If erring is human…
I have often heard about black and white characters. Or that was what
my elders used to describe characters in literary works back then. A
literary work will be quite extraordinary if it doesn’t have black and
white characters. That’s how whether the work is a tragedy or a comedy
is decided.
During the early times authors needed to encourage virtue. They vowed
to retaliate against evil. That is what they need it even now. They
always portray how virtue can outsmart the evil. The evildoer, or the
villain, gets the humiliation in the end. He will perhaps even die. Poor
villain! But back then I didn’t feel sorry, because the fellow really
deserves it. This is how literature shaped our minds. Sadly it also
unnerves the clarity of loving kindness, feeding the carnal desire
called ‘revengeful feeling’.
Now what happens to Macbeth? Ultimately he has to die and we think
justice is served. Having killed the righteous King Duncan on Lady
Macbeth’s persuasion, Macbeth deserves to die. Now what if Macbeths’
scheme turns a flop and the king doesn’t die? He finds out Macbeths
tried to kill him. Or suppose the king dies, and his ghost appears when
Macbeth leads the banquet. The king appears and watches him without
doing anything. As the plot grows – and as does the time – Macbeths’
guilt conscience emerges. That is when Duncan’s ghost should appear and
forgive the couple.
 This emboldens the virtue of loving kindness. It is good that
literature promotes virtue, but at the same time shouldn’t we have
loving kindness towards the evildoer or the villain? We are but
embattled between love and hatred, quite bias. The concept of hero and
villain now must be changed.
Our thinking should focus on grey characters.
Every character is a mixture of black and white, hence it should be
grey. I do not justify the evildoing. I have seen many posters scoffing
down at alcohol and cigar. Mere scoffing down at alcohol and cigar
doesn’t make one give up the habit. Making the villain die for the sake
of justice doesn’t decrease crimes or crims in the society. Our
literature doesn’t make us think freely. It rather conditions our mind.
Indeed it’s a blessing to encourage virtue and goodness. But
understanding the evil is also necessary. Why do villains do evil? Why
are there villains? He rather has to do that. If he has an understanding
of its true nature, he will never do that. He sees comfort in what is
not comfortable. As ‘learned readers’, should not we have compassion for
them? Even a butcher or an assassin has a big heart and there is room
for goodness as well as obvious evil.
When a child goes naughty we are not supposed to get angry. That’s
simply his nature. He will become good over time.
In Sanath Abeysekara’s latest film Mahindagamanaya the villain is
King Devanampiyatissa’s queen. The queen schemes to kill the Vice King
Mahanaga, because she needs her son to be enthroned. But everything goes
wrong and her own son has to sacrifice by his life. The queen in this
story is the villain, but the viewer has compassion for the character
because of what befalls her. Every villain has a side that demands our
pity. He needs to be convinced of the dangers of the crime and benefits
of not doing so. It needs the ability to touch the root cause. Only then
will we quash the evil. Any villain will easily plead guilty, because
they rest assured they will be forgiven – a sigh of relief!
In the same way Macbeth’s guilt conscience itself demands our loving
kindness for him. If the villain’s characterization has that part, it
encourages our loving kindness to all characters.
Now making these black characters into grey type poses a challenge in
characterization. It is because of black characters the white characters
shine. There is a hero because there is a villain. Why cannot all be
heroes? Why cannot Macbeth be given a chance? If someone is to reshape
the story of Macbeth – the legend doesn’t have copyrights – h/she could
think of Macbeth with this in mind.
What we all should remember is the Jesus Christ’s statement: Father,
forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing. If we can look
at all the villains we meet in literary works with this in mind, that’s
all what matters.
To err is human; to forgive, divine - I love this quote. With all
respects to Alexander Pope, may I alter a tad: to err is human, and to
forgive is also human. Literature, after all, is meant to heal our
souls. When the soul is warmed by loving kindness does it need any more
healing?
May this be an effective tool of trade!
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