Cassandra Gill

Honors Humanities Seminar

Dr. Moretti / Dr. Paffenroth

12 December 2014

The Complexities and Implications of Evil

The concept of what is evil is a constant reoccurring theme in literature. Its definition is

rooted in thoughts, actions, constraint, inactivity, and desires. Being so ubiquitous in any aspect

of human life, evil is inescapable. According to John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Goethe’s Faust,

the lines that divide evil from good are jagged. Evil is not an entity that exists completely

separate from the good. The notion of what is evil is defined not by itself, but by its relationship

to what is good. Evil is difficult to recognize, unclear, individualistic, tempting, always around,

seemingly subjective, and may ultimately lead to good paradoxically.

In both Paradise Lost and Faust, evil – as represented through the devil – can be

problematic to identify. Both texts specifically display their devils in less obvious forms of evil.

In Faust, Mephistopheles and his evil nature is difficult to recognize as well. Mephistopheles

guises himself as a poodle observing Faust for quite some time, waiting to appear at the right

time. He then appears to Faust, not as the evil spirit in which he is, but as a travelling scholar, so

he can slowly and strategically reveal himself (Goethe 1285-1290). By combining different

forms along with a plethora of ways referring to evil, Goethe’s devil becomes jumble of

meanings. Evil is individualistic and perpetually shifting between various ego profiles. By

forming such a complex and ambivalent character, the face of evil becomes almost impossible to

identify until much further investigation.

Gill 2

In Paradise Lost, Satan is not stereotypically described as the devil with red horns, claws,

a tail, and a pitchfork, but rather sympathetically depicted as a fallen angel (Milton 4.59).

Throughout the entire text, Satan takes on many forms. Satan is first described as in godly-like,

heavenly terms as he posses a “mighty stature,” a “ponderous shield, ethereal temper, massy,

large, and round,” and a spear like “the tallest pine Hewn on Norwegian hills, to be the mast of

some great ammiral, were but a wand” (Milton 1.222, 1.284-285, 1.292-294). An association is

even drawn towards mythological heroes as he is compared to the Titans (Milton 1.198).

From this kingly imagery, Satan transforms entirely as he is depicted as a preying

"cormorant" in the garden, spying on his future prey, and devising tactical plans (Milton 4. 196-

8). He then takes on various forms of other animals in order to get close to Adam and Eve. Satan

specifically becomes a lion and a tiger, and is described as being found “squat like a toad” later

(Milton 4.402, 4.403, 4.800). Then, he cunningly decides to assume the form of:

The Serpent subtlest beast of all the field.

Fit vessel, fittest imp of fraud, in whom

To enter, and his dark suggestion hide

From sharpest sight; for in the wily snake

Whatever sleights none would suspicious mark. . . . (Milton 9.86, 89-93)

His configuration is important because by not assuming a monstrous shape that would scare Eve,

Satan is able to come extremely close and speak into her ears cleverly influencing her through

the sound “run of his persuasive words, impregned / With reason, to her seeming, and with truth”

(Milton 9.737-738). Evil snuck up on Eve; she lets her guard down, and is deceived by an

unsuspecting snake. Eve did not fully realize she is considering a devil’s idea. Thus, by taking

Gill 3

many forms, man, created with weaknesses and flaws, can have a much more difficult time

recognizing Satan and his evil plans. Consequently, Satan’s success can be somewhat attributed

to his wise selection of disguise.

In addition to having no basis for recognition, evil has no clear voice in which to

understand. Mephistopheles attempts to avoid giving any clear answer by giving vague responses

and employing contradiction constantly through negation and counter-statements. Faust

describes the devil as being the “Spirit of Contradiction!” (Goethe 4182-4183). The main

character becomes so frustrated with Mephistopheles’s varying verbiage that he exclaims to him,

“Speak thy conditions plain and clear! With such a servant danger comes, I fear” (Kindle

Locations 1568-1570). Through carefully crafted words, Mephistopheles finds success. By

oftentimes using untrue words, “the Lying Spirit” is effectively able to manipulate others

(Goethe 1744). Faust refers to his entire situation with Mephistopheles as “a devilish lying

game” (Goethe 3133-3134). Additionally, Faust specifically calls him “a sophist, liar;” evil is

particularly described as playing unfair through the use of lofty words and complicated

arguments to convince others to believe falsities (Kindle Locations 3144-3150). Thus, through a

language of perspective, evil begins to lead Faust down a path he did not fully intend to take.

By using particular persuasive language, Satan is able to intentionally blur the boundary

between good and evil. He pointedly tells of Adam and Eve that he:

will excite their minds

With more desire to know, and to reject

Envious commands, invented with design

To keep them low (Milton 4.522-527).

Gill 4

The words that Satan uses make an evil act seem good. He applies this same principle to appeal

to Eve and the limited knowledge she possesses. By focusing on her unintelligence, Satan

appeals to Eve to eat the fruit to become a better version of herself. While it can be argued that

Eve committed the transgression because she attempted to obtain “knowledge to be like gods,”

the language Eve uses before she eats the apple tells otherwise (Milton 4.526-527). She tells of

how she wants to become wise and:

“What fear I, then? rather, what know to fear

Under this ignorance of good and evil,

Of God or Death, of law or penalty?

