In the epic poem, the great hero Beowulf sets out to kill the supposed demon Grendel, who everyone widely views as one of the most evil beings to walk the Earth. But why, exactly, is Grendel viewed as evil? Some people argue that it is because Grendel kills people. Although that does make sense, in this story, it doesn't. Almost everyone in this story kills people.
The image of the serpent is linked to Satan and the dragon in Revelation 12:9 9And the great dragon was thrown down, that ancient serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Bible.com) The serpent as the devil is clearest when Satan appears before Christ tempting him, with things of the world if Christ will worship Satan. This example encompasses all the previous depictions of the serpent as evil and personifies that evil as Satan. Each piece of the theme of the serpent as evil over laps to a degree; temptation, forbidden knowledge, sin, false idols, and the devil, each of these visit and revisit the serpent as evil. This repetition cements the serpent as evil from a Christian perspective.
In Frankenstein, Victor continually refers to his creation as ‘vile wrench’, ‘abhorred devil’. This uses of epithet illustrate his immediate repulsion towards the creature and his recklessness towards conformity of life he has bestowed. Despite this, the creature gladly desires Victor’s acknowledgement on his behalf - ‘Remember that I am thy creature; I ought to be thy Adam; but I am rather the fallen angel, whom thou drivest from joy for no misdeed’. Juxtaposition between two biblical allusion, ‘Adam’ and ‘fallen angel’ suggests us the contrast in Victor and God. In Bible, Adam was the first male with gifted creation from the God’, but the creature rather refers himself more of ‘fallen angel’, ‘devil’ who plunges the eternal war against God.
The black man is a symbol of Satan in this book, he is brought up by Hester. Hester thinks that the scarlet "A" is the black mans mark. She notices this on Dimmesdale's chest, he symbolically is always touching his hand to his chest right where the letter is branded onto his skin. By bringing satan into the story he brings up a point if humans are born evil. The black man likes to hang out in the woods leaving him to be even more judged as satan because the forest is unknown and evil.
As he said that in fact evil comes from angels and human beings who chose deliberately to deny and disobey what God had taught them, by turning away from him and what he had wished for mankind. Augustine believed that every human being was an offshoot of Adam and hence that every single person in the world is guilty of evil, this is as it was Adam who committed ultimate sin in the Garden of Eden. Augustine believed very strongly that evil should be punished. Therefore it was Augustine’s theodicy that said that natural evil in the world is a fitting punishment for moral wickedness. He strongly believed that evil is solely a result of human rebellion.
"Young Goodman Brown" and "The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the town of Salem, in Massachusetts. His works have been written while the Puritan views were shaping literature. Aspects of the Puritan beliefs and lifestyle are present in Hawthorne's works, such as in "Young Goodman Brown." Various themes which Hawthorne uses in his writing include the reference to dreams and how this helps to reveal the true personality of a character, and the reference to Puritan beliefs such as Calvin's Five Points. In two of Hawthorne's pieces of literature, "Young Goodman Brown" and "The Birthmark," there are many similarities and differences in the way they are written and the messages they convey to the reader.
Grendel is described as being completely inhuman, a ferocious beast that has no capacity to think or act rationally, and is instead driven to destroy and feed on human flesh. When introducing the ravenous demon, the poem states, “Grendel was the name of the grim demon haunting the marches…he had dwelt for a time in misery among the banished monsters, Cain’s clan, whom the Creator had outlawed and condemned as outcasts. For the killing of Abel….” It is no wonder then that the Christian scribes had this disgusting creature symbolically descend from Cain, the first murderer on Earth. And while Adam and Eve are the first sinners, thus passing on the sin to their offspring as well as to the thousands of generations to come, Cain was the first to sin on his own, murdering his own brother in cold blood due to an act of jealousy. Grendel’s blood is completely tainted with Cain’s sin, as well as his own, thus symbolizing all that is evil in this world.
(Volpe 1484) Through out “Barn-Burning”, there are many descriptions geared towards the Satan-like qualities of Abner Snopes. Faulkner portrays Abner Snopes as a ruthless man without morals who cares for no one other than his blood. Through the eyes of Sarty the reader gets a clear image of Snopes and his evil and spiteful
The journey that Goodman Brown takes itself is a symbol of good versus evil. He is curious about what is happening out in the forest so he meets up with the “man” or devil who takes him on a journey to see a ceremony and along the way he sees many things that make him think twice. He actually asks himself this question, “What if the devil himself should be at my very elbow?” (155) The man’s staff is gnarled and twisted like a snake which can be thought of as the serpent that tempted Adam and Eve. The staff also acted as a tool to help him move through the forest at a quicker pace. When he leaves his wife at the beginning of the story, her pink ribbons symbolize her virtue and goodness but somewhere in the course of the evening he lost the meanings of those pink ribbons and only saw what Faith might have done while in the forest.
Life was long and hard. This was the time of Enoch and Methuselah, who had tremendous demonic influences within their cultures. They fell further and further away from God, and deeper and deeper into darkness. “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and filled with violence.” (Genesis 6:5-11) Then approximately one thousand years after the creation of Adam, a man who was a type, a foreshadowing of the Messiah was born, Noah.