Evil is such a simplistic way to describe any character, be it Iago or Caliban, or any character from history.
Very often, people confuse simple with simplistic. The nuance is lost on most.
I remember when Ronald Reagan was president he said 'if the American people obeyed the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule we wouldn't have any problems. ' The first time I heard him say it I thought, 'That's too simplistic. ' There are complicated problems back there. But you analyze it, he's right.
Stories matter. Stories are how we make sense of the world, which doesn't mean that those stories can't be stupid and simplistic and full of lies. Stories can exaggerate and offend and they always, always matter.
Simplicity not simplistic.
More exists among human beings than can be answered by the simplistic question I'm hit with every day of my life: "Are you a man or a woman?
Growing up in the '60s and the '70s, things certainly seemed more simplistic and easier to digest.
Simplicity before understanding is simplistic; simplicity after understanding is simple.
What is the beauty of the haiku is that it is not simplistic. The beauty of the haiku I just said is very complex. It reaches all the complexities of our life on this Earth. Peace - that's a very complex idea, peace, so we can't get it as human beings.
We tend to look at countries in terms of failed states and functioning states, which is rather simplistic.
It's easier to make negative attacks and simplistic slogans [in social media] than it is to communicate complex policies.
Listen, it's not nice to have your mum kill herself, that is difficult. But at the end of the day, it happened a long time ago. My mother was, I hope, not the reason that I have been successful. It's not as simplistic as 'My mum killed herself; I've got to prove myself. ' I was very lucky that my parents took an interest in me. . .
I've found that contemporary psychology enrages me with its simplistic ideas of human life, and also its emptiness.