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  • Essay / Good and Evil in Something Wicked This Way Comes

    A week before Halloween, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade watch the carnival train arrive in town at 3:00 in the morning. When they see the train pulling a singing calliope with no one on the keyboard, they realize that this is not a normal carnival (49). As the boys watch the carnival unfold, they see things that make them want to know more. The mirror maze is the only attraction that caught their attention because of its darkness (55). Through a reader's approach, one can see how "Something Wicked This Way Comes" develops the theme of good and evil through the ideas of time, temptation, acceptance, and age. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay First of all, time develops the good and bad of the story by adding mystery. The boys first realize that there is something about the carnival that is not normal because the calliope was singing without anyone on the keyboard and she arrives at 3:00 in the morning (45). In some places, it is believed that evil spirits come out at 3 a.m. It can be proven that time develops the good and the bad because on page 192, Will and Charles Halloway discover that Mr. Dark and Mr. Cooger have been part of the carnival for many years. After looking back over the years, they realize that the carnival only happens every twenty, thirty, forty years, so people forget (192). They begin to assume that all the "freaks" working for the carnival are people who have been framed. It took a few minutes before Charles and Will realized what they had to do to bring Jim back to life. They had to dance, sing and show their happiness to resurrect Jim, but he did not resurrect quickly, it took a lot of effort on the part of Charles and Will (285). Second, temptation is an important factor in the theme of good and evil because it shows how evil develops throughout the story. On page 21, we can see how the smell of carnival makes Mr. Crosetti nostalgic when he realizes that he misses his childhood, which makes him cry. The smell of cotton candy makes Mr. Crosetti wish he was younger. It is the evil of carnival that tempts people with things they don't remember from their childhood. We can see evil tempting Miss Foley on page 65, when she enters the mirror maze and sees a younger version of herself. At first she doesn't realize it's her and ends up very confused because the little girl she saw reminds her of herself. It makes him want to be younger. Tom Fury, the salesman, also falls into temptation when he wants to see the most beautiful women in the world and ends up falling into the trap. He then becomes a dwarf in the Mr. Dark show. So far we can see that everyone who was tempted ended up working for Mr. Dark. Once they ride the carousel or are trapped by magic, they become Mr. Dark's "monsters." Then good manifests itself through acceptance, because once people begin to accept themselves, they are freed from evil. Three of the characters who really struggled with accepting the fact that age is something that cannot be changed were Charles, Jim, and Miss Foley. Charles would like to be younger so he can play catch with his son Will (37). Miss Foley also feels old and wants to be younger after remembering her childhood (65 years old). Jim just wants to be older because he's bored with the limitations of being a kid. He wants to be taken into consideration by adults. Once Miss Foley and Jim realize they can't change their ages, it's a little too late..