Pierce 1

Sarah Gentry
21/May, 2016
Ap English
Pierce
Perception of good and evil

There is an idea that good and evil do not exist and are a perception of the human brain.
That essentially no good and evil in the universe but everything just is, it just exists but good
and evil is based on perception. So, the perception of good and evil depends on the one
perceiving it. If you perceive something as good, then it is good, If you perceive something as
evil, then it is evil, yet to someone else these things may be the opposite. In the books Crime and
Punishment, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and The Picture Of Dorian Grey, the charters perception
on what is good and what is evil are usually ambiguous and hard to tell if the know the difference
and just don't care or if they truly think what they are doing is right. The idea of good and evil is
a judgment. Something that is good may seem to be worth more than what is evil. But what is
good can be seen as doing something evil but with the right intentions, like murder or theft, or
other things the most people would think is evil and believing that what you did was correct and
good. In some cases, like with crime and punishment, it can all be due to deluding one's morale
to avoid guilt and make not only yourself believe that you are innocent but others as well.
A prime example of the idea of good and bad can come from the bible, in two separate
areas, there is the case of God and the Devil, where one is seen as the ultimate good and the other
is seen as the ultimate evil, yet some people who debate on whether the Devil is really all that
bad or if he has just been misperceived to be bad. The Devil is believed to also have been known
as lucifer, some people who seem to believe that he was an angel who was cast out of heaven

Pierce 2

because he did not want to love man more than god, now most people see this as a falsity
because God is good and great and would not punish someone for love, there are others who
believe that Lucifer was cast from heaven because he tried to be better than God and tried to
overthrow him so he could be God. The whole deal with Lucifer being a fallen angel and how it
happens is never thoroughly stated and only hints like And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as
lightning fall from heaven (Luke 10:18). but there is not much saying how lucifer fell or what
caused it, or if he were even an angel in the first place.
The is also the story of Adam and Eve, the first humans ever made. When adam and eve
were made they were allowed to live in the garden of eden, or paradise, with the only rule being
they could not eat from the tree in the center of the garden. They obeyed for a time, but one day a
serpent, who is said to represent the devil, came to Eve and bade her to eat the fruit that she
should have the right to and telling her that God was hiding greatness from her, and that she
should not be made to stay in ignorance. So, she bit into the fruit, and nothing happened, she was
confused but liked the fruit and got adam to take a bite as well. When he took a bite, the true
world and all its evils and horrors were made known to them, and god came down, punished
them and banished them from the garden. Now, it is debatable on whether or not the serpent was
there or if he was an inner voice of eve, who believed that partaking in the fruit would be okay
and was attempting to trick or justify herself in doing this, very similar to how Dorian Gray is in
his story.
The Picture of Dorian grey is a philosophical novel written by Oscar Wilde in the 1890s.
In the novel Dorian is having a painting done by Basil Hallward, who has painted him before but
is not painting him as he truly is, but when Basil's friend Lord henry shows up and starts talking
with Dorian about life, morality, and the inevitable end of all things young and beautiful, Dorian

Pierce 3

gets upset and frantic when he sees the painting, young, and beautiful, almost mocking him with
the fact that while he may change and grow old and ugly, the painting would forever stay young
and beautiful, and even after Dorian himself is gone, the painting will still be around to remind
others of how he once was. In a fit Dorian curses the painting, promising his soul if only the
painting would take on all the sins and age that would otherwise be put onto him, if he could just
stay beautiful as he is now. After his fit Lord Henry insists that he take the painting, but Basil
says that it is for Dorian.
After this first meeting Dorian begins to take after Lord Henrys idea of Hedonism,
which is the pursuit of self-happiness and self indulgence, and he begins to go out late and night,
and use his beauty for him, he stops caring for others and how he affects them. The most obvious
case with this is his relationship with Sybil Vane.
Dorian meets Sybil in a seedy little theater that does shakespeare plays, she is playing the
part of Juliet and seems to be the only one on stage who is enjoying being on stage, and he falls
for her, at least her looks and who she is on stage. At first it seems like he truly does love her and
he may but he really only loves her because she is everything he seems in himself but with an
innocence in her that is untainted. The only problem with this is that she is unable to understand
his cynicism and harsh comments, often being hurt by them. This continues on until the real
world catches up and Sybil commits suicide after hearing more harsh comments from Dorian,
Dorian reacts by feeling a brief feeling of guilt before brushing it off, having no care in the world
for what had happened to her, even believing that it had nothing to do with him because he is
perfect.
Another example of a relationship that shows his grey morale is with Basil Hallward, the
painter. Basil Hallward is a great example of one of Dorian's friends who see Dorian's actions as

