How does Buffy deconstruct traditional literary notions of good and evil?
The traditional sense of "Good vs Evil" is portrayed in a very much different sense as compared to more traditional works. Most works typically tend to use your everyday "Black and White" Good vs Evil scenario, whereas in Buffy there is many shades of grey inbetween, characters that are good but have dark aspects to them ("Skeletons in their closet") and characters that are evil but have developed what would be considered "good" traits, whether it is by force or by voluntary will.
The biggest example of a character moving through almost the entire scale, plus how his traits are changed to an extent by force, would be Angel, who when he experiences pure happiness, reverts to his polar opposite and becomes the demonic Angelus.
An example of a character who became good more out of obligation would be Spike, who has a microchip implanted in him by The Initiative, rendering him incapable of harming humans, as a result he helps the Scooby gang, even if it is a little reluctantly and eventually sides with them.
In contrast a prime example of a character who started out good, while becoming corrupted over the course of time, would be Willow, as she starts out casting spells that are beneficial to her friends but becomes more and more dependant on her magic and consumed by it until it reaches a point where she becomes a major villain, threatening to destroy the world.
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