i think that it is possible to witness evil but remain good, although it is probably very hard. i think that once you witness evil, you have an instinct to go along with the iniquity and become evil yourself. however, if you have a great deal of willpower i think that joining in the evil is preventable. if you have enough power to turn away from the evil, then you can still remain good. it is possible (although difficult) to remain good after witnessing evil, but i think that you cannot witness evil without being majorly effected by it. seeing evil destroys your innocence, and once that is gone, you can never be the same again. witnessing a peccancy will prove to one that there is evil in the world and that many people are corrupt. once you see that/understand that, there is no way that you can continue living in blissful ignorance. for instance, when Goodman Brown saw the evil ritual taking place, he himself did not join in (thus, he didn't become evil) but he was never himself again. he was always tortured with the knowledge that people that were close to him, people he considered pious and generally "good," where in fact wicked, and participated in evil doings. i have one last concluding example. (this might be stretching it a little, and i don't mean to get religious, but i think this example does work.) Mother Teresa saw witnessed evil every day. she saw the evil that was done to the poor and sick of India, and other countries. yet she herself did not become evil. however, although she remained good, she was greatly effected by the evil she witnesses. she was effected so severely that she even questioned her God, whom she supposedly dedicated her life to. (recently letters from Mother Teresa have been found expressing her doubts in God) so, in summary you can witness evil and remain good, but you cannot witness evil and remain innocent.
I agree with Catherine that witnessing evil does not necessarily cause you to become evil. However, it will most likely permanently affect you. It is very easy to go along with what people around you accept as okay, but as long as you acknowledge that the things around you are evil, i don't you would become evil. I think being evil is a predilection that you are born with, and witnessing something evil might bring this out in a person. But even if witnessing these things does not make you evil, I think you will be changed forever. Although I don't really have any personal experiences, I believe that, like in the case of Goodman Brown, these types of experiences would stay with a person forever. It changed him a lot and he was never himself again. I also agree with Catherine that witnessing evil would forever rob a person of their innocence. A major part of you would be gone, and affect you deeply and, mostly likely, permanently. Overall, I believe that witnessing evil would either bring out the evil that was already inside a person, or permanently affect a person by destroying their innocence and views on the world.
I would say that one can certainly witness evil without subsequently becoming a participant in evil. It certainly depends on the context of the evil witnessed: In goodman, Brown's case, his whole world was falling apart at the seams to evil. For many to give in to evil behavior would be the path of least resistance, but goodman Brown does not give in. Goodman is an example of a person who doesn't give in despite his catastrophically disruptive witness of the whole town's (and even more people's) participation in an evil ritual. People like Brown can remain good despite having their whole life overturned and redefined by evil. However, Brown lives out the rest of his days in silent desperation, dying a miserable man. Many, of course, witness smaller occurrences of evil which one can see past. The likelihood of one giving in to evil rests upon the severity of the evil, as well as how much one is shocked by the evil. With Goodman Brown's case, he looks up to the preacher and the whole of the town, and would never have foreseen evil in them. So when this entire group and more commits such a heinous act as he witnessed, he must choose between giving in to evil and going against the mentality of the whole town. He chooses virtue over conformity and happiness in society, but many could have made the other decision. It is certainly possible to witness evil and remain good, but it is equally possible for a person to choose the other path having witnessed evil. As with many questions, it depends from situation to situation whether or not an individual will remain good.
I agree with Cat in that it is possible to witness evil but remain good, yet I definitely believe that it would dramatically change you in some way. First of all, in order to witness evil, one must recognize that it is in fact evil and against your own values. Once recognized, I'm sure that it would be difficult in itself to realize that 'evil' is so prevalent in the world, especially enough for you to see it. With Young Goodman Brown, he's stunned when he recognizes everyone he sees at the evil gathering in the woods. To think that his sweet wife and seemingly moral neighbors could do such a thing changes his whole perception of the world he lives in, and whether he really understands his day to day life. He never got over this fact that everyone is not who they appear to be, and let the knowledge he acquired take over his life, dying miserably. In a sense, Brown didn't really remain "good", but he didn't become “evil”. He seemed paranoid and alone after the scene in the woods, and I think this is proof that evil always changes situations, but not necessarily by mirroring itself. The evil one witnessed will always be in the back of one's mind, but can really lend itself to new emotions and thoughts. Someone could become more motivated to rid the world of evil, like Cat’s example of Mother Teresa. They could also live a life of cynicism and doubt over the evil that lurked throughout, like Brown. Overall, I think witnessing evil does not mean becoming evil. I think that witnessing evil heightens a person’s ability to question the world, and where they belong in it, because evil itself destroys the good in the world. What different kinds of people take into consideration is that evil either destroys the good in the world completely, or it can only do so much before their own human morality attempts to change it.
