Microsoft Word final-current Developments at the Intersection of British Children-online-version doc

4.2
 
Evil 
Besides magic, evil is one of the most traditional elements not only of children’s 
literature, but of literature in general. In fantasy in particular, the polarisation of good and evil 
is a very distinct and prominent feature. A bedrock as it were, the dichotomy of the highest-
ranking ethical categories
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of good and evil contains and permeates all central elements such 
as the structure, plot, characters, moral and social criticism.
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In its function as a moral 
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Kulik, Nils. Das Gute und das Böse in der phantastischen Kinder- und Jugendliteratur. Frankfurt/ Main: 
Lang, 2005, p. 5.
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The concept of good and evil in fantasy literature is subject to the prevailing value system of society, i.e. its 
topical ideology. Consequently, over time, the interpretation of good and evil requires readjustment to the 
changing reality of society. 

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guideline, the current attitude
advocated by society regulates acceptable behaviour on the one 
hand and reprehensible behaviour on the other hand. Obviously,
due to the interrelation 
between society and its literature, statements made in form of the nature of literary main 
characters comment on the situation of society and vice versa. For this reason, great 
importance is attached to the judgment of fictional characters on the basis of the above-
mentioned parameters.
Eternal confrontation between the binary poles of good and evil is the central thread 
running through the history of mankind, and it is against this background that literary and 
historical heroes and villains raise and fall. Above all, fantasy literature reflects those 
tensions, presents, adapts and interprets them in manifold ways. Be it God and Satan, Cain 
and Abel, Beowulf and Grendel, or, more recently, Gandalf and Saruman, Luke Skywalker 
and Darth Vader, Harry Potter and Voldemort, the formula appears universal. Over the 
millennia, the polarised antagonism of personified good and evil has revealed a very stable 
essence, vital for both structure and form of modern fantasy literature.