This paper explores characteristics of "tragedy" by distinguishing a tragic perspective on evil from an ethical and a religious perspective, respectively. Underlying this three-pronged approach is Paul Ricoeur's analysis of evil in La Symbolique du Mal. Symbolic language can express the ambiguity inherent in experiencing evil due to an intermingling of, in particular, an ethical and a tragic view. These views are studied here in Immanuel Kant (ethical) and Karl Jaspers (tragic). Kant turns out to incorporate a kind of tragic perspective in his ethical view when going into religion. Jaspers’ tragic view however is far less ambiguous. This difference is further clarified by Ricoeur’s notion of the ‘end of evil’ as characteristic of a religious view of evil. Understanding the three approaches in relation to each other gives insight into why evil might be seen as most ‘at home’ in a religious view.