I agree with the general opinion that it is possible to remain good when exposed to evil; however, it will have a huge of impact on your life. Observing evil can either take away some of your innocence or strip you of it. This is a horrible thing to have happen because you will never be the same again. Even just noting that evil is there can affect you. Curiosity may be a factor in this. Also, although witnessing evil may seem to have a negative impact on one, it also teaches us what not to do and lets us decide for our self. For example, when Young Goodman Brown witnesses the evil ritual he only observes, never actually changes his ways or participating in it himself. By seeing evil, one can show their true strength as an individual. This relates to me agreeing with Amy in that we all have some evil part inside of us but it is our decision as to whether it comes out. An instance like Young Goodman Brown's could be the factor that unleashes it. Overall, I feel as though witnessing evil does not necessarily mean one becomes evil but that person will question what there beliefs are and wonder why what they believe in is correct.
I agree that it is possible for one to witness evil but remain good. However, I do believe that once you witness some form of evil, you are changed. Before a person witnesses evil, they tend to live their life thinking all in the world is good. In other words, if one has not encountered evil or realized there is evil, they have a "innocence" about them. As Cat said, you change after witnessing evil because it makes you see that not all people are good, and furthermore, it destroys your innocence. Digging deeper into this topic, I'd like to say that I feel there is evil among each of us, and it is brought out when something triggers it, as opposed to an outside force inflicting evil upon us. Only a strong person can avoid it, whereas those who are weak fall to evil. Overall, witnessing evil opens one's eyes to the corruption in life and shows that not everyone is innocent. For example, in Young Goodman Brown, Goodman Brown saw people he knew at the evil ritual (like the preacher) who he had believed to be good, innocent people. In conclusion, it is possible to witness evil but remain good.
In some cases, one can witness evil in remain good, like if one were to see a small evil, or just everyday evil. What Goodman Brown saw was completely different; he saw people he respected and trusted, and even his loving wife, worshiping the devil. That is far too much evil to ever live a normal life again, especially in the time where people believed in witches and magic. Goodman brown can never again look at anyone in his town or his wife in the same way. Even if it was a dream, it changed his life forever. However, I don't really believe that this kind of evil exists. I don't think there is a Satan, so in the world I live in, one can get over the small evils he sees. But even in my world, there are still some cases where one could witness evil far too great to fully recover from. If I had lived through something like the holocaust, or any other extremely awful time, my life would probably be forever changed. I know people did live during the holocaust, and it happened, and the world is progressing, so people did recover from it. But I would bet that many people who participated in any way in the holocaust would be seen as evil, and even people who witnessed it and are not evil people were changed by it. To sort of sum up my post, I believe that in Goodman Brown's case, he can never recover from the evil he witnessed because of the enormous scale of it. In everyday life though, people can remain good though they witness some evils. But like in Goodman Brown's case, large enough evil, if it does not make someone evil, will forever change most people.
Evil, like power, corrupts the individual. Once on has witnessed evil, one cannot help but see evil everywhere, and to have evil ideas. Witnessing evil does not necessarily cause one to become evil; however, it permeates one's mind and shows its face at all times. a person who has witnessed evil can continue to have good actions and good intentions. But the innocence that was once there is now gone. Once one has witnessed evil evil actions become options. From there, there is no turning back. As the saying goes (and is often so well represented by monkeys), "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". So while witnessing evil does not cause eon to become evil, it certainly gives one the propensity to commit evil. Also, as Michael seemed to be getting towards (or maybe not), who are we to decide what is evil?Since the universe is nothing but perception, here is no ultimate evil or ultimate good. There are actions that are beneficial to onself and to the world, and some that aren't, but that is all. I guess this means that if one can witness evil but maintian one's own perception, and continue to act out on good, than one will remain good. But if one's perception is twisted so that the evil appear good and vice versa, than this person is sure to become evil.
