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Throughout Macbeth, a tragedy written by William Shakespeare, good and evil are presented not as diametric opposites but as coexistent and even overlapping forces, suggesting that the potential for evil exists in everyone and may even be disguised by the appearance of righteousness. The Witches, Macbeth, and Lady Macbeth can all be seen as fusions of good and evil, and even Macduff, their unambiguously good counterpart, has the capacity to do harm.

Leningrad slumped under a chrisom of snow. Before me, the Nevsky Prospect was silent and still, save for the hazy movement of snowflakes and my breath rising in ribbons. The scene resembled some painting from my childhood – Vrubel’s “The Snow Maiden”? It may not have been Vrubel’s at all, but the galleries had long closed, the encyclopedias burned for warmth, …