The Devil Inside

Lindsey and I watched Titus last night, the Anthony Hopkins movie based on the Shakespeare play. I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. The best part of it in my mind though was the moment about 3/4 in when Aaron has been captured by Lucius and is confessing his crimes.

LUCIUS
Art thou not sorry for these heinous deeds?

AARON
Ay, that I had not done a thousand more.
Even now I curse the day--and yet, I think,
Few come within the compass of my curse,--
Wherein I did not some notorious ill,
As kill a man, or else devise his death,
Ravish a maid, or plot the way to do it,
Accuse some innocent and forswear myself,
Set deadly enmity between two friends,
Make poor men's cattle break their necks;
Set fire on barns and hay-stacks in the night,
And bid the owners quench them with their tears.
Oft have I digg'd up dead men from their graves,
And set them upright at their dear friends' doors,
Even when their sorrows almost were forgot;
And on their skins, as on the bark of trees,
Have with my knife carved in Roman letters,
'Let not your sorrow die, though I am dead.'
Tut, I have done a thousand dreadful things
As willingly as one would kill a fly,
And nothing grieves me heartily indeed
But that I cannot do ten thousand more.

These are not crimes which he has performed personally, these are crimes performed by men, crimes that are then blamed by men on the Devil, or Aaron. As a "Moor" Aaron is used as a device that the rest of the characters can blame their "evil deeds" upon just as we blame our crimes on moments of weakness, anger, or temporary insanity.