The Nature of Evil Essay Example for Free

The Nature of Evil Essay 1: That which is morally bad or wrong, or that which causes harm, pain, or misery. 2: A force that is believed to cause wicked or bad things to happen. 3 A very unpleasant or harmful situation or activity. The existence of evil has been puzzling philosophers and leaders of all major religions for hundreds of years. The problem of evil is particularly challenging because Christianity was committed to the existence of a God that controls everything but at the same time acknowledged the real existence of evil. Some religions have tried to deal with the problem of evil by saying that it doesnt exist. In Hindu teaching evil is said to have no real existence instead being dismissed as phenomena. William Golding wrote The Lord of the Flies just after the Second World War, having witnessed the evil of this war he lost the belief that humans have an innocent nature; even children he learned are essentially evil. The Lord of the Flies challenges readers to attempt to develop their own views about the existence of evil in the human race. I found this quite challenging and after much deliberation it is my opinion that evil is within every human being because we all have the potential to be evil and that it is only laws and the threat of punishment that keeps people from behaving in an evil manner. This I why Roger in The Lord of the Flies acts the way he does. My theory that evil is within every human is also expressed in The Lord of the Flies through symbolism. I think that The Beast symbolises the evil that resides within man. I think that the children on the island were all aware that there is a beast on the island, but they thought that it was an actual living thing and didnt realise that it lies within them and that it is in their soul and mind leading them to chaos because of a society with no adults. Only Simon understands what the beast really is, but he is killed when he tries to tell the boys about the beast. Many people believe that Simon from The Lord of the Flies was mad and it is very hard to determine the difference between madness and evil. I dont think that Simon is mad at all; in fact he seems to me the most sane and logical of all the boys on the island. He is the one who tries to show the boys that there is no beast on the island and that the beast is actually the boys themselves. The theme of madness is explored in William Poes novel The Tell Tale Heart. The Tell Tale Heart is a story of domestic violence and it is hard to understand why it ends in the killing of a man. I think that it may have been caused by the narrators fear of the old mans eye; the narrator describes this eye as being pale blue with a film over it, and resembling that of a vulture. Because it is a short story we do not know why the narrator is so scared of the eye, but it is my belief that he is not actually fearful of the eye, and that he has pretended that he is frightened of it to justify the killing. I think this because the syntax suggests that the narrator has only just thought of the eye as a justification for the killing of the old man. for it was not the old man who vexed me, but his evil eye I think that the killing of the old man was evil but the narrator himself is not evil. I dont think that the narrator is evil because although to me and many people it is implausible that a man would kill another man just because of the way his eye looks but to other people this may seem quite plausible. What may drive one person to kill is very different to what will drive another person to kill. I think that Roger from The Lord of the Flies is a sadist who enjoys in hurting and causing pain. This is obvious from very early on in the novel where he knocks over the littluns sand castles and throws stones at them. Even before this I was quite weary of Roger after Goldings description of him. a slight, furtive boy whom no one knew, who kept to himself with an inner intensity of avoidance and secrecy the shock of black hair, down his nape and low on his forehead, seemed to suit his gloomy face and made what had seemed at first an unsociable remoteness into something forbidding. In the end it is Roger who pushes the boulder that kills Piggy. He joins Jacks anarchist group and becomes Jacks right-hand man. In The Lord of the Flies I believe that Jack is the leader of anarchy on the island. From the start of the novel he does not like abiding by rules of any kind. He simply wants to hunt and have a good time. Not seeming to care about being rescued, Jack and his tribe are examples of how without order and discipline we would all turn into savages. However Jacks form of anarchism is at odds with how anarchism is defined in the dictionary where it is said to be the political theory that is opposed to all forms of government. Anarchists believe that the highest attainment of humanity is the freedom of individuals to express themselves, unhindered by any form of repression or control from without. They hold that the perfection of humanity will not be attained until all government is abolished and each individual is left absolutely free. Jack is an anarchist in the sense that he tries to abolish Ralphs form of government, but he then tries to control how other people think and behave by setting up his own tribe. In many ways Jacks tribe is a lot like Adolf Hitlers fascist government in Germany. The way Jack persuaded the boys on the island to join him are very similar to the way that Hitler got people to join the Nazi Party. Like Hitler, Jack was an alternative to democratic policy (Ralphs government) and promised the boys a fun time. Also one of the main appeals of the Nazi Party was their organised appearance with their marches and uniforms. I think that this was also one of Jacks appeals, for example, when Jack and his tribe applied war paint the other boys were in awe of them and wanted to join them. By making these comparisons I think that William Golding was showing how extreme political views such as fascism may work in the short term and may be fun but that it is democracy that achieves the greatest results. In the beginning of the novel Jack, still conditioned by the previous society he had been a part of; could not bear to kill a pig. As the plot progresses he becomes less and less attached to what goes on in the civilised world and he subsequently becomes more extreme. Near the end, he feels no shame about the deaths of Simon and Piggy, or his attempt to kill Ralph and he gets his wish as his anarchy defeats Ralphs order. I think that the novel shows the reader how easy it is to revert back to the evil nature that is within every man when not living in a civilised environment with rules and discipline.

