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The Ramayana Ashir Malik
In Narayan’s tale, “The Ramayana”, there are many depictions of good and evil with a variety of characters mentioned. I will be discussing about Rama (Good), Mahabali (Evil), and Viswamithra (Both) as they all represent a certain aspect of divinity. Rama, of course, will be represented as a good character while Mahabali will be the complete opposite. Viswamithra is essentially good, but his views and actions can be described as dubious, which is why I picked another character that’s more along the lines of neutrality to give a deeper understanding of what good and evil might mean. Rama is the son of emperor Dasaratha and his wife Kausayla. Although Dasaratha had many other children, Rama seemed to have some utter significance especially to Viswamithra who takes him on epic adventures to fight against evil. His significance is
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“Mahabali seized the earth and heaven and brought them under his subjection” (Narayan, 13). Vishnu, who is Rama’s immortal form without him knowing, was sent as Vamana (Dwarf) to deceive and destroy the evil Mahabali. “Vishnu took birth in a Brahmin family as a person of tiny proportions; within this diminutive personality was packed a great deal of power and learning” (Narayan, 13-14). As evil as Mahabali was, Vamana was at ease when he greeted Bali. instead of tormenting and killing Vamana, Bali invited him into his palace thinking that his intentions were to just appraise and envy him. As he’s complimenting his valor and ambition, he asks for a simple favor and that was to attain some land from him. It just shows that Vishnu himself has an ulterior motive to stop Bali from gaining more “evil”, per se although Bali himself doesn’t know what he’s dealing with. This makes it an act of manipulation from Vishnu, but for a good cause. Bali himself has committed many acts of evil, so it’s essentially karma that gets
Using the above definition of hero and heroism, this essay attempts to assess three famous heroic characters portrayed in arguably the three greatest literary epics known to humankind, Achilles of Ancient Greece, Sundiata Keita of Ancient Mali and Rama of Ayodhya in what is today Modern India. With references to Stanley Lombardo’s translation of Homer’s Iliad, D.T. Niane’s Sundiata and R.K. Narayan’s translation of Valmiki’s Ramayana, this essay seeks to compare and contrast the attributes of these heroes, the morals associated with their heroism and their reasons for engaging in battle.
The lines that define good and evil are not written in black and white; these lines tend to blur allowing good and evil to intermingle with each another in a single human being.
Good, is portrayed by God, and evil seems to be what fate has in store for the
"From the Ramayana." Prentice Hall Literature. Trans. R. K. Narayan. Upper Saddle River: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2004. 190-98. Print.
“Ramayana.” The Language of Literature Ed. Arthur N. Applebee, et al. Boston: McDougal Littell, 1983. 130-140. Print.
Wicked, dishonorable, corrupt, villainous, malicious, and vicious all have one thing in common: they define evil. A person or a group of people that display these qualities are often defined as evil beings or creatures. Two people that have many of these characteristics developed within them are Iago from Shakespeare’s Othello and Lucifer from the Bible. Both Iago and Lucifer are developed with many “evil” qualities woven intricately into their character development. The representation of each “evil” characteristic gives them something they have in common, allowing the description and portrayal of both Iago and Lucifer in literature show the audience they share common “evil” characteristics and that they lead to chaos and downfall.
In Khaled Hosseini’s novel “The Kite Runner,” he illustrates a fine line between what is defined as morally good and evil. During their lives as kids, Amir and Hassan had always been close, but there had always been one problem. Amir was the son of a rich and powerful Pashtun man who was almost always given everything he wanted, while Hassan was a Hazara boy who had spent his life serving Amir and his family with his father. Although the two of them seemed to always be inseparable when they played games or flew kites, there was always the defining factor of who they really are, a servant and his master.
Professor’s Comment: This student was very wise not to summarize Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The student’s primary intention was to describe the ethical themes that can be found in the book. The first part of this essay describes Tolkien's view on the nature of good and evil, while the second part deals with his ethics of individuals. Excellent work!
When people realize that good and evil are just points of view that are placed on other people and actions, it is possible to transcend these superficial roles. Since it is people who create the meaning of evil, it cannot be said that people are evil, or are born evil, because not only is that a perspective that is assumed onto others, which will change with different cultures, societies, and eras, but the very same acts may appear to be both good and evil, depending on the perspective in which the acts are seen. Ultimately, it is the individual’s responsibility to decide for himself the effects of his actions on himself and others.
In my opinion, what is considered “good” and what is considered “evil” is almost entirely subjective, though heavily shaped and molded by the society in which an individual lives. The established rules and norms to which every society adheres tend to be cultural and will obviously differ between respective cultures accordingly. One culture’s interpretation of “good” can very well be another culture’s interpretation of “evil” and so on. This is even true between individuals within the confines of the same society or culture—obviously not everyone thinks the same or holds the general rules and norms of their culture in high esteem. Another important influence on the way in which people perceive and regard what is “good” and what is “evil” is
To begin our comparisons, we must first look at each character and recognize their separate journeys. Through summarization of the characters and their story, we will begin to see Rama's role and Sita's role. By this process, I will demonstrate how they correlate, differ and combine to form the Ramayana. Rama, the hero of the Ramayana, is a god known as Vishnu who has been reincarnated and sent to earth in mortal form. Rama must take an archetypal journey known as the "quest." During the quest, a hero must conquer obstacles to save the kingdom (Guerin et.al.154). Rama's obstacle is Ravana, an evil monster who is slowly taking over heaven and earth. Because Ravana never asked for protection from a human being, he can only be destroyed by a human being and this makes Rama's need for success especially important (Narayan 5). a the beginning of the narrative, Rama is forced into exile from his kingdom into the forest for 14 years. This exile begins his quest.
As children, we hear many stories about the interactions between good and evil. Since each story or fable have different characters, the description of evil and good are different from one another. The good character will have different characteristic compared to evil one.
The theme for Beowulf seems to portray a fight between good and evil which will cause problems within the society. The characters in Beowulf are Beowulf, Grendel, his Mother, and dragon . Beowulf tells a story of a epic hero who travels the sea to kill a savage monster named Grendel and his mother in order to help King Hrothgar and his people. The theme of this essay will depict different battles between Beowulf and the beasts in order to restore peace amongst the people.
Here, some critical questions strike one’s mind. Haven't we passed biased plot-making? Haven't we decided that the "innocent" device of depicting "evil bad guys" as disgusting, malevolent, and one-sided is inaccurate, unjust as well as immoral? The trichotomy of the good, the bad and the ugly certainly exists in Tahmima Anam's subject matter, but in her novel, A Golden Age, realistic characters and human villains do not. It is worthwhile to mention that in her effort, she certainly hit the bull’s eye.
Good and evil are central themes in Paradise Lost. Classic symbols of both extremes are in the book: God and Satan, good and evil personified, respectively. In spite of the seeming dichotomy of either pure evil or total goodness, for much of Paradise Lost the distinction between good and evil is not very clear. The goodness of Man overcome by sin and the fall of God’s holy angels to hell are examples of the overlap of both good and evil within characters. This inherent potential for evil in Adam, Eve and Lucifer ****. Further, the relationship between good and evil and their relative dependence on each other is brought into question by the roles they play in Paradise Lost.