Real evil vs. romantic evil

Often the evil figure in books and films gets more respect than the leading characters. Popular culture puts out an endless stream of satanic characters; actors vie to play these parts and even win Oscars for them. In high culture, there is no more glamorous, even sexy Satan than Milton’s in Paradise Lost. An important counterweight to this sense of the devil as an alluring presence is the view of Simone Weil, who wrote, “Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring."—Fleming Rutledge, The Crucifixion, 425–26