Matthew Williamson

Mrs. Gatfield

Survey of British Literature

11 February 2021

The Evil Within the Good of Humanity

Humanity has many different negatives and positives to life. One of those negatives that

humanity has is that it is hidden in the basis of any good that can come about. This can be

represented in many different ways. However, it can be seen specifically in literature. There are

two different types of forms of evil that can be seen in the literature of The Rime of the Ancient

Mariner along with Frankenstein as another. One is based on what is in the individual themself,

and the other is based on the opposing forces around them. The two works, Frankenstein and The

Rime of the Ancient Mariner are symbols of the kindness of humanity being killed by an

opposing evil or the monster within.

One of the ways that the evils within humanity has been shown is in the writings of The

Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Colerage. They start out the poem with an

ancient mariner beginning his tale to someone at a wedding. He starts out with his tale of a not

too happy time of himself and his fellow seamen. Their first sign of the albatross was around that

time. “At length did cross an Albatross,/ Through the fog it came;/ As if it had been a Christain

soul,/ We hailed it in God’s name.” (Coleridge 432). This is the first time that the kindness and

happiness is seen when taking place in the story. The Albatross was the symbol that represented

that happiness and hope. However, the ancient mariner was one of those people that found a way

to bring themselves to end their lucky charm. He ended up shooting it with a crossbow. “And I
had done a hellish thing,/ And it would work ‘em woe:/ For all averred, I had killed the bird/

That made the breeze to blow. Ah wretch said they, the bird to slay,/ That made the breeze to

blow!” (Coleridge 433). This is where the evil of human nature can come into play as the intent

of killing their hope. He, along with his crew mates, considered his act to be a hellish thing that

shouldn’t have happened. He killed the symbol of the good of mankind with a blow from an evil

that he didn’t expect.

Another way that the evils within humanity is shown in writing is in the book

Frankenstein. The book doesn’t start out with the evils of humanity, but it does eventually get to

that point in the life of someone named Victor. Victor created this monster that didn’t have all

that appealing of characteristics. It couldn’t find a place in humanity to belong, but it did find a

way that it could spread kindness. He found a way to help a family in need. “I discovered also

another means through which I was enabled to assist their labours. … I often took his tools, the

use of which I quickly discovered, and brought home firing sufficient for the consumption of

several days.” (Shelley 78). This is when the monster was able to discover and learn passion and

kindness. He found a way that he was able to be a symbol for the positives of human nature.

Helping them in their daily routine is a demonstration of this characteristic. However, kindness

wasn’t able to stay long in his heart when he tried to repeat an act of kindness again in saving a

young girl's life. The man that wanted to protect the young girl, “...aimed a gun, which he

carried, at my body, and fired. I sank to the ground, and my injurer, … escaped into the wood.

This was then the reward of my benevolence! I had saved a human being from destruction.”

(Shelley 101). Not only did he produce kindness, but received a miserable wound as his reward.

He thought that the person would be happy for his ability to save the child, but it didn’t turn out

the way it was planned. This gave more of a tipping point to his life in a way that he would have
more evil intentions than how his first intentions began. This represented the way that the

negatives of human nature harmed his personality into a more negative form.

The second way that the evils within humanity is shown in the book Frankenstein is in

the life of Victor, the one who created a monster harmed by humanity. He first started out with

more goodness than any of the evils of humanity. A way that he represented his kindness was in

the person named Elizabeth. “Every one loved Elizabeth. The passionate and most reverential

attachment with which all regarded her became, while I shared it, my pride and my delight.” (17-

18). This is the example of him being able to love someone and express his positivity in his

human nature. He also had someone he was able to direct his positivity towards. That would also

be able to benefit the positivity of human nature with the person that he directs it towards.

However, it isn’t able to hide the nevativities of mankind forever. When he was in the middle of

making the monster he created happy, he went against the deal that he first had with the monster

to allow him to allow both of them to be happy. “The retch saw me destroy the creature on

whose future existence he depended for happiness, and, with a howl of devilish despair and

revent, withdrew.” (121). This demonstrated that no matter what kindness he could have had in

his heart, he couldn’t bring himself to make another monster to make the first happy. He couldn’t

bring himself to solve a broken mankind that the monster first had. He let the negatives of

humanity get to him and let his chance to bring more happiness and kindness that the evils of

humanity had hidden. Overall, his goodness and kindness was one of the ways in which the evils

of humanity overruled.

