Research Paper on:
Literature and the Nature of Good vs. Evil

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
about noble endeavors, frequently, it has been shown that literature that explores the darker side of human nature provides the sort of narrative that makes for the best drama. There  are numerous instances in British literature where writers have dramatized the internal pull between good and evil, civilized and uncivilized behavior, that is integral to human nature. In some  cases, protagonists win the struggle and overcome their own base nature. However, in most cases, literature demonstrates the dire consequences that occur  when the struggle is lost and the primitive side of human nature becomes dominant. In this regard, the following discussion will examine five examples from British literature. While these works  are very different, coming from different eras, and reflect, therefore, vastly different sensibilities and worldviews, it can be shown that in each one the struggle of good against evil forms  the basic conflict around which narrative structures revolve. Macbeth An excellent example of this eternal struggle is Shakespeares Macbeth, a play in which the protagonist, Macbeth, is seduced by  his overwhelming ambition to commit crimes against his king and his own conscious. that one could make a case that the witches, with the prophecies, and Lady Macbeth, with her  goading and nagging, contributed to Macbeths downfall; however, when one examines the play that the main impetus to Macbeths actions lies within his own mind. That Macbeth is not compelled,  by force or witchcraft, to interpret the pronouncements of the witches in the manner that he does is made evident by the fact that Banquo and Macbeth hear the first  prophecies at the same time, and Banquo is not corrupted. In fact, it is Banquo that warns Macbeth about the struggle between good and evil, which brings about his