Lurking Evil

In William Faulkner's novels Go Down, Moses and Absalom, Absalom, the characters who seem to be most evil lurk in the background of the stories.  The patriarch of the McCasslin clan who starts their downward spiral is never an active character in the narrative.  He merely exists in memories and the record of the plantation ledger.  Thomas Sutpen whose sins include his great desire for money and lineage and his racism also exists only in the flashbacks of memory.

In a way this is quite similar to J.R.R. Tolkien's personification of evil, Sauron, who exists only in a disembodied form at the the time of the final battle of Middle Earth.  His evil overshadows the story even though he is actually a minor character in terms of actions and focus.

What Faulkner and Tolkien seem to have realized is that the power of evil is in the power of shadow.  In the harsh light of day, it is not nearly as fearsome or as craven as it appears when shrouded in mystery.  Had they spent time focusing on the characters rather than their effects in the narrative world, their evil might well have so becharmed the reader so as not to seem that evil after all.

The characters found ways to justify their horrid acts to themselves and doubtless a closer look at them would have meant weighing those justifications.  By keeping them at arms length and in the shadows, Tolkien and Faulkner make the evil more clearly powerful and more sinister.

The problem with evil is its tempting allure.  No one is tempted to steal their neighbor's garbage--but things of value.  The key it seems is not to get too close to evil, because the seduction it provides is powerful and can result in a sense that maybe what it suggests isn't that bad after all.

Evil is best identified by its results not its arguments.  Giving a voice to evil is to let the snake speak in a hypnotic and sensible way, but to lose the key to the garden gate in the process.  So when Faulkner and Tolkien want to create evil characters, they limit their ability to speak and concentrate on the consequences of their actions.