Critical Analysis of 'The Bad Seed'

The novel 'The Bad Seed' explores the turmoil faced by parents whose children exhibit evil behavior without guilt or remorse. The concept of evil is analyzed from a critical perspective in forensic psychiatry, suggesting it's an illusionary moral dilemma. This perspective can be used to justify the actions of characters in the novel, highlighting the complexity and relativity of morality.

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Critical Analysis
The novel, “The Bad Seed,” is an embodiment of the turmoil and dilemmas faced by
parents who come to know that their children can kill anyone without any feeling of guilt or
remorse. The novel is a critical commentary on the conditions of such parents and on the ways in
which those parents must act. The novel is an amalgamation of contradictions in which good and
evil as a continuum has made it difficult for the readers to place perfectly characters like
Christine, Rhoda, Monica, Leroy, etc in their respective position of ethics and morality. This
very contradiction has been amplified in the article, “The Recurrence of an Illusion: The Concept
of ‘Evil’ in Forensic Psychiatry, in which Knoll (2008) has strived to provide a solution to the
problem and to the ongoing dilemmas.
Going through Knoll’s (2008) article, one might be able to justify the positions of the
central characters of the novel, “The Bad Seed,” though in a complex manner. Though the
concept of evil has been taken into consideration from a critical perspective in the field of
psychiatry and psychology, Knoll (2008) has pointed out that in the sphere of such sciences and
in the sphere of the criminal justice system the concept of evil has been treated as illusionary
moral dilemma. The very theme of the novel when interpreted from Knoll’s angle can make the
readers understand that those who commit crime in the novel are the ones plagued by immorality
but such immorality has been deliberately depicted in the form of evil to emphasize more on the
continuous conflict between the spiritual and the demonic.
Quite interestingly several of the characters’ action in the novel (that are apparently evil)
can be justified if interpreted from the standpoint of Knoll’s interpretation. Quite interestingly,
this can be done by citing the fact that Knoll (2008) has considered the concept of evil to be an
illusion and a delusion. For Knoll (2008) the concept of evil is merely a subjective one that is

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created by individual human being in his/her own way. For Knoll (2008) the concept of evil is
not only illusionary but also relative and no universal definition of it can be properly given. If
such a view is to be admitted then the confusion and the dilemmas projected in the novel, “The
Bad Seed,” can be resolved. A reader, going avidly through the novel, might feel confused how
to justify several actions of several characters. But if the same reader is introduced to Knoll’s
article then he/she might find a way to compromise with the novelist’s intents. If Knoll (2008)
has to be believed then it becomes an undeniable truth that primitive cultures still use to consider
natural calamities as evil manifestations, but the same is not considered by modern cultures.
Hence, the actions of some of the characters in the novel could not be judged from a fixed,
universal, moral perspective because; morality, as Knoll (2008) has pointed out, itself is relative,
depending on time, society, and circumstances.
Knoll (2008) has pointed out that several scholars have suggested that the concept of evil
can never be scientifically defines as it is a mere illusion that has no practical basis. Just like
goodness, evilness is also a concept that is subjective. And if this has to be believed then none of
the actions committed by the characters in “The Bad Seed” should be discriminated on the basis
of the universal division that exists between right and wrong, evil and good, spiritual and
demonic, human and inhuman. It must also be noted that though some of the characters in the
novel commit acts of violence, if Knoll’s (2008) theory is to believe then such deviant acts
should not be judged from the perspective of evilness as such judgment would then be erroneous.
It would be erroneous primarily because; a concept that denotes an illusion can be made the basis
of psychological interpretation. Hence, judging from Knoll’s (2008) perspective the acts of
deviance projected in the novel cannot be considered evil. The demarcation and distinction
between good and evil is a long-drawn subject of debate. And going through Knoll’s (2008)

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article one can understand how the world of psychology and psychiatry along with the sphere of
criminology have been affected by the dilemmas triggered by the illusionary concept of evil and
the unexplained concept of goodness. Being abstracts, both the concepts must be analyzed from a
non-judgmental perspective, and Knoll (2008), as it seems, has suggested and recommended this
very practice.
(754 words)

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References
Knoll, J.L. (2008). The Recurrence of an Illusion: The Concept of “Evil” in Forensic Psychiatry.
Journal of American Academy of Psychiatry and Law, 36, 105-116.