I basically agree with what other people have said. I think that it is possible to be good even when you have witnessed evil, though it may be difficult. Of course, it is impossible for anyone to be completely good. Humans by nature will commit evil acts, even if they still have their innocence. Just look at children playing at the playground. Chances are you'll see them fight over things and hurt each other. It is impossible to get around committing evil acts, but that doesn't mean that one cannot do good amongst the evil.
i believe that it is completely possible to witness evil but remain good, i would even go so far as to say that witnessing evil may even inspire good. evil is obviously an unavoidable reality in todays society and thus, it can be concluded that good can still take place, especially since we see it everyday. however i agree with several of my classmates in their opinions that evil may not forever turn one evil, but it is also apparent that evil stays with you forever. this is a very prominent idea that was portrayed in Young Goodman Brown, especially given how his negative experiences stay with him. brown's experiences did stay with him and effect him as a person, however they do not completely turn him off from doing good ever again. therefore in the end, although evil may change a person's outlook and feelings, they still always posses the ability to do good.
I think this depends a lot on what mean by good. If goodness is innocence then the answer is most likely no. Once you have been exposed to anything it is very difficult to just forget it and live as though it never happened. This is no different with evil and actually, is probably more so. I do think that you can become a better person in the sense of being wise. You can learn from your encounter what is wrong and strive to avoid it from that point on. Some might say it is easier to live in the right if you know what is wrong. This is similar to how Goodman Brown reacted in the short story. Once he “saw” evil he lived his life as a pious old man. But, similarly to Goodman Brown I think it is hard to be good in regards to you temperament. When you look upon evil it is hard to see goodness in the world around you. Like Goodman Brown you may become bitter and distrustful, however, it is possible that you may not.
I think that it is possible to witness evil and still remain good. Like Meghan said, I think it also may be possible to inspire more good by witnessing evil. Take 9/11 for example. That was a horrible act of evil that has scared our country forever. Though after it occurred people came together to help each other through that difficult time. The world really came together and helped each other, offered support and kindness.I know that I may have got a little off track there, but I'm trying to say that even though evil is an unavoidable presence in our world people can still remain good after witnessing it. I do believe that witnessing evil leaves an unavoidable mark on a person and sometimes does have the capability of changing a person like Young Goodman Brown. He saw such a horrible act of evil that it forever changed him. But I believe that the amount evil effects a person also depends on the individual that witnessed the evil. But anyway, back to what I was saying to begin with, I believe that it is possible for a person to witness evil and still remain good.
12 comments:
i think that it is possible to witness evil but remain good, although it is probably very hard. i think that once you witness evil, you have an instinct to go along with the iniquity and become evil yourself. however, if you have a great deal of willpower i think that joining in the evil is preventable. if you have enough power to turn away from the evil, then you can still remain good. it is possible (although difficult) to remain good after witnessing evil, but i think that you cannot witness evil without being majorly effected by it. seeing evil destroys your innocence, and once that is gone, you can never be the same again. witnessing a peccancy will prove to one that there is evil in the world and that many people are corrupt. once you see that/understand that, there is no way that you can continue living in blissful ignorance. for instance, when Goodman Brown saw the evil ritual taking place, he himself did not join in (thus, he didn't become evil) but he was never himself again. he was always tortured with the knowledge that people that were close to him, people he considered pious and generally "good," where in fact wicked, and participated in evil doings. i have one last concluding example. (this might be stretching it a little, and i don't mean to get religious, but i think this example does work.) Mother Teresa saw witnessed evil every day. she saw the evil that was done to the poor and sick of India, and other countries. yet she herself did not become evil. however, although she remained good, she was greatly effected by the evil she witnesses. she was effected so severely that she even questioned her God, whom she supposedly dedicated her life to. (recently letters from Mother Teresa have been found expressing her doubts in God) so, in summary you can witness evil and remain good, but you cannot witness evil and remain innocent.
I agree with Catherine that witnessing evil does not necessarily cause you to become evil. However, it will most likely permanently affect you. It is very easy to go along with what people around you accept as okay, but as long as you acknowledge that the things around you are evil, i don't you would become evil. I think being evil is a predilection that you are born with, and witnessing something evil might bring this out in a person. But even if witnessing these things does not make you evil, I think you will be changed forever. Although I don't really have any personal experiences, I believe that, like in the case of Goodman Brown, these types of experiences would stay with a person forever. It changed him a lot and he was never himself again. I also agree with Catherine that witnessing evil would forever rob a person of their innocence. A major part of you would be gone, and affect you deeply and, mostly likely, permanently. Overall, I believe that witnessing evil would either bring out the evil that was already inside a person, or permanently affect a person by destroying their innocence and views on the world.
