The Evolution Of The Devil Image In Western Literature

The image of Devil has been considered to be a significant part of Western culture. Although Devil does not exit in the real world, it can be a reflection of western society and culture in many aspects. There has always been a devil image in the cultural tradition of western society, however, people in different historical period of time holds different views toward it. The image of Devil in the literature can be mainly found in four periods:the Renaissances in the 14th century, the British Enlightenment in 17th century, the German Romanticism in the 19th century and the Soviet Union in the early 20th century. It is can be found in the school of Humanism, Enlightenment, Romanism and Modernism and respectively in the work of Divine Comedy by Dante, Paradise Lost by Milton, Goethe's Faustus and Master and Margaret by Bulgakov.Dante's Divine Comedy portrays God and Devil to be opposed sides. In Paradise Lost, Milton portrayed the Devil-Satan as a brave revolutionist and positive rebel instead of a Devil in religion. And Devil in the work of Goethe is filled with contradictions and Mephisto in Paradise Lost is an ambiguous attitude with dependence mixed with resistance. While in the modernist work Master and Margaret, the Devil is the most subversive image. He knows all things in the world and is in charge of the morality, with pitiless satire and punishment toward all evil deeds. This article holds that devil exists in the inner part of the human nature and humans can never achieve the improvement by getting rid of the devil. As an inborn part of human nature, the devil can't be and shouldn't be removed for the incompleteness of the human nature. Human nature is complicated with advancement between God and Devil. Preference over any side will destroy the human nature.