Evil vs Good

It is generally said that man is naturally good but society corrupts him while on the other hand it is believed that man is naturally bad, selfish, violent, and irresponsible while society keeps all these impasses in check. These are contrary points, both seems equally authentic.

Every person is endowed with these contradictory forces but evil remains dominant. We may quote some literary books to show the prosperity of evil and downfall of good.

Joseph Conrad in his novel heart of darkness favors the view that man is savage at heart and through his major character Kurtz he proves that point. In this novel the protagonist Kurtz is shown as a nice fellow in the beginning who goes to the African continent with the intentions to civilize the natives but after reaching there he himself becomes a savage because he is a man who is worshipped by the natives as a GOD. At the end he becomes a selfish fellow whose main concern was to collect as much ivory as possible. Greed has demoralized him. Walter Allen rightly declared that

Power corrupts man and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

On the African continent law of jungle prevails, loot and asserts are the orders of the day even many other characters of the novel highlights the selfish thoughts and darkness of human heart.

Then William Golding also highlights the evil nature of man and supports his view with reference of his Lord Of The Flies. In Arabic Beelzebub is the name of a Satan, it literary translate into English as lord of the flies. As the title suggests the book is about satanic act and man’s wrong acts in which two contrasting figures Ralph and Jack are prominent ant represents the conflict between good and evil, light and dark, superior and inferior, strategy and kindness, Satan and Adam.

In the opening scene we learn that a group of school boys found themselves alone on an island .All thy boys spend their lives according to their own will on that island because there was no way to return to home. Some follows the wrong or negative desire while others elect the positive way. Some becomes savages and also indulges into murder and killing acts because there is no society to control them and at the end we see there is only the protagonist who remains the only follower of virtue.

Actually evil and good are two opposite forces and naked reality and had a prominent place in the history of English Literature. None of these can be denied even one can see the conflict of evil and good in heaven also of how there was formerly a great war between one group of angles devoted to God (good)and another group of Angles lead by Lucifer(evil) who wish to overthrow GOD. God respond to the destructive challenge of Satan with the creative expression of love. While at the end Satan is hurled down into the bottomless pit to suffer forever and then he plans to take revenge of his insult, he seduces both Adam and Eve and they are expelled from Paradise on the account of their sin.

Milton in paradise lost also defines the same conflict where we can clearly see the downfalls of both Adam and eve who are seduced by evil (Satan)

Of mans first disobedience and the fruit of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste brought about death in the world.
(Paradise lost Book 1)

Imam Gazali has a prominent place in Urdu literature. His views about evil and good are quite relevant who says

"When a man born there are automatically the forces of good and evil, both try to dominate each other now its the function of education to highlight the good forces and dominates the evil."

No doubt man architects his own fate but it is obvious that he looses control over the evil of his nature and clearly starts producing evil as bee produces honey, especially when there is no law to control.