I would say that one can certainly witness evil without subsequently becoming a participant in evil. It certainly depends on the context of the evil witnessed: In goodman, Brown's case, his whole world was falling apart at the seams to evil. For many to give in to evil behavior would be the path of least resistance, but goodman Brown does not give in. Goodman is an example of a person who doesn't give in despite his catastrophically disruptive witness of the whole town's (and even more people's) participation in an evil ritual. People like Brown can remain good despite having their whole life overturned and redefined by evil. However, Brown lives out the rest of his days in silent desperation, dying a miserable man. Many, of course, witness smaller occurrences of evil which one can see past. The likelihood of one giving in to evil rests upon the severity of the evil, as well as how much one is shocked by the evil. With Goodman Brown's case, he looks up to the preacher and the whole of the town, and would never have foreseen evil in them. So when this entire group and more commits such a heinous act as he witnessed, he must choose between giving in to evil and going against the mentality of the whole town. He chooses virtue over conformity and happiness in society, but many could have made the other decision. It is certainly possible to witness evil and remain good, but it is equally possible for a person to choose the other path having witnessed evil. As with many questions, it depends from situation to situation whether or not an individual will remain good.
I agree with Cat in that it is possible to witness evil but remain good, yet I definitely believe that it would dramatically change you in some way. First of all, in order to witness evil, one must recognize that it is in fact evil and against your own values. Once recognized, I'm sure that it would be difficult in itself to realize that 'evil' is so prevalent in the world, especially enough for you to see it. With Young Goodman Brown, he's stunned when he recognizes everyone he sees at the evil gathering in the woods. To think that his sweet wife and seemingly moral neighbors could do such a thing changes his whole perception of the world he lives in, and whether he really understands his day to day life. He never got over this fact that everyone is not who they appear to be, and let the knowledge he acquired take over his life, dying miserably. In a sense, Brown didn't really remain "good", but he didn't become “evil”. He seemed paranoid and alone after the scene in the woods, and I think this is proof that evil always changes situations, but not necessarily by mirroring itself. The evil one witnessed will always be in the back of one's mind, but can really lend itself to new emotions and thoughts. Someone could become more motivated to rid the world of evil, like Cat’s example of Mother Teresa. They could also live a life of cynicism and doubt over the evil that lurked throughout, like Brown. Overall, I think witnessing evil does not mean becoming evil. I think that witnessing evil heightens a person’s ability to question the world, and where they belong in it, because evil itself destroys the good in the world. What different kinds of people take into consideration is that evil either destroys the good in the world completely, or it can only do so much before their own human morality attempts to change it.
I agree with the general opinion that it is possible to remain good when exposed to evil; however, it will have a huge of impact on your life. Observing evil can either take away some of your innocence or strip you of it. This is a horrible thing to have happen because you will never be the same again. Even just noting that evil is there can affect you. Curiosity may be a factor in this. Also, although witnessing evil may seem to have a negative impact on one, it also teaches us what not to do and lets us decide for our self. For example, when Young Goodman Brown witnesses the evil ritual he only observes, never actually changes his ways or participating in it himself. By seeing evil, one can show their true strength as an individual. This relates to me agreeing with Amy in that we all have some evil part inside of us but it is our decision as to whether it comes out. An instance like Young Goodman Brown's could be the factor that unleashes it.
Overall, I feel as though witnessing evil does not necessarily mean one becomes evil but that person will question what there beliefs are and wonder why what they believe in is correct.
I agree that it is possible for one to witness evil but remain good. However, I do believe that once you witness some form of evil, you are changed. Before a person witnesses evil, they tend to live their life thinking all in the world is good. In other words, if one has not encountered evil or realized there is evil, they have a "innocence" about them. As Cat said, you change after witnessing evil because it makes you see that not all people are good, and furthermore, it destroys your innocence. Digging deeper into this topic, I'd like to say that I feel there is evil among each of us, and it is brought out when something triggers it, as opposed to an outside force inflicting evil upon us. Only a strong person can avoid it, whereas those who are weak fall to evil. Overall, witnessing evil opens one's eyes to the corruption in life and shows that not everyone is innocent. For example, in Young Goodman Brown, Goodman Brown saw people he knew at the evil ritual (like the preacher) who he had believed to be good, innocent people. In conclusion, it is possible to witness evil but remain good.
