Choose a complex and important character in a novel or a play of recognized literary merit who might on the basis of the character's actions alone be considered evil or immoral. In a well-organized essay, explain both how and why the full presentation of the character in the work makes us react more sympathetically than we otherwise might. Avoid plot summary. Humans have struggled with codes of morality since the dawn of civilization, and often have conflicting ideas on what justifies a crime. Sometimes, it is less about the actual actions taken, and more about the sequence of events that led to a crime. One example of this viewpoint is the character of Orestes, one of the tragic protagonists in Aescalus’sOreseiatrilogy of plays. Written in ancient Greece, these plays focused on the infighting and violence between the members of the House of Atreus, a family founded by a treacherous and cruel king. In the second play, Orestes commits one one the cardinal sins of that time period by killing his mother, yet he is seen as just by most readers and
