The Dichotomy Between Bad and Evil

Exploring The Moral Abyss

B. N. Dent

GOOD VS EVIL IS AN EXPRESSION THAT MOST OF US WOULD NOT BE SHY TO. From one place or another, you would have heard this phrase and potentially some of the paradoxes that encompass it. Such anomalies include the idea that no one person can be 100% good or 100% evil, and thus, the notions of pure evil or pure goodness are simply non-existent manifestations.

Nevertheless, I find the chasm between good and evil to be relatively boring as it is just too straightforward. Sure, sometimes variations in perspectives and intentions can lead to a deed that one person might see as evil being regarded as virtuous by someone else. But as a whole, labelling an action as good or evil is black and white for the average individual.

So instead, let’s focus on a divide that is not so easy to define – the dichotomy between bad and evil. When does someone or something go from being bad to evil? Is it when an individual goes from receiving a drill to a Saturday? Or is it more complex than that? Upon asking Thesaurus.com for synonyms for evil, bad is the first response that pops up. Logically, this alignment makes sense as ‘evil’ is essentially the proceeding progression of ‘bad’ along the spectrum of morality. It is precisely this close association that deeply complicates the task of differentiating between the two. 

A rational way to bisect these terms would be to determine the focal point where someone transcends being of bad nature, and transitions into the realm of evil. However, envisioning this point is very difficult, and instead I find it easier to look at historical or fictional characters, judge them as bad or evil, and then observe their characteristics. 

A character who perfectly encapsulates the idea of evil is Anton Chigurh from the 2007 neo-western film No Country for Old Men. Many critics argue that Chigurh is the best representation of a true psychopath ever showcased in film. The foundations for this claim come from not only Javier Bardem’s academy award winning portrayal of the character, but also the excellent writing of Chigurh. To give you an idea of his character, if killing a random person would allow him to complete his mission just five minutes earlier, he would take that opportunity without batting an eye.

Anton Chigurh, No Country for Old Men

On the flipside, a character who is a good representation of ‘bad’ morality is Lord Farquaad from the Shrek franchise. Farquaad has a poor moral compass and lacks empathy, which leads him to make decisions that directly hurt others, irrespective of their feelings. However, there is a clear degree of self-awareness within his character which is reflected in the reasonably low degree of atrocity in his actions.

I think that the key factors that differentiate ‘bad’ from ‘evil’ are remorse and self-awareness. When I consider all of the evil characters I have observed, they all share an intense lack of regard for the consequences of their own actions and their subsequent effects on other individuals. So, to sum up where I believe that bad transcends into evil, consider this masterfully constructed quote from English author Sir Terence Pratchett: “Evil begins when you begin to treat people as things.”