In some cases, one can witness evil in remain good, like if one were to see a small evil, or just everyday evil. What Goodman Brown saw was completely different; he saw people he respected and trusted, and even his loving wife, worshiping the devil. That is far too much evil to ever live a normal life again, especially in the time where people believed in witches and magic. Goodman brown can never again look at anyone in his town or his wife in the same way. Even if it was a dream, it changed his life forever.
However, I don't really believe that this kind of evil exists. I don't think there is a Satan, so in the world I live in, one can get over the small evils he sees. But even in my world, there are still some cases where one could witness evil far too great to fully recover from. If I had lived through something like the holocaust, or any other extremely awful time, my life would probably be forever changed. I know people did live during the holocaust, and it happened, and the world is progressing, so people did recover from it. But I would bet that many people who participated in any way in the holocaust would be seen as evil, and even people who witnessed it and are not evil people were changed by it.
To sort of sum up my post, I believe that in Goodman Brown's case, he can never recover from the evil he witnessed because of the enormous scale of it. In everyday life though, people can remain good though they witness some evils. But like in Goodman Brown's case, large enough evil, if it does not make someone evil, will forever change most people.
Evil, like power, corrupts the individual. Once on has witnessed evil, one cannot help but see evil everywhere, and to have evil ideas. Witnessing evil does not necessarily cause one to become evil; however, it permeates one's mind and shows its face at all times. a person who has witnessed evil can continue to have good actions and good intentions. But the innocence that was once there is now gone. Once one has witnessed evil evil actions become options. From there, there is no turning back. As the saying goes (and is often so well represented by monkeys), "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil". So while witnessing evil does not cause eon to become evil, it certainly gives one the propensity to commit evil.
Also, as Michael seemed to be getting towards (or maybe not), who are we to decide what is evil?Since the universe is nothing but perception, here is no ultimate evil or ultimate good. There are actions that are beneficial to onself and to the world, and some that aren't, but that is all. I guess this means that if one can witness evil but maintian one's own perception, and continue to act out on good, than one will remain good. But if one's perception is twisted so that the evil appear good and vice versa, than this person is sure to become evil.
I basically agree with what other people have said. I think that it is possible to be good even when you have witnessed evil, though it may be difficult. Of course, it is impossible for anyone to be completely good. Humans by nature will commit evil acts, even if they still have their innocence. Just look at children playing at the playground. Chances are you'll see them fight over things and hurt each other. It is impossible to get around committing evil acts, but that doesn't mean that one cannot do good amongst the evil.
i believe that it is completely possible to witness evil but remain good, i would even go so far as to say that witnessing evil may even inspire good. evil is obviously an unavoidable reality in todays society and thus, it can be concluded that good can still take place, especially since we see it everyday. however i agree with several of my classmates in their opinions that evil may not forever turn one evil, but it is also apparent that evil stays with you forever. this is a very prominent idea that was portrayed in Young Goodman Brown, especially given how his negative experiences stay with him. brown's experiences did stay with him and effect him as a person, however they do not completely turn him off from doing good ever again. therefore in the end, although evil may change a person's outlook and feelings, they still always posses the ability to do good.
I think this depends a lot on what mean by good. If goodness is innocence then the answer is most likely no. Once you have been exposed to anything it is very difficult to just forget it and live as though it never happened. This is no different with evil and actually, is probably more so. I do think that you can become a better person in the sense of being wise. You can learn from your encounter what is wrong and strive to avoid it from that point on. Some might say it is easier to live in the right if you know what is wrong. This is similar to how Goodman Brown reacted in the short story. Once he “saw” evil he lived his life as a pious old man. But, similarly to Goodman Brown I think it is hard to be good in regards to you temperament. When you look upon evil it is hard to see goodness in the world around you. Like Goodman Brown you may become bitter and distrustful, however, it is possible that you may not.
I think that it is possible to witness evil and still remain good. Like Meghan said, I think it also may be possible to inspire more good by witnessing evil. Take 9/11 for example. That was a horrible act of evil that has scared our country forever. Though after it occurred people came together to help each other through that difficult time. The world really came together and helped each other, offered support and kindness.I know that I may have got a little off track there, but I'm trying to say that even though evil is an unavoidable presence in our world people can still remain good after witnessing it. I do believe that witnessing evil leaves an unavoidable mark on a person and sometimes does have the capability of changing a person like Young Goodman Brown. He saw such a horrible act of evil that it forever changed him. But I believe that the amount evil effects a person also depends on the individual that witnessed the evil. But anyway, back to what I was saying to begin with, I believe that it is possible for a person to witness evil and still remain good.
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