Pierce 4

being bad. He does not see Dorian has a bad person, but as a mislead and confused boy who
made the wrong choices. This is made obvious by Basil comments to him "Mind you, I do not
believe these rumours at all. At least, I cannot believe them when I see you. Sin is a thing that
writes itself across a man's face. It cannot be concealed. People talk sometimes of secret vices.
no such things. If a wretched man has a vice, it shows itself in the lines of his mouth, the droop
of his eyelids, the moulding of his hands even" (12.8). Basil is an extreme on the end where he
sees the bad in the actions but can only see good in dorian, simply because he can not see an
visible sin on him. He also cannot see the obvious bad in there other mutual friend, Lord Henry
Wotton.
If Basil is the one who sees the good of Dorian that Lord Henry most definitely sees the evil
and corrupts it, changing Dorians perceptions on good and evil at the same time. Lord Henry is a
self-centered, egotistical, man who cares for nothing and no one, unless the can make his life
more interesting, not even batting an eye when Basil goes missing, even saying that the other
man is simply to boring to be murdered. When he first meets Dorian he knows the young man is
impressionable and uses that to his advantage for no other reason than he finds it funny and
believes it would be an interesting addition to his life. This proves to be true as even after he
finds Dorain to be boring he stays with him, solely because he feels as though it is due to him
that Dorian has turned out as he has. Lord Henry doesn't even really consider Dorian a friend, but
as a social experiment, a successful one as he sees Dorain as a reflection of himself, sans one
thing he did not expect Dorian to have, likely because he doesn't have one himself, a conscience.
While Dorian does not experience guilt often there a a few select times where he begins to
question himself, the first case being with Sybil's suicide, where he only felt guilt briefly, then
again when he murders Basil.

Pierce 5

The truest and most honest emotion we ever see from him is when he enters a fit of rage
at the painting that now shows his true from, that of an ugly, bitter and aged man, whose every
sin is etched into his face, in his rage and attempt to kill the painting that shows his true, evil self,
that he is just know seeing and acknowledging.In the end when he stabs the offending painting
he ends up killing himself and changing into the disgusting figure the painting had shown before.
Dorian's character probably has one of the most interesting changes of what is good and
what is evil then any other book character written , in the start he is hesitant when henry explains
his way of living, seeing some things as cruel, but slowly goes on to think differently believing
that what he does is okay as long as he himself doesn't end up injured, and in the end it's seems
that the painting was a representation of his sins and evils that he refused to notice, he was
battling his inner demons. Dorian Gray ideas of good and evil fall into a gray category as he
never outright says that what he does is good or bad, he simply doesn't care.
A man who is very similar to Dorian is one Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov,or Rask,
from the novel Crime and Punishment. Crime and Punishment was written in 1866 by russian
author, Fyodor Dostoevsky.
The book follows Raskolnikov a poor, former student who is now living in a poor beat up
garret at the top of a set of apartment buildings. In the start of the novel Task, is debating on
whether or not to kill the old pawn women, and after several well timed coincidences he comes
to the conclusion that he is meant to kill the elderly lady, it is the right thing and will benefit
multiple people, like a group that will gain money, the other people she has scammed or cheated
money from, and her younger sister who is basically her serevent, whom rask ends up killing
because she arrived home earlier than he expected.

