If that [has] not avenged me, I can do no more!"
The Motivation of Iago William Shakespeare’s Othello is a story based on betrayal, jealousy, hate and revenge. The villain in the play, Iago, is said to be one of Shakespeare’s most evil characters. On a search for power, nothing is going to stand in his way. His actions throughout the play are a direct result of his trying to attain what he believes is rightfully his. Iago’s mean and insensitive manipulation is geared towards the innocent and ends up causing the destruction of Roderigo, Cassio, Desdemona, Emilia, and Othello.
It can also be as complex as involving the uninvolved or innocent people into your life affairs, which basically means that when someone is evil, they drag someone who had nothing involved with you into your own affairs. Evil can also be in forms of omission and commission. In the Puritan lifestyle, evil was extremely common. The Puritans believed that evil was a sign of disobedience towards God, and brought by the Devil. The play, “The Crucible”, written by Arthur Miller is an excellent example of evil being practiced in a Puritanism society.
The Pardoner represents the Ugly Truth. The Knight is grand, the Wife is pretty, but the Pardoner is downright ugly. He is also the only pilgrim to acknowledge his shortcomings - he knows he is a con artist and liar, and in his tale's prologue freely admits this in both words and actions. The Pardoner then proceeds with the tale itself, which is a deception as well. In the sermon, he describes gluttony in detail, and defines it as
“I am not what I am”(1.1.68). Shakespeare incorporates this quote so early in his play, Othello, to show that Iago is a purely malicious and selfish character who will do whatever it takes to get what he wants. While Iago appears to be merely just a dishonest person at first, he proves himself to be one of the most horrible villains in literature that takes absolute pleasure in crumbling the lives of others with no sense of empathy whatsoever. Shakespeare is able to develop Iago's maliciousness and complete lack of emotion throughout the play by using direct and indirect characterization as well as other literary devices. Shakespeare at first characterizes Iago as jealous and devious.
Shakespeare uses Iago as the character that is gifted with the art of persuasion and deception as Shakespeare has allowed him to deceive the gullible character of Roderigo. Iago seems to have the power to make a character feel worthless and depressed “It is silliness to live when to live is torment.” But by letting Iago’s character have soliloquies it allows the audience to get to know the motives behind what Iago is doing “He hath a daily beauty in his life that makes me ugly and besides the Moor may unfold me to him.” When it says ‘He hath a daily beauty in his life’ I believe Shakespeare is talking about Michael Cassio just generally having a happy life. Shakespeare also lets Iago show a small bit of concern for himself in the quote when he says ‘And besides the Moor may unfold me to him’. He may be showing concern because may get
Throughout Macbeth, ambition is the main driving force for the heinous crimes committed during the play. The Witches are aware that security is a human’s biggest enemy and use this knowledge to deceive and destroy Macbeth through charms and illusions. The desire for power has an extremely negative effect on Macbeth and his wife; this ultimately corrupts their mental well-being, personalities and actions. The desire for power has the potential to corrupt individuals by negatively influencing their actions and personality by giving them greed, overconfidence and the inability to grasp reality. In Macbeth, Shakespeare portrays the idea that ambition and the desire for power is ultimately man’s worst enemy as it can lead to the absolute corruption of individuals.
East of Eden is a novel in which John Steinbeck discuses the roots of evil in its most common form; human. Through a detailed plot structure and numerous characters, he told a tale of brutality, cruelty, rejection, and isolation. An important character who helped to illustrate evil throughout the novel was Cathy Ames. Cathy was a very smart person, who ruthlessly lied and used other people to satisfy her own needs, “Cathy’s lies were never innocent. Their purpose was to escape punishment, or work, or responsibility, and they were used for profit” (Steinbeck 74).
Antonio enters the stage “like an idiot” and from that point retains his “mad guise” until finally he abandons the illusion of madness, telling Isabella to “cast no eye upon this change”. The verb “eye” links with the theme of deception explored throughout this tragic play, with De Flores explaining “I can see his brother’s wounds fresh bleeding in his eyes”. Here, it can be claimed that the “eye” represents ones inner soul and inner crimes and passions. This idea is principal to the tragic element of the play, as a majority of the characters “true” selves hide behind veneers of truth, questionably symbolised through the consistent switching between the two plots, creating an idea of a reality and an illusion, seen in the “fools and madmen”