If you asked Arthur Miller to define "evil," what do you think he would say?
How would you define "evil" (if you believe in it)?
Thinking about the articles we read and their connections to The Crucible, what is the greatest "evil" that our society faces today? Explain your thinking.
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I think that Miller would say that evil is the hatred and prejudices that lie in man's heart.
I don't personally believe in evil.
I think that the biggest evil that our world faces today is a lack of compassion.
Miller would most likely say evil is allowing people to live in ignorance and superstition to maintain power.
Personally, evil involves weakness of the will and being less of a person than you know you can be.
The greatest evil our society faces today is blaming problems on scapegoats because we don't want to look into ourselves and see we're not perfect. Example: blaming Columbine on violent videogames.
I agree with Allison's idea of how Miller would define evil.
However, I wuld say that evil is a true ting in the world, and I say that, at the root of it, is the Devil. I'm not all crazy Puritan, just someone who thinks the Devil tempts everyone in the world, and that evil is the Devil tempthing someone to do bad, and then the person doing it.
Miller's play discusses the notion of evil vs. good and if asked about his definition of evil, Miller would probably just say "Abigail." To me, she’s just the epitome of evil in the book…everything we’re against.
For me at least, it's easy to divide the world in two. I think that "evil" is a concept that counters accepted individual morality while "good" coincides with personal morality.
From this, I really think that evil and good are notions that are explicitly self defined. Evil to one is not the same to another.
Today, the greatest evil is probably power. It's just so influential and unyielding. Many evils have arisen from power (ie: Hitler, Stalin, Bin Laden). Power can also be exercised in righteous, moral, and therefore "good" ways too, but it's naturally just as dangerous as it is good.
I think Miller would say evil is the lack of control over ones selfishness and ones hatred towards another.
I personally think evil is when people act only for their own amusement and never for another.
I think the greatest evil we face today is people who want people and people who will do whatever to prove what they think or believe (terrorists)
I think that Miller would say evil is the uncontrolled hatred of people toward others.
I think that evil is doing wrong when you are aware of the right.
The greatest evil our society faces today is prejudice. We dont have open minds, and I think that this will create unnessesary problems that will be nearly impossible to solve. The prejudice way of thinking could wreck everything that society has worked for.
I very much agree with Allison when she said that Miller would define evil as "the hatred and prejudices that lie in man's heart".
I believe evil is man's subconscious fears and hatred because those things cause people to make drastic actions.
I believe the biggest evil our world faces today, is a combination of both of my previous answers.
I think Miller would describe evil as the human ability to disregard the consequences or bounds of their attempts to spread their beliefs.
I agree with dennis k about the definition of evil. It's unique for every individual in terms of what they believe is irredeemable. Intentions have to play a role in defining evil - even if someone / a group causes horrible damage, what they meant to accomplish has to be taken into account (for example, spreading an idea or way of life that they truly believe to be good). But like rays said, taking it past the bounds of reason is a kind of evil. I would say evil is a completely sane individual causing mindless destruction just to do it.
I agree with allisons about the greatest evil our society faces today - lack of compassion. Our failure to help and provide for other human beings in peril is a facet of life that is kind of passive evil.
I would think that Miller would say that evil is vengeance and selfishness. I think this because in The Crucible, Abigail represents evil and what Abigail stands for is vengeance and selfishness.
I would define evil as selfishness. Selfishness can be anything from not looking at the other persons view, lack of generosity to others, being prejudice (to benefit ones own agenda), blaming others and doing actions that only benefit oneself.
The greatest evil I think that faces our society today is selfishness. People these days are always looking to blame others and never taking the responsibility on themselves.
I think that Miller would say that evil is man's selfishness and inability to let go of what we want.
I believe that evil comes in many forms but the base of it is the lack of compassion.
Personally, I agree with allisons on the biggest evil in the world today is a lack of compasion.
I believe if you asked Miller for his defination of evil he would say evil is a single person's hell on earth and the others who cause that hell are also evil.
I would define evil as someone or something that causes great pain or agony.
The greatest "evil" in today's society would be not achieving what is expected because then you become an "outcast".
I think that Miller would say that evil is the acceptance of known lies, scapegoating, and inflicting harm, hatred, or prejudices towards any people.
I personally believe that evil is rooted in self-centerness/lack of understanding for others, (like Maddison said) and that it is carried out by maintaining that selfishness, and willing to create problems for your own self benefit(i.e. terrorists, dictators, bullies).
Coinciding with my personal beliefs, I think that the world's largest current evil is ignorance and a lack of compassion (like Allison, and many others reiterated). I think that if people around the world and even in our local community were more willing to listen, and appreciate the ideas of others that there would be a lot less hatred and violence in the world. Just because you don’t agree with someone doesn’t mean you have to hate them.
