Black Magic

Dr. Faustus sold his soul to the devil for knowledge.  Dorian Gray sold his soul for beauty.  In this unit Monsters Inside of Us, we have had to discuss the difference between good and evil.  Humans: are they naturally good or evil? or are they a clean slate?  During the Dorian Gray Socratic Seminar we had to decide if we believed that Dorian was changed or if he was revealed.  I think that everyone is naturally pure and that experiences change us and shape us.  Power can ruin people; this is what happened to Dorian Gray the power of his beauty caused him to give up his soul.  It was easy for him because he could put his soul in the attic and not have to look at it.  Dr. Faustus gave up his soul for power also; the power of knowledge.  He was obsessed with the idea of knowing everything and having the ability to control others.  Faustus never saw the consequences of his actions until too late.  He always thought I have 24 years of pure knowledge and he never tried to repent until it was too late.  These stories went along very well with a movie that I saw yesterday.  It is called Mirror Mirror a play off of the tale of Snow White.  The evil queen had a mirror that helped her perform black magic and the mirror always warned her that the magic would come back to get her.  The queen continued anyway.  When the queen's magic finally ended, though, she turned form a beautiful young woman into an old wretch.  She never regretted her actions until it was too late.  The same as Dr. Faustus, who did not regret until the devils dragged him to hell.  The same as Dorian Gray, who finally saw the horror of his soul and tried to kill it but only succeeded in killing himself.  In my opinion all of these people must have started with a pure soul.  In Mirror Mirror I do not have the background to say if this is true or not.  In Dr. Faustus he sold his soul for knowledge his reasoning was pure and good.  The power got to him and he was taken away from God, as it was a part of the deal.  Dorian Gray never knew the power of his beauty until Lord Henry and Basil explained it to him and then the Yellow Book led Dorian away from love.  There are bad people in the world but everyone starts out good; it is the black magic that changed them.