Ellie Crabb
Accelerated English 10
Ms Fiecko
4 April 2017
Duality of Good and Evil
Eudora Welty’s, The Robber Bridegroom, provides substantial evidence to answer the question of whether there is a balance between good and evil and the outcome between the two. It is such characters like Clement and Salome who work against each other, and Jamie and Rosemond who work against themselves to discover that good wins the battle. The characters’ actions in the Robber Bridegroom justify that within the battle between good and evil, good prevails throughout the world. Comment by Gwendolyn Fiecko: omit this phrase Comment by Gwendolyn Fiecko: this seems clunky and awkward. Rephrase this
The marriage of Clement and Salome is a duality between good and evil, in which good eventually wins. Clement spends his entire marriage trying to satisfy Salome’s greediness. He brings her many gifts that she “takes out of their wrappings without a word” and lays them “away in a chest,” (26). This doesn’t stop Clement from bringing more presents just to “stop the guilt in [his] heart,” (27). His guilt to be a better husband in their marriage balances out her ungratefulness. Rosamond also plays a role in Clement and Salome’s duality. When given the chance, Salome speaks to Jamie about Rosamond’s “dreadful pride and conceit” and how she “needed her lesson,” (72). On the other hand, Clement speaks only of how she is a “young thing so sweet and pure,” (72). Salome and Clement fight against each other to earn Jamie’s trust, but in different ways. It isn’t until a talk with Rosamond that Clement beings to question his own wife. Now that Salome’s “ugliness has struck through”, he wonders whether his own wife has not been the “one person all the time,” (126). Rather than winning the battle by giving into Salome’s neediness, Clement’s ability to recognize who Salome really is, is the beginning of his victory between the battle of good and evil. The final act takes between Salome and a different form of good; the Sun of the Indians. In an attempt to command the Sun, Salome dances for her life. The sun goes on “as well as ever” to shed the evil layers of her skin until there is nothing left. Defeated, Salome falls, “stone dead,” (163). In this case, the good overpowered the evil, for not only does the Sun win this battle, but also Clement. He symbolizes the good that is able walk away from the marriage as a free man. This needs a concluding sentence that relates to the topic sentence. Comment by Gwendolyn Fiecko: why does she do this? Is it because she is greedy? Comment by Gwendolyn Fiecko: develop this idea. Comment by Gwendolyn Fiecko: hmm ... I'll keep reading, but I'm not sure where you are going with this statement Comment by Gwendolyn Fiecko: about what? Comment by Gwendolyn Fiecko: this should be a colon :)
Not only does a duality between good and evil exist between two people, but can also be a battle between oneself. Through the actions of a bandit and robber, Ja...