Arthur Miller would define evil as being untrue to yourself and letting others pay for it.
I define evil as a cruelty committed to a person or animal physically or to a soul.
I believe that the greatest evil we face today is hatred.
I think that Arthur Miller would say that evil is the inability for a person to feel regret for their actions and the harm that they have caused.
I would define evil as someone who feels no regrets for hraming others. I also would define it as the Devil attacking a person and their inability to control it.
I agree with Bren in saying that one of the greatest evils that our society faces today is prejudices. Hate crimes are a product of prejudices. This kind of relates to The Crucible because the girls had some kind of prejudice formed. Otherwise they would not have accused all of those people.
Arther Miller might define "evil" as going against religious and personal views.
I would define evil as going completely in opposition to obvious universal morals.
I think the biggest evil that our world faces is lack of understanding of different cultures and religions.
Miller would probably define evil as sacrificing yourself to become part of the faceless group. He would also consider the people who control and manipulate the group to think certain ways as evil.
I agree with Dennis, that evil is self defined. In my opinion, evil is remorsless, thoughtless cruelty. Evil is when a person does something that goes against what they know to be right and they are conscious of that fact.
I define evil as the total lack of morality and humanity. However, a person cannot live without some connection to morality. One may agrue that a person who feels no remorse for thier actions has no morality, but the fact that they cared enough to do thier villinous act and connect with humans shows that they still have some morality. Plus, no matter how hard on tries, they will always feel and have a connection toward others; this is another sign of morality and humanity. (Sorry, this is a bit confusing, I know)
Since everyone has eternal morality, I really don't think evil exists in the world. For if it did, I would hate to say this, but we all would be considered evil. For those who label others as pure evil, had evil within themselves.
I think that world's biggest "evil" is ignorance and the ability to think without filter. This meaning, thinking something about someone or some event that deals with other people in a bad light. If the world could only have positive initial thoughts, then the world would be more tolerable and less ignorant.
Miller would say that evil is the desire for power. It leads people to do bad things that are "evil"
I think evil is really people trying to do what's right, but don't really know what right is.
The greatest evil in our society is that the government doesn't always help the right people.
I think Arthur Miller would believe that some people are evil. I think he would say that evil is a part of human nature and is uncontrollable.
I think that people can be good or bad but it is a part of human nature. I don't think a person is born evil, but I think that they can be born into an enviroment that gives them evil tendencies.
I think the greatest evil we face is ignorance. People are ignorant of other people which causes conflict and breeds hate in our world.
I think that Arthur Miller would say that evil is when people let vengence and hatred get the best of them, like Abigail did.
My definition of evil is similiar, that when a person lets hatred control their actions and doesn't even think of how it will effect others, that is evil.
The greatest evil our society faces today is selfishness. Our generation cares so much about material things and how they look from the outside that they overlook the important things and lower themselves as people
I think that Miller would say that hatred is what a man doesn't comprehend and is too weak to accept it.
I personally think that evil te of mind that can be changed with enough will power.
I think that the largest evil in todays world is lack of understanding or want to.
i'm kidding seth
you smell good
haha
that was weird to say
Hey Clara--What do you mean by your definition of evil? By saying that, it implies that everyone is evil for we all try to do what's right and fail at times.
but kayln,
i've been hurt before and i know it was not evil
I think that lots of evils plauge our society, I don't think you can really pinpoint it to one evil.
I think that high school does show the same evil. People betray others all the time, although in The Crucible it is more severe but we still feel the desire to fit in, like Mary Warren, and girls will make things up about others to take the attention off of themselves
I agree with seth in that the older you get the more true evil we are capeable of, as children we are so nieve and dont know right from wrong, but as we grow we learn what we can and cant do and when we do something wrong we had the choise to do so
I think Miller thinks that an evil plaguing the society back then, when he wrote it in the 50s, was people censoring what the saw as inapporiate and only allowing the ideas that they wanted through. Like McCarthyism in the 50s and Parris' actions in the Crucible.
I would agree with Seth that high schoolers are more evil than elementary school kids. High schoolers know exactly what we are doing, elementary school kids don't understand the repercussions of their actions.
What defines what is evil?
I think that what people see as right and wrong is also a personal moral thing. It invovles religion, culture, and a lot of other things.
kelsey
i personally think of the devil at the root of it
not in the crazy Puritan way.
Do you guys think that evil is linked with control? If so how?
evil is in the eye of the beholder
Hey Arron--I would say it would have to be "great pain" not average pain.
If someone never percieves themselves as evil, but everyone else does. Does that still mean that person is evil?
Ponder that...
Ray- but doesn't each age group have their own idea of evil? Like in preschool evil would be like stealing someones cookie, which definetly happens. So I think that evil is existant in everyone, it just depends on the perpective.
cate-
evil can be linked to power when the power is abused
like Hitler
or Mugabe
CLARA- do you think Hitler was doing what he thought was right, or what he wanted for himself?
