Annie Besant was a writer, lecturer, prominent Theosophist and women's rights activist of her time. She was a frequent contributor to various Theosophical publications of her day. This particular piece dates to 1910, and she takes a philosophical examination of the mysteries of evil, as she puts it. She explains that there is a necessity for evil to exist, that it serves certain purposes, which she goes into detail about. She breaks evil into four categories: the origin of evil, the relativity of evil, the use of evil and the ending of evil.