Another State of Mind

All humans are inherently evil. Cynical, perhaps, but it can not be more true than I will prove it to be. Man is flawed from the moment he exits the womb. This defeats, once again, the philosophy of existentialism (which is a philosophical point of view that I will question in a later post).
William Shakespeare is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time, although I’d reasonably argue that G.K. Chesterton was (and should continue to be) the most influential in all of history. However, I’d like to use Shakespeare to prove my point. All of his tragedies have tragic heroes along with those who die in passing. Most people read the plays and enjoy them for their beauty and genius, at the same time it is very easily arguable that its true genius is not always understood. Men who died in the plays that Shakespeare wrote died at their own faults, ESPECIALLY his tragic heroes. They die due to their greed, arrogance, rashness, their ignorance or due to other flaws that they possessed. What most people don’t understand is that, although these traits are said to be learned over time, they are all inherent, instinctual traits within mankind. Now, I’m not implying in any way that all men are arrogant or selfish, nor that the men who do possess those traits deserve to fail due to their instinctual flaws. What I am arguing is that, while not every man shares the same combination of initial flaws, all men are born with inherent evil.

Some would say that this would defeat the concept that God gave us free will to control our own lives and be who we want to be. I'd say the exact opposite, I'd say instead that it promotes the theory that we are given free will. We are born with these initial flaws and it is our job to grow out of them, to recognize our flaws and to change ourselves to be better people, to eventually reflect the image of God.
Along the same lines, some would argue that this theory defeats the thought that we are all created in the image of God. However, I do not believe that everything written in the Bible is to be taken literally. For example, the Garden of Eden: I do not take it completely literally. I believe, instead, that the Garden of Eden would support my theory that all humans are inherently evil. I believe that Adam and Eve were the first humans on earth, and I believe they were born in a type of Utopian world without any type of pain. But I believe the moral of the story is more important than the literal translation of the story. I'd argue that it implies that we are all born to live free and without sin, just as we are born flawed. If we choose to surpress the flaws and resist temptation, then we will continue to live free. If we choose to indulge in the temptations and present our flaws, then our lives become restricted. I seem to have strayed from my original point that centered around being created in the image of God:

I'd say that, because I do not take everything in the Bible as being literal, that we are all created with the intention of being in the image of God. This would imply that we are created with the capacity to live without sin, to repress our flaws and live as the Bible tells us to. Of course, this isn't easy to do, and being human, it isn't too common either.

Another argument against my theory would be the simple human want of optimism. Although flowers and rainbows are pretty and fun to look at, we must remember that they thrive best after the worst of storms. These same people would say that we are born good and pure and it is the world that turns us to sin. My previous opinions obviously counter this theory and there is no point in repeating them.
For my opinions, I can guarantee that I am seen as a pessimist. I do not believe this is true in all cases. I see my opinions on initial human flaw as being somewhat optimistic, trusting in humans, against the negative connotation of the human condition, to avoid temptation and to better themselves.

I do, however, welcome all opinions!