This doesn’t only happen in books, but also happens in non fictional literature. According

to Calder in his writing, “The Apparent Banality of Evil: The Relationship between Evil Acts

and Evil Character” he wrote about evil and some of the reasons for it. One of the things he
writes about connects a reason for why one of the evils of humanity was possible when talking

about the monster in Frankenstein. “... I have argued that in order to do evil we must either have

an effective desire for someone else’s significant harm for an unworthy goal…” (Calder 4). The

monster had the intentions of doing evil for the reasons of revenge against humanity. Connecting

to Calders argument, the monster had an effective desire to cause harm to the issues of humanity

that has caused his distress. In other words, the monster intentionally caused harm or acts of evil

against others, because of the evil that was done against him. It does not mean that he was evil to

begin with. He was placed in a situation that caused him to do evil acts.

Calder brings up a similar argument in another form of literature that he published. He

writes in the terms of what someone else was able to claim. The person that he writes about

supports his opinion in terms of more arguments and more reasons for evil. “Russell argues that

the specified set of conditions under which only evil persons perform evil actions are autonomy-

favoring conditions.” (Calder 1). How the person describes their form of the evil is that the evil

is only represented and seen depending on the situation they were in. It also is a different point of

view toward the different individuals not being a bad person in a different situation. He also

adds, “Since it is relatively rare for people to perform evil actions when they are doing exactly

what they want to do, the autonomy-favoring component allows Russell's dispositional account

to make sense of the rarity of evil.” (Calder 1). In fact, “Russell worries that without the

autonomy component dispositional accounts imply that a great many people are evil since it

seems that in some environments, such as in Nazi Germany or Rwanda in the mid-1990s, large

portions of populations are strongly disposed to perform evil.” (Calder 1). Russel is pointing out

that in cases like Nazi Germany and Ruwanda, it is regular people put in the wrong environment

can end up performing evil actions. Overall, it could be argued that the ancient mariner, Victor,
and the monster are all different kinds of people when put in a different condition. They may not

be evil overall, but just in the form of the situation they were put through. This may contradict

the ideals that could be made for the different people to not be evil, but it can still be argued that

they still did those things based on the negatives of human nature. It still is the reason for why

the different people did the things they did due to the situation.

Overall, human nature is something that can be quickly brought up into the reasons for

why people do the things they do. The negatives of human nature are what caused different

negative events to occur. This can mess people up. People have been able to demonstrate this

sense in the form of literature. It has been noticed in the works Frankenstien and The Rime of the

Ancient Mariner through the use of different characters. They also demonstrate the positives of

life that can be taken away from the negatives that humanity is also able to give. It can come out,

it can be suppressed, and it can come out of the nicer of individuals as specified in the life of

Victor Frankenstien.
 Works Cited

Calder, Todd. “Evil Persons.” Criminal Justice Ethics, vol. 34, no. 3, Dec. 2015, pp. 350–360.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/0731129X.2015.1106796.

Calder, Todd. “The Apparent Banality of Evil: The Relationship between Evil Acts and Evil

Character.” Journal of Social Philosophy, vol. 34, no. 3, Fall 2003, pp. 364–376.

EBSCOhost, doi:10.1111/1467-9833.00187.

Shelley, Mary. Frankenstien, London; Dover, 1994.

Coleridge, Samuel. “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.” The Norton Anthology: English

Literature, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, Norton, 2006, 430-446.

Reading - 1 Read closely to determine what the text says explicitly and to make logical inferences from it;
cite specific textual evidence when writing or speaking to support conclusions drawn from the
text.
4 In addition to a 3.0 score, student demonstrates sophisticated
applications such as:
X Reflect nuanced, close reading of text(s) (beyond what was
discussed in class).
X Demonstration of original thinking.
3 While engaged in grade appropriate tasks, the student
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claims.
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No major errors or omissions with 2.0 and 3.0 elements.
2 No major errors or omissions regarding the simpler details and
processes such as:
☐ Making an argument (claim).
☐ Evidence for support.
1 The student demonstrates understanding of all 2.0 elements with
help.
Writing - 1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts using valid
reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence.
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applications such as:
X Engage reader with unique approach (example: intro engages,
writing personality shines)
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X Draw intertextual and/or extra-textual connections.
X Develop nuanced ideas.
X Analyze evidence implicitly (read between the lines—not just
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3 While engaged in grade appropriate tasks, the student
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material and ideas.
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Language - 1 Demonstrate command of conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing
or speaking.
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X Deliberate control over grammar and punctuation to create a
creative,
unconventional, or desired effect on the reader.
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to show mastery.
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help.