Potrayal of Evil

A detailed Summary of Potrayal of Evil

In the allegory The Faerie Queen, by Edmund Spenser, evil is depicted primarily as character. In Doctor Faustus, by Christopher Marlowe and Everyman written by an anonymous author, evil is depicted as an action.

In The Faerie Queen, Spenser creates an allegory: The characters of his far-off, fanciful "Faerie Land" are meant to have a symbolic meaning in the real world. The main theme of Book I is the idea that our native virtue must be augmented or transformed if it is to become true Christian virtue (Alpers 5). Spenser has a high regard for the natural qualities of creatures; he shows the lion and many human characters have an inborn inclination toward good. Yet, he consistently shows their failure when faced with the worst evils. These evils can only be defeated by the Christian good. High on Spenser list of evils in the Catholic Church, and this enmity lends a political overtone of the poem, since the religious conflicts of the time were inextricably tied to politics (Alpers 8). In this epic poem, several characters represent evil. In Book I the plot mostly deals with the attempts of evildoers trying to separate Redcrosse from Una, which is separating holiness from truth. Most of the villains are m

Everyman is a morality play about death and the fate of the soul. The evil in Everyman can be seen as action. The play shows the hero's progression from despair and fear of death to a "Christian resignation that is the prelude to redemption"(Klein). Summoned by Death Everyman calls on Fellowship, Goods, and Strength for help, but they desert him. Only Good Deeds and Knowledge remain faithful and lead him to salvation. Everyman is informed by Death of his approaching end. God has become tired of Everyman's ways and now it is time for them to give account for their lives. God wants Everyman to show whether he is good enough for Heaven. So our actions are determined if we go to Heaven or Hell. Everyman's accounts are his false friends that leave him when it is time for him to go to the grave. Everyman accounts are good qualities but cannot come to grave with him. The play makes the point that we can take with us from this world nothing that we have received; only what we have given. Our actions are what really matter, if our actions are evil, we go to Hell, but if they are good, we go to Heaven. Because Good Deeds goes with him to salvation, what we do for others down here own earth is what is important.

These three allegories look at the evil of their times but most importantly they try to show the people of that century that what they are doing is wrong. Each story has their own consequences of what will happen to the people who act evil and do evil acts.

eant by Spenser to represent the Roman Catholic Church. Thus, Redcrosse must defeat villains who mimic the falsehood of the Roman Church. The first of these is Error. When Red

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Approximate Word count = 1117
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English