Pure Evil vs. Situational Evil

This post will deal with two archetypes that are related to each other as the form is related to the ground: Pure Evil vs. Situational Evil. The Pure Evil makes up the shape of evil, but by that shape it also defines the nature of the Situational Evil that surrounds it by definition. There are few cases of Pure Evil in the Western mythologies. For instance, "Lord of the Rings" has Sauron as its character of Pure Evil, but every other character in that book series becomes evil because of the manipulations and powers of the Pure Evil incarnation. So it is with the Biblical mythology. Except with the Bible, there very well might not be a single instance of Pure Evil. Even Satan was made evil by his ambition and selfish pride. In the case of Shakespeare's stories, we have examples of Pure Evil in several plays, but they are usually unique characters without foils or shadows of any kind. These are characters like Iago of "Othello," Aaron the moor of "Titus Andronicus", and the Witches of "Macbeth."

So Pure Evil, as has been exemplified in the above mythologies, is a type of evil that seeks to destroy for the sheer pleasure of destruction. Pain, grief, humiliation, and human suffering are like mother's milk to this archetype. No good intention was needed to ensnare the character of Pure Evil into evil doings. He performs evil because it is his nature to do so. She loves evil and she always has. Situational Evil is to be distinguished from Pure Evil because of the presence of good in some form. In the case of Lucifer, he had love as his reason for wanting to choose what he did, true it was only self-love, but it was love and therefore a good intention. This good intention led him into the clutches of Pure Evil which in that story is not personified, but is a reality of human nature.

So, Situational Evil is possessed of good before she is ensnared by Pure Evil and is often--though not always--possessed of some good even after she is grasped by Pure Evil. In the original movie "Star Wars," without the other movies for clarification, the audience is left to believe that Darth Vader was the personification of Pure Evil in the story. The Emperor is scarcely even heard of in that movie. Some other interesting twisting of audience perceptions is done in that movie also. The Army of Evil is all clad in white; the Officers of Evil are clad in grey; and one of the heroes is clad in black. With the second and third movies of the originals, the view of Evil is even further muddied. We learn in V (The Empire Strikes Back) that Vader is Luke's father. Then in VI it becomes clear that Vader has been conflicting with his good desires for all of these years. So Vader, who was once thought to be Pure Evil, is shown to be the single person embodiment of Situational Evil in the original trilogy.

On the other hand, Episode VI (The Return of the Jedi) makes it clear to us that the representation of Pure Evil throughout the originals is actually The Emperor. In VI, he is shown to be the one who had tempted Vader away from the Jedi and he is the person upon whose errand the Jedi Knights were destroyed by Vader. We watch in his face the pure embrace of evil that fills his soul as he feeds off of Luke's anger. He is gleeful as he watches Luke angrily striking time after time upon his father's defenses. He is also full of hateful pleasure as he kills Luke with the electricity from his fingertips.

These two archetypes have counterparts in the prequel trilogy. An interesting surface difference, however, is that the original trilogy was much more in-your-face about its evil characters. It was clear who was evil and who was not. The prequels are much more mysterious about who the evil is. We see the personification of the evil in the situational people quite a bit more easily than in the pure evil. We are tempted to conflate the form with the ground. Many have made this mistake. They think that the villains of the prequels are the people we shown as clearly evil. The truth is that the Situational Evil characters are the ones that seem like the arch-villains, while the true villain goes undetected. In the first movie, Darth Maul is definitely Pure Evil, but he is also less deep in his evil than is Palpatine. The Pure Evil character par excellence of the prequels is Palpatine a.k.a. Darth Sidious. However, to understand how evil he is, one has to understand what he is doing.

In Episode I, his machinations are primarily behind the scenes. He is pulling the strings of the Trade Federation and the Senate. He has preyed upon the greed of the Trade Federation in order to get them to blockade and invade Naboo. He has preyed upon the greed of the Senate to get them to tax the trade routes to outlying systems. He has also preyed upon the greed of a few individuals to get them to start rumors of corruption and greed about then-Chancellor Vallorum. Each of these machinations are a part of his larger plan for Episode I which is to take over the Senate. That, in turn is a part of his larger plan to become the Emperor of the galaxy and destroy the Jedi. In order to observe all of this, the viewer has to understand that Palpatine and the Emperor are the same person.

The Situational Evil is not represented by any one character in Episode I. However, we have a multitude of characters that represent it. The Senate is situationally evil. They are full of their virtue as a democratic body and yet they allow the needs of Naboo to be neglected for the sake of bearaucratic nonsense. The Trade Federation's Viceroy Nute Gunray is another of the Situational Evil pawns in the Chancellor's game.

Episode II has Count Dooku as the cheif embodier of Situational Evil. He is evil at first because he desires to purify the Republic by destroying it through secession and civil war. He believes that the only way to rid the Republic of its greed and favoritism towards the rich planets is to start from scratch with the Separatist movement. However, his desire to purify soon turns into a more perverted desire for raw power and he becomes the apprentice to Palpatine's mastery of the dark side. All of this is back story and assumed in the content of the Episode. However, without a curious analysis of Episode II it cannot be pieced together.

Some minor embodiers of Situational Evil in this episode are Poggle the Lesser (the leader of the wasp-like people), Nute Gunray of the Trade Federation, Jango Fett, the Clonetroopers, and to a lesser extent the Jedi Order itself. Perhaps the Jedi Order as Situational Evil might need more explanation. The Chancellor uses the Jedi's loyalty for the Republic as bait to ensnare them. With every battle that they fight in the Clone Wars for the Chancellor, they unknowingly support his machinations and ensure his victory over the Republic and over they themselves. It is like the Emperor himself said in VI: "with every passing moment you make yourself more my servant." He makes the entire system that was built to sustain democracy (the Jedi Order, the Republic, and even the Grand Army) his weapon to destroy the Republic and the Jedi.

So as you can see the idea of Situational Evil serves the idea of Pure Evil both knowingly and unknowingly, but never do the pawns in the game know what the game really is. Not even Darth Vader fully understands what the Emperor is about. Everyone is decieved by the Pure Evil. The Pure Evil only serves one master and that is itself. It is clear from this rudimentary analysis that not only is the prequel trilogy in harmony with the original trilogy, but it is absolutely necessary to fully understanding the notion of evil in the original trilogy. They are complimentary pieces of a larger whole.