First step towards Evil

1. Why do people who are not "evil" take the first step into evil? What, for instance, is involved in taking that first step "down the primrose path to the everlasting bonfire" (Macbeth, 2.3)? What are the consequences of the individual choosing evil (particularly the internal consequences)? Use examples from the text to support your opinion.


Taking the first step towards an evil act is the most important part of partaking in sin. Many people may define the turning moments in ones life as the time they made the decisions to change his or her life made. The causes of taking this daring leap is a very similar journey for many people. You need the idea of an evil act to be planted in your head, be able to justify the act, and, in most cases, be persuaded by the words of a close friend. Macbeth displays all of these steps in his decision to step toward "the dark side". 
Macbeth was given the inspiration to kill Duncan when he heard the witches prophecy in the woods. The witches words in act 1, scene 7, "All hail, Macbeth! hail to thee, thane of Cawdor!", place the seed that will develop into a plot to kill Duncan (Shakespeare). Macbeth ponders these words and takes them with great curiosity, "Stay...tell me more: /By Sinel's death I know I am thane of Glamis; /But how of Cawdor?" (Shakespeare). This prophecy gives Macbeth a sense of purpose and the potential for power. Even this potential to yield such power has his mind running to evil thoughts.
The next step towards evil actions from an all around good person is the ability to justify the evil act. Macbeth uses his thirst for power to develop justification for all that must be done. However, as found in act 1, scene 7, Macbeth has decided to avoid murder, "We will proceed no further in this business: /He hath honour'd me of late..." (Shakespeare). This is all without the persuasive words of Lady Macbeth that push him over the edge and make him take the first step into evil. It is her words that allows his mind to justify his actions and encourage him to murder Duncan. She does this through de masculinizing him, "Art thou afeard/ To be the same in thine own act and valour/ As thou art in desire?", "And live a coward in thine own esteem..." (Shakespeare). 
Once Macbeth committed his terrible act, it had a dramatic effect on his state of mind. By choosing evil he eventually found himself, "Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, /Returning were as tedious as go o'er...". He led himself down a deep hole that has no turning back. When he commits his second murder of Banquo, his guilt turns into a severe insanity. He starts to see the ghost and admit, "Strange things I have in head..." (Shakespeare). By choosing evil the first time, he changed the course of his life. The guilt he felt would manifest as paranoia and insanity. This manifested in later acts of violence and a spiral of bad decisions. 

Art Analysis

This piece is called Topologies of Belief by Jose Davilla, 2011. The pictures are organized into an area 99 X 351 cm. The works are Piezography print on photo based paper. The location of the photographs is not provided but Davilla is from Mexico and bases many of his works off western culture.

The photographs consist of the outline of multiple buildings, cut out of the picture. This leaves a blank space and a shadow on the white paper approximately an inch behind the pictures. The white space that previously displayed the architecture of many buildings is Davilla's way of treating common pictures in a revolutionary way. The subject of the picture should be the buildings but by cutting the main focus out, we are forced to look around it and appreciate the background or setting. The shapes of the buildings allow the imagination to run free and fill in the empty cut out with our own ideas and forms. This is a new way to represent the traditional theme of architecture.

Davilla uses black and white photographs to enhance the viewers imagination and allow them to fill in the traditional subject matter. He uses the lack of color to enhance the impact of the photos and change the perspectives from which they are viewed. The white space pulls together the photo itself, and ties into the white frames. We are forced to re imagine the scene and take our attention away from the obvious subject. The light creates a shadow on the white paper that is away from the photograph, enhancing the absence of the building that has been cut out. The buildings consist of several cut out shapes all arranged in square frames organized evenly along a middle line. This contrast pulls the viewer in and allows them to ponder the significance of the art.

I believe the purpose of this art is to force the viewer to ponder how much we focus on the largest subject, and alter our perception. By looking at these pictures for extended periods of time we start to think about what the buildings look like and who the people are. We are exposed to so much everyday, and because it is right in front of us we do not use our imagination. By taking away the primary subject in pictures, we think about what the photo was like before and what is missing. Using the fact that Davilla is trained as an architect, I began to think of the photos as his way of expressing the importance of shape in architecture and buildings. We need to broaden our minds and stray from the traditional. Davilla allows us to view a simple subject and walk away straining for the many meanings and interpretations found in the way he cuts things out.