Here grows the cure of all, this fruit divine,

Fair to the eye, inviting to the taste,

Of virtue to make wise. What hinders, then,

To reach, and feed at once both body and mind? (Milton 9. 773-779)

Eve wants to end her ignorance and “partake in full happiness”; being beautiful was not enough

to make her happy (Milton 9.819-821). If evil’s temptation here is to reach above and beyond

your limits, evil clearly cannot be defined in terms of complete opposition to good; thus, evil

must exist in relationship to good.

Temptation walks a very thin line between enjoying earthly desires and sinning. Giving

into temptation can seem like a very minute issue as Mephistopheles describes his actions as just

being all in good fun. He tells that “the trouble's small, the fun is great” (Goethe 4200); he makes

choosing evil seem as if it is not such a terrible thing to do. When Faust tells that he finds

Mephistopheles fun antics “repulsive” and “hated,” Mephistopheles responds “O, nonsense!

Gill 5

That's a thing for laughter; Don't be so terribly severe!” (Goethe 2547-2553). While giving into

these little temptations, Mephistopheles tries to claim to be perfectly fine, the problem lies in the

fact that throughout the whole play there are always temptations surrounding Faust. While one

distraction may not seem so evil, there is always another one rapidly following to take its place.

What makes evil so dangerous is its luring temptation. Towards the end of the Paradise Lost

mankind describes Satan and the other devils not at as monstrous beasts, but rather as luring

tempters. In his last vivid imagery, Satan is portrayed as "the lurking enemy / that lay in wait"

according to Adam (Milton 9. 1172-1173). With this, Milton provides readers with a lasting

depiction of the essence of evil, an element full of manipulative, deceitful, alluring temptations.

Though eating a piece of fruit or enjoying monkey antics may seem of little harm, evil can

overtake individuals and create a spiral effect.

Despite being bombarded with temptations though, imperfect individuals are never

supposed to fail to reject evil on a regular basis. Capable of being easily influenced by passions,

man is not completely perfect in going about making all his decision. Because evil can be

individualistic and defined differently based upon the situation, what is good and what is evil can

easily be difficult to distinguish logically in an instant situation. When Adam learns of Eve’s

transgression against God, he has two options: he can eat the fruit and together with his love

endure God’s punishment, or he can reject Eve’s offer, get a new wife, and continue to live in

Eden. Though it may be “evil” to eat the fruit, Adam chooses to do so anyway because he is truly

in love with Eve and “to lose thee were to lose myself” (Milton 9.959). Because it is genuine

love, Adam would never be able to move on:

How can I live without thee? how forgo

They sweet converse, and love so dearly joined,

Gill 6

To live again in these wild woods forlorn?

Should God create another Eve, and I

Another rib afford, yet loss of thee

Would never from my heart (Milton 9.908-913).

Thus, by making a chivalrous gesture of love, Adam gives into a subjective definition of evil.

With such high, stringent expectations placed upon Adam, how evil can such a nobly-intended

act be?

The divisional line between good and evil is further blurred by God himself even.

Seemingly unfair treatment is considered completely just. Though Adam and Eve were formed

with flaws by the Creator himself, making a mistake and sinning results in severe punishment.

Additionally, though Adam and Eve are offered forgiveness for their sins and are given

restitution, Satan and his fallen Angels are not shown God’s grace. It appears that the devils are

condemned for eternity. This lack of equal treatment appears wrongful, particularly when one

considers how Satan seemed to have been created with a pre-existing evil inside of him that

caused him to go against God in the first place. Satan tells how he was created in a way that

seemed tragically doomed for failure:

Yet all his good proved ill in me,

And wrought but malice. Lifted up so high,

I sdained subjection, and though one step higher

Would set me highest… (Milton 4.48-51)

Gill 7

As a result of his almost admirable ambition to reach higher in life, Satan is dealt “eternal woe”

and left questioning, “Is there no place / Left for repentance, none for pardon left? (Milton 4.70,

79-80). With no cause for hope, Satan accepts his seeming imminent fate. This melancholy

solution that God deemed to be just looks more like a cruel, evil punishment.

It appears that God, the ultimate good, is deeply intertwined with evil. After all, the devil

Mephistopheles interacts with God in heaven; if but for a moment, evil exists in heaven (Goethe

457). God’s connection with evil is that he manipulates it so that something good can be

constructed out of it. Satan acknowledges this when he speaks to the devils of hell; he describes

their new home as “a Universe of death, which God by curse / Created evil, for evil only good”

(Milton 2.622-23). Thus, one can see evil clearly exists in a specific, intended relationship to

good. A concrete example of this can be seen through Faust’s relationship with Margaret. What

started off as an initially evil, lustful desire for her, turned into a deep love for her. While Faust

does struggle to battle his passionate want for Margaret, and good and evil mutually exist in their

relationship, Faust turns into a better person because of her.

