the human capacity for good and evil theme
The story makes a point about individual human's capability to be both, or alternatingly, good and evil. If explicit reference is not made to this idea, a story is still deemed to exhibit the theme if there is a character who in an exaggerated way is both good and evil.
Examples
In, for example, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" (1931), Henry Jekyll used a drug to switch between dominant aspects of his own personality: his philanthropist good self on one hand, and his evil split personality, Edward Hyde, on the other.
39 total · 5 choice · 32 major · 2 minor
| Story | Level | Motivation |
|---|---|---|
| tng3x22 | choice | Data was preeminently good whereas Fajo was almost pure sadistic evil |
| tos1x04 | choice | Good Kirk vs. Evil Kirk |
| tos2x10 | choice | mirror Kirk was pure evil, mirror Spock not so bad |
| tos3x05 | choice | Gorgon was pure evil in contrast to the innocent and pure children. |
| voy3x18 | choice | the geniuses The Doctor incorporated into his programming had good and evil inclinations |
| ds92x23 | major | we are shown there is a fine line between someone leading a life of good versus a life of pure evil |
| movie: A Clockwork Orange (1971) | major | The Minister of the Interior tried to make criminal violence a thing of the past by mentally conditioning violent criminals using a behaviorist psychological on them. |
| movie: Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953) | major | Dr. Jekyll supposed that people have both a good and evil side, and that if we could rid ourselves of our evil sides, then we could make a better world. |
| movie: Cube Zero (2004) | major | The story explores how two otherwise ordinary guys justify that they are employed to oversee people getting dumped into a maze on interconnected cubes and left there to all die horrible deaths. Both men ultimately come to see that what they are doing is terribly wrong and take steps to help the captives. |
| movie: Dr Jekyll and Ms Hyde (1995) | major | Richard was humble and kind-hearted in contrast with his evil female alter-ego Helen. |