Hell May Not Be Empty Yet, But It Will Be Soon

Hell is empty, and all the devils are here. Ariel's declaration from The Tempest has become a meme all to itself; I have seen it employed countless times online over the past decade-and-a-half to describe a variety of evil circumstances and events. But in this time and place I can't help but feel that these previous applications of the quote did not do it full justice. Yes, evil circumstances certainly existed in the past ten or twenty years, but were they truly evil enough to empty hell of all its devils? 

Ariel's statement is primarily one of recognition - a sudden awareness of the existence of men who are essentially evil - but the language he employs is supernatural in scope. In this respect, it mirrors what some people must be experiencing today - a cold, perhaps even reluctant realization of evil in their midst. Like Ariel, I imagine some would even use demonic imagery to describe this evil, but I suspect such language would remain firmly grounded in the metaphorical in the minds of most. In other words, evil men are merely like devils; hell, the imaginary place from which they spawn.

Though metaphoric comprehension denotes a step in the right direction, it offers only a partial understanding of the reality we are currently experiencing. It is hard to know if all the devils are here in this time and place, but one thing is certain - many are. And their numbers are increasing by the day. The pressure they are building and the chaos they are fomenting is undeniable. 

If hell is not empty yet, then we must be getting close - awfully close.