“For angels, there are no in-between, you were either in Heaven or in Hell.” - Crowley
http://paradisetranslation1011.blogspot.com/2008/11/good-omens-character-crowley-similar-to.html
Why can’t there be an in-between? I don’t think Crowley was right in saying that for angels, there is no such thing. Better yet, I think Crowley has yet to realize that there is an in-between, and that he, Aziraphale, and like-minded angels and demons and humans, make up this in-between. This in-between is context-dependent where I feel it is a state of mind, where one cannot be classified as entirely good or entirely evil, but is rather in a state in between the two.
Crowley and Aziraphale have lived long enough on Earth, that they have become like humans, in some way - not entirely good and not entirely evil either -. For example, Crowley still has his devilish fun when he turns the men’s paintball guns into actual real guns with lead bullets while they were at the Manor. But he grants them miraculous escapes. Not everyone can amazingly and miraculously dodge lead bullets and expect to be unharmed. A kind of intervention has to take place, and this is where Crowley comes in to make sure that no one is fatally harmed in the process. (107). “Underneath it all, Crowley was an optimist.” (304) He believed that he will come out on top, even with Hell chasing after him and Heaven looking down upon him. Crowley, a devil, is in the in-between. He is neither good nor evil. Even further, Aziraphale acknowledges that Crowley, despite being a demon, still has some measure of the innate goodness from which he once was.
He [Aziraphale] smiled at Crowley.
“I’d just like to say,” he said, “if we don’t get out of this, that... I’ll have known, deep down inside, that there was a spark of goodness in you.” (370)
Aziraphale knows that there is some spark of goodness in Crowley, and that the choices he chooses to make, stem from both areas of good and evil. It cannot be simplified or categorized to a person being either good or evil.
The same goes, vice versa. For Aziraphale, Crowley confirms how he isn’t all good either, despite being an angel.
“Just remember I’ll have known that, deep down inside, you [Aziraphale] were just enough of a bastard to be worth liking.” (371)
Obviously, Crowley is able to bond with Aziraphale, perhaps on the basis of him being the only other being around for millions of years, but also, maybe because he sees a definite not-so-good-quality about Aziraphale, where is able to find a connection with.
This all comes down to that no one, no matter what side they are from, each innately possesses a sure and certain amount of evil and good.
I think the same goes in John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Satan, despite choosing evil, still questions his purpose in choosing evil. In Book IV, as he sees Paradise and witnesses Eve and Adam’s happiness, he doubts whether the path he’s chosen was the right thing to do. He has to constantly remind himself that he’s chosen evil and that there is no turning back. This means that he still possessed an innate goodness in him, that he dispels and refuses to acknowledge.
In a strong sense of fideism as Kenneth Gross uses the term, everyone, humans, devils, and angels, possess the free will to choose a path, good or evil, for themselves, regardless if others consider them to be on Heaven’s side (good) or Hell’s side, which is evil.
This leads me to believe that Crowley and Aziraphale are neither good nor evil. Humans can’t also be classified as either one. Therefore, they and others who think like them, are the in-betweens.
Feel free to comment!
- Marjorie D.
Pratchett, Terry and Neil Gaiman. Good Omens. New York: Harper Torch, 1990
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