Thus, it appears as if evil is even a branch of good. God created light and then separated

it from darkness. Evil is not an independent force. When Faust asks Mephistopheles who he is,

Mephistopheles describes himself by explaining that he is a function of the divine plan, saying

that he is “Part of that Power, not understood, Which always wills the Bad, and always works the

Good” (Goethe 1305-1306). Mephistopheles suggests that his evil ways are in some way a part

of God’s plan. In making this connection, evil therefore constitutes a particular, necessary,

intended purpose in the world. Evil is a part of the whole; evil is a part of God.

This is further evident when Faust and Mephistopheles are interrupted when a student

knocks at the door, and Mephistopheles takes Faust’s place and puts on his academic gown.

Gill 8

Despite the fact that Mephistopheles gives inappropriate advice regarding women and teaches

the student from a very cynical perspective, Mephistopheles speaks rather truthfully. He

develops the concept that one can only truly know something through having experienced it; he

tells that, “in vain that through the realms of science you may drift; Each one learns only— just

what learn he can: Yet he who grasps the Moment's gift, He is the proper man” (Goethe 1887-

1889). This advice given to the student is important in understanding Faust’s and God's

connection with evil. For it is only by causing mankind to experience the contrast of evil, that

man can come to know good in some way. Critical knowledge is received from experience.

Right before the student departs, Mephistopheles writes in his album at his request. He

sarcastically writes: “Eritis sicut Deus, scientes bonum et malum,” which translated from Latin

means: "You shall be like God, knowing good and evil" (Goethe 1919). It is the advice that was

given so similarly to Eve in the Garden of Eden when Satan told her of the power of the

“knowledge of good and evil in this tree” (Milton 9.722). Now while it is stated in a sardonic

manner, the message is actually true to an extent. By knowing good and evil, man is drawn

closer to God, as in the case of Faust.

It has been said that “evil is a thick rope of many complex, twisted, and intertwined

strands” (qtd. in Singer 185). In Milton’s text, the “battle good and evil” is unfocused and

constantly, unclearly shifting throughout Paradise Lost. In Goethe’s play, what is evil seems

minute, comical, and entertaining at many times. Evil is not clearly defined as a complete polar

opposite option to the good. There are contradictions and inconsistencies. With no clarity, no

definitive answers, the only solution the texts point to is the grace of God. With evil being so

intertwined into the world and so difficult to distinguish, God must intercede and save man from

Gill 9

evil; it appears to be the only solution as both Adam, Eve, and Faust are facing hell from dealing

with the devil at the end of the two texts.

At times confronting an unrecognizable, ambiguous, situational, alluring, ever-present,

and seemingly subjective evil may seem impossible for man to overcome. In facing this

challenge with evil’s existence, good ultimately results. Though encountering evil, Faust, Adam,

and Eve find salvation. Seeing and experiencing the contrasts and consequences between good

and evil first hand causes Faust to become much closer to God than before his encounter with the

devil. It takes the killing of Philemon and Baucis for Faust to take full responsibility for the evil

consequences of his acts for the first time and come to complete terms to what he done. It takes

being brought to his own dark celebration to complete his final step of personal degradation,

for Faust to realize the awful reality he was living. It is only through encountering that horrible

Walpurgis environment on the mountain, in an atmosphere packed with evil, black magic,

witches, and demons, that Faust realizes that he is about to take his final step toward a permanent

lapse from morality. Forced to face his own dreadful degeneration, Faust sees that his moral

sensibility returns at the last possible moment. He remembers Gretchen and the love for her

which was his first real participation in life, and starts to make his journey back towards God.

This event in combination with the deaths of Margaret, Euphorion, Philemon, and Baucis, finally

teach Faust the importance of learning self-surrendering, true love from the experiences on

shares with others. It is only after all of these horrible, evil incidents that Faust dies and is saved.

The paradox of evil is that it cannot exist without the good, and even gives strength to the

good. It takes Faust sinking to the lowest depths of personal degradation to rise to the highest

level of human fulfillment and salvation. Life finds rebirth from corruption and death for Adam

and Eve as well. One can question if Adam and Eve were truly happy in paradise living menial

Gill 10

lives and without other points of reference to know that they had things so well off. Through

encountering evil, Adam and Eve experience character development as they become more

complex characters. Moreover, it appears that Adam and Eve will be better off than before they

sinned and learned of good and evil from the tree of knowledge. Milton writes of the angel

Michael informing Adam:

Only add

Deeds to thy knowledge answerable; add faith;

Add virtue, patience, temperance; add love,

By name to come called Charity, the soul

Of all the rest: then wilt thou not be loth

To leave this Paradise, but shalt possess

A Paradise within thee, happier far (Milton 12.581-587).

Through its complexities and implication, evil strengthens the main characters in Paradise Lost

and Faust and helps lead them to salvation.

Works Cited

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang Von. Faust. Trans. Walter Kaufmann. N.p.: Amazon, 2014. Kindle.

Milton, John. Paradise Lost. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications, 2005. Print.

Singer, Marcus G. "The Concept of Evil." Philosophy 79.308 (2004): 185-214. Print.