How Does Beowulf Define Evil

Definition of Evil

Throughout history, there have been many meanings of the word "evil," which originated in the Germanic language. According to Google.com, the word evil can be used as a noun and be defined as the wicked or immoral part of someone or something. It can also be used as an adjective and be characterized by misfortune of suffering. Words such as "wicked", "immoral", and "sinful" can also be used interchangeably with the word evil, while words like "virtuous", "beneficial", and "pleasant" are antonyms of the word evil. For the purposes of argument, I will use the definition evil to mean the force in nature that governs and gives rise to wickedness and sin. Traits of evil can be exemplified in both the epic poem Beowulf and

Edgar Allen Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado".
Beowulf is the story of an epic hero, Beowulf, who travels with his men, the Geats, conquer the many beats who terrorize the lands of the Danes.

The monster, Grendel, demonstrates a perfect example evil when he killed many of the Danes in their own mead hall. The scops say that Grendel:

Snatched up thirty men, smashed them

Unknowingly in their beds and ran out

With their bodies, the blood dripping behind him, back

To his lair, delighted with his night's slaughter (37-40).

In this passage, we can see that the evil deeds take place at the loss of another person's happiness. Grendel was only pleased after he had taken the lives of many men. The Danes "lived happy [lives] in this hall"(15) before Grendel attached and murdered the warriors. This is simply one example of how evil is always trying to overcome the happy, optimistic ways in which people live their daily lives. The second time Grendel attacked the Mead hall, he also exemplified the force of evil that caused pain and suffering to the Danes. The scops say:

Grendel came again, so set

On Murder that no crime could ever be enough,

No savage assault quench his lust

For evil

(50-53).
This excerpt reveals that evil is extremely persistent. Grendel has already stricken the men once before, but is unrelenting in the fact that he strikes again. Evil is like an abyss that will never be filled for Grendel.
Evil can also be found throughout Poe's The Cask of Amontillado.

This short story told from the point of view of a man named Montresor, who decides to seek revenge on Fortunato, a man who had in some way insulted Montresor. To get Fortunato to trust Montresor, the latter uses cunning qualities that are characteristics of evil. He exemplifies these qualities when he says:

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 want to smile in his face, and he did not perceive that my smile now was at the thought of his immolation (432; par.

2).
As we can see, Montresor is being extremely deceptive towards Fortunato by basically trying to get him to accept Montresor's ill aimed trust. Though Montresor is giving the impression that Fortunato is a friend, he is silently planning to chain Fortunato to a wall deep inside a crypt and leave him there to die. After Fortunato is chained to the wall, Montresor says to his victim, "'Pass your hand... over the wall; you cannot help feeling the niter. Indeed it is very damp. Once more let me to implore you to return. No? Then I must positively leave you.'"(435; par. 72). Enjoying the fact that his evil "plan" is working, Montresor taunts the helpless Fortunato. It is at this point in which Montresor reveals that he is going to leave Fortunato chained to the wall to suffer his way to death, and he does so in a scoffing manner that does little to hide the true intent of why he wanted to come with Fortunato into the crypt. While Montresor is fulfilling his "plan" and has chained Fortunato to the wall, he begins to build a wall in front of his body so nobody would see Fortunato's body if anyone ever came down there. As he is doing this, Montresor says "the noise lasted for several minutes, during which, that I might harken it with more satisfaction, I ceased my labors and sat down upon the bones" (436; par. 76). The noise which Montresor is talking about would be the weeping and outcry of Fortunato. Montresor is actually so overjoyed at the sounds of pain and suffering from the one who wronged him that he takes a brake from his labors just so he could listen to Fortunato's pain. Just as Grendel was delighted as he caused pain and suffering to the Geats in Beowulf, Montresor is likewise delighted to hear the pain and suffering he causes to his foe.
Throughout my own life, I have come to associate evil with Satan simply because of the way I was raised. In the Christian way of life, evil is believed to come from Satan, an angel that was cast out of Heaven by God. Satan is now believed to be the epitome of evil deeds. I battle with Satan daily by the temptations he puts all around me. These temptations have only grown throughout my life, especially when I came into high school because of the new freedoms and opportunities that I now have. Every day, I question the things that go on around me and decide for myself if my actions and thoughts depict my beliefs. I believe that evil has various qualities, the most prominent being that it is constantly trying to test and tear my faith away from God. However, I know that "my flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." (New International Version, Psalm. 73.26) Overall, evil can be described in many different ways and exemplifies many different characteristics. Although there is not one set definition, we can see throughout various works of literature and even in daily life that evil has no boundaries, always persists, and can be the cause of great suffering.