All chapters

Beyond Good and Evil · Chapter

Chapter 110 explained

A brief aphorism noting that defenders of a criminal rarely possess the artistic skill to frame the terrible beauty of the act in a way that benefits the perpetrator.

What happens

A brief aphorism noting that defenders of a criminal rarely possess the artistic skill to frame the terrible beauty of the act in a way that benefits the perpetrator.

Key passages

  • The advocates of a criminal are seldom artists enough to turn the beautiful terribleness of the deed to the advantage of the doer.

    A criminal's defenders usually lack the artistry to recast the awful yet magnificent nature of the crime in a light that serves the criminal.

    Highlights the aesthetic dimension of judgment and the power of artistic reinterpretation in moral and legal contexts.