Pierce 6

While at first Rask is convinced that what he did was right and morale, simply for the
reasons he did it, there are times where even he begins to doubt in himself and question if what
he did was right and good, but he always manages to delude himself into thinking that he is right
and what he did was good, so what if he killed someone, the weren't a good person and no one
really liked her much anyways,so why would it be a bad thing. He worries himself sick and crazy
over this, growing suspicious that everyone will find out and the wont be able to see it the same
way he does, they wont understand that what he did was not a crime.
He also sees being good as being weak, whenever he offers help or assistance to those
who needs it he often belittles himself or them afterwards, not understanding why he would go
and do something like that, that it's a waste, who is he really helping, and how stupid he is for
doing these things. Like when he gave the family whose father got run over in the street money,
or when he slips Sonya, the girl he falls in love with money.
When he confesses to Sonya about what he did, he seems guilty, but it is more than likely
that it is coming from all the heat that has come across him as a suspect, though most reasons are
due to his feverish and drunk ramblings, leading him to say things that he normally wouldn't, due
to their incriminating nature, it's almost as though while his brain thinks what he did was good,
his heart knows that it was wrong. In the end Sonya convinces him to tell everyone that he was
the one to do it, not because what he did was wrong but to clear away the guilt he felt.
Raskolnikov is similar to Dorian because he has those feelings of guilt, and often to, yet does
not feel remorse for what it is that he has done. It is obvious in the beginning of the story that
Rask is not the healthiest of men, at least mentally, with social awkwardness and what seems like
a lack of care, which could make his struggles with basing what is good and what is bad to to
sociopathic tendencies, that make it harder to tell that line of good and evil, especially when one

Pierce 7

believes himself to be in the right. This is opposed to Dorian whose views are corrupted, and way
different from the messed up life of one, Dr. Jekyll.
Dr. Jekyll is the main character of the novel, Dr.Jekyll and mr. Hydeby Robert Louis
Stevenson in 1886. The whole basis of the story actually comes right from the idea that Good
and Evil both exist in a person, and if there is a way to split the two. Dr. jekyll finds the answer
to this and manages to create a formula, one that makes all of his evils combine together to form
his evil alter ego, who is know as Mr. Hyde.
Dr.Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are polar opposites, but yet are a different side to the same
person. Dr. Jekyll is a normal looking, calm, and nice person, while Mr. Hyde is an ugly, rude,
and monsterish person, who has no care for others and the damage that he may cause. While Dr.
Jekyll is seen as the good side even he can be seen as slightly evil as he soon craves for the
darkness and horrible acts that he commits as Mr. Hyde and almost seems to convince himself
that it is okay, because while it maybe a form of him, it is not actually him who is committing
these heinous acts. In the end of the novel we find Mr. hyde dead, wearing jeykells clothes and it
is learned in a letter from jekyll that hyde had become the dominant personality, that his evil side
was winning.
So while this book unlike the other to, seems to support the idea that good and evil
actually exist and that we have a choice of who to be and what path to follow, that we can choose
whether we are good or evil, that in every good person there is a touch of darkness, but a evil and
corrupt person there is only darkness and someone who cares not for what is right or what is
wrong, or maybe even cannot tell the line between the two.
In all of the novels above, the protagonist struggles with parts of themselves that feel like
what they are doing is right and knowing or feeling as though it is wrong, yet in the very end

Pierce 8

they all fail because of the guilt or simply because they are being selfish or they lose control
because of the situation. All the characters are not necessarily bad, but they are by no means
good and righteous, maybe mislead and confused, but not completely evil. Each charter has a
diffrent idea of what is good and evil, what right or wrong is and how it relates to them.

Sources
"Secrets of Mind and Reality - Mind Reality.com." There Is No Good and Evil except in
Perception. Web. 25 May 2016.
HTTPS://WWW.PSYCHOLOGYTODAY.COM

Pierce 9

HTTPS://WWW.PSYCHOLOGYTODAY.COM/BLOG/OUT-THE-DARKNESS/201308/THEREAL-MEANING-GOOD-AND-EVIL
HTTPS://WWW.PSYCHOLOGYTODAY.COM/BLOG/TRAVERSING-THE-INNERTERRAIN/201201/THE-GOOD-EVIL-COMPLEX
"There Is Nothing Either Good or Bad But Thinking Makes It So." Psychology Today. Web. 25
May 2016.
Stevenson, Robert Louis. Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. New York: John B. Alden,
1893. Print.
Dostoyevsky, Fyodor, and David Magarshack. Crime and Punishment. Harmondsworth,
Middlesex: Penguin, 1951. Print.
Wilde, Oscar, and Gina D. B. Clemen. The Picture of Dorian Grey. Munchen: Langenscheidt
ELT., 2008. Print.
"Are We Naturally Good or Bad?" BBC. Web. 25 May 2016.
"Morality Of Wisdom: There Is No Such Thing As Good Or Bad
LonerWolf."LonerWolf. 2014. Web. 25 May 2016.