Nicole- I agree. In high school, we are more mature than we were when we are little and even the things we did back then that were wrong, aren't as bad because we didn't really understand what we were doing, but now that we are older, we continue to hurt others, even though we know it is wrong.
Bren- I don't think that there can be a set definition of evil because everyone has a different idea in their minds. Like for instance people who sacrifice thier lives by strapping a bomb to themselves and blowing a place up, they don't think that what they are doing is evil. But then people who aren't part of that culture, they would think that was evil.
Do you believe that evil can be achieved?
If "evil" is merely a perception, is "good" just a perception as well? Can we have good without evil?
Bren~I think that evil is defined by one's society, and the lack of or amount of understanding of other people's ideas and beliefs.
kayln
oh okay
because i've been hurt emotionally and physically but it wasn't evil.
thanx for clarifying.
Aaron- How is Mugabe? And why is he evil?
Maddie H~ I think that if someone truly thinks they are doing thier actions for the better then i dont think they are evil, i think evil is when people themselves know they are doing wrong
nicolek- wow that is really deep! Does that basically mean that the person is only evil if they see themselves as evil?
I think Miller might think that corruption is the evil that plagues our society. In high school, we see corruption everyday in groups: people trying to become the "leader" of their group. On a national scale, if we look at our economy today, it is sparking many arguments throughout the government of division of wealth.
Evil can be acheived but its based on what you think evil is
Can't someone still be evil without killing or stealing something. It is not black and white, there are a lot of grey areas and it is possible for someone to be evil to someone and then completely nice to someone else.
Ms. Leclaire- I don't think we can have evil without good because, then we wouldn't have a negative thing to compare good to.
erin-
to say can evil be contained is kind of depressing, but I think it is always there, and people give into it.
Hey Kristina--
Does it really matter? We all live life to please ourselves; it's only natural.
Arron-- Your totally welcome for the clarificaton.
I think that evil is selfishness and I think our culture still strugles with this evil. You can see this troughout our culture. One simple example is the world of driving. The majority of people when they drive are not exactly thinking about the other person, they only think about themself and where they need to go. This selfishness can often lead to crashes
Maddison,
I think that to that person, they are not evil to themselves. To the other people, they are. If the person learns that what they do is wrong, then perhaps they will change what they do to undo the evil they have donoe
rays and seth- but do you honestly see seventy year old people doing evil things?
Why is selfishness evil? Everyone has to be a little selfish or else wed all be dead.
Nicole- I think evil is a term we have messed with to make it such an extreme. Like the "You don't hate them, you really really dislike them" thing. So I agree that there are gray areas in evil but we tend to think of evil as such an extreme.
whoops, that was for maddie, not maddison. =]
maddie-
Mugabe isn't the greatest example, but he is the dictator of Zimbabwe. He is screwing his country over (the inflation is like 1000%) and he doesn't give up his power. He doesn't see himself as an evil man, but he is, killing his own people. A better example is like Osama bin Laden, or Al-Zarqawi or whatever his last name is
kristina- I think that it depends from person to person. If someone thinks another person is evil then to them, they are. It just depends on the beholder
erino- yeah I guess that is true but I agree with what is said in the inner circle by seth, there is a line that has to be drawn on what is morally incorrect as selfish but there is definately a selfish base in people.
Brennan- I don't think selfishness is evil. I just think it depends on the amount of selfishness you have. If one is too selfish, than they take actions that show their selfishness, which we perceive as evil.
I think that the definition of good and evil are inherent in our society. I think that we have just always had this idea of what is good and what is evil.
Without evil, we would have no need for good. It wouldn't exist. So is evil something that is horrible and we should do without or what?
catherinec-
Anyone can be evil, i think that everyone is born with a sense of evil. It doesnt fade by age, it only stays the same if it doesnt get worse.
Hey everyone-
How about this: evil is the total lack of all morals. Yet, can that really happen? Can someone really loss all natural morals?
nicolek- because there are not many people who will be like "yeah I see my ways as evil" so then is it more of an external input to tell a person when something is evil? Who is to judge what is evil or not, why?
From the Puritans, we have learned that there are extremists in every society. There are those who take a firm stand on something and those who take the opposing stand, and that theses opposites cannot function together without people getting angry.
Ponder that......
catherine~Look at Fidel Castro, he has been a leader for a long time, and even at a very old age he oppressed the people of Cuba.
Erin-
I dont think that anyone can lose complete control of all morals,as that is the way that human beings are put together. I do think though, that we can convice ourselves to MOSTLY ignore what our consicience(thats spelled wrong) tells us to do, if we have some kind of motivation.
maddie-
i will ponder that
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