Muhammad Bio Essay examples -- essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Muhammad is by far one of the most influential men in the history of the religious world. Even today his teachings are still worldly known and his views on dying for a place in heaven result in our terrorist bombings, suicide, and even the world trade center disaster. To understand the fundamentals and the reasons why Islam is a violent religion you have to divert back to the teachings of Muhammad and his life.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Muhammad was born around 572 B.C to his father Abdallah and his mother Amina. Both of Muhammad’s parents died when he was quite young, but he stayed with his grandfather for two years. Soon after he stayed in the care of his uncle Abu Talib and was soon put to work in the caravans.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  While working in these caravans he met the owner Kadijiah. He married her when he was 25 and she was 15 years older than him at 40. They later had seven children but that did not settle him down for he married several other women to gain political power or compassion from the widows he married. It was also a rumor that he arranged the deaths of the women he married.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  It was ...

Dc V. Heller Essay

Winter Honors Civics & Economics B-1 Case name: DC V. Heller A controversial topic came about in the year of 2008. It was concerning whether or not DC’s gun law was following along the lines of the Second Amendment Rights. A man by the name of Dick Anthony Heller was a special police officer and had gone in to register for a handgun for his home. The true underlying issue was whether or not the rights were protected under the Second Amendments which states: The right to bear arms. The uprising stipulation in the District of Columbia is that they have a state law that concerns the registration of a handgun. When looking into further depth of the law the following things must be adhered to in the stipulations of having a hand gun. It states that in order to have a registered handgun it must be â€Å"†¦unloaded and disassembled or bound by a trigger unless they are being used for lawful recreational activities or located in a place of business. â€Å"DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA v. HELLER. † n. pag. SIRS Government Reporter. Web. 24 Jan 2013. ) When the case was first taken up before it came to the Supreme Court, in the lower court system the verdict was dismissed until it was later reversed. The two court systems that herd the case before the Supreme Court were the Courts of Appeals and the district court. The arraignments for the plaintiff were; Dick Anthony Heller was dismissed for another four years until it was taken up again. In the arraignments for the Defendants â€Å"†¦DC found that the challenge to the constitution and its validity was without merit †¦Ã¢â‚¬  It seems as if they were trying to throw salt on the technicality of what the Constitution says in Amendment two and the right to bear arms. In the end what the plaintiff really wanted were his rights to be acknowledged, being that it’s in the constitution and he was a police officer at the time. As well as he wants to be able to have a gun in his house for protection as most people would want. In the lower court systems had voted against what the plaintiff had brought forth as evidence. When it was finally hear in the Supreme Court the case was ruled in favor of the plaintiff. Justice Stevens wrote majority of the decision by stating that the Second Amendment is given to everyone that is a citizen of the United States and that right can’t be taken away to a certain extent. There were concurrent opinions that were made by Justice Stevens who said if things are within our rights then we should be able to obtain them and use them to the fullest extent of our abilities. District of Columbia v. Heller a? â€Å" Case Brief Summary. † Lawnix Free Case Briefs RSS. N. p. , Fall 2008. Web. 28 Jan. 2013. ) The dissenting arguments of opinion came from Stephen Breyer, who stated that the second amendment is only for militia related ordeals and not a matter of being used as self defense. Heller at the time was a special police officer so therefore it was really questionab le on why the lower court verdict had made such a big deal out of the entire situation. The majority opinion was in favor of the plaintiff who wanted to register for a hand gun in the first place for the protection of his home. The importance of the case was that a man was being withheld his legal rights that are stated under the second amendment. It showed as well that a state law can be overturned by a higher government system. This case specifically was a major part of the Constitution because it showed a prime example of states trying to withhold the rights that we have as citizens. It brings light to the different things that certain state governments try to bring down and cover up.

The Cask Of Amontillado And The Short Happy Life Of...

Between the stories of â€Å"The Cask of Amontillado† by Edgar Poe, and â€Å"The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber† by Ernest Hemingway, the authors are able to control these stories through the use of irony, defined as a â€Å"contrast or incongruity between expectations for a situation and what is reality. This can be a difference between the surface meaning of something that is said and the underlying meaning† (http://www.literarydevices.com/irony/). Within these short stories, each author has been able to bring the reader into the story by giving them the opportunity to endure the thoughts and feelings of individual characters which include the taste for revenge, and the bitter truth of a marriage. The way irony is placed into the stories has†¦show more content†¦This is seen during the conversation, â€Å"As you are engaged, I am on my way to Luchesi. If anyone has a critical turn, it is he. He will tell me——† â€Å"Luchesi cannot tell Amontillado from Sherry.† â€Å"And yet some fools will have it that his taste is a match for your own.† â€Å"Come, let us go.† â€Å"Whither?† â€Å"To your vaults.† â€Å"My friend, no; I will not impose upon your good nature. I perceive you have an engagement. Luchesi——† â€Å"I have no engagement;—come.† â€Å"My friend, no. It is not the engagement, but the severe cold with which I perceive you are afflicted. The vaults are insufferably damp. They are encrusted with nitre.† â€Å"Let us go, nevertheless. ...† of which they share on page 4, starting with Montresor speaking. This piece of verbal irony becomes very important because what the reader knows, and what Fortunato knows, are two completely opposite things. The reader or the audience Poe has written to, understands that Montresor is wanting to give nothing away to his opponent in the revenge that is about to take place,  "It must be understood that neither by word nor deed had I given Fortunato cause to doubt my good will. I continued, as was my wont, to smile