The ol' Light's True Nature debate

[DomaDoma]

If I had to pick, I'd go with option two, but mostly, I couldn't really be fussed about the semantics. Whether it's option one or option two (because it's sure as heck not options three or four), Light minus Death Note - even the broody version from episode one - is uncommonly good. Naysay it all you like, but repression is pretty much how human decency happens.

Really, the only situation in which I could see it mattering is if, say, Mikami had picked up the Death Note, and Light starts advising his dad on that Kira investigation and eventually gets roped in, becomes L's successor because he's way the heck more balanced than the other two contenders, and then a few years later L dies of diabetic shock. The title of L isn't exactly the power to kill on a whim, but it's still an enormous seat of anonymous power, so he'd probably become Inspector Javert on steroids, starting with turning in all L's "underground professionals". But yeah, that's a highly specific situation.

Yes, I'm aware that there's a fanfic where Light never picks up the Death Note and becomes all suicidally depressed with the boredom. If you were going to bring that up, go play with Hideaki Anno and leave me alone.  

[Akiko-infinity]

The second one. He was just too perfect, I mean, it's like he was trying so desperately to be something no one could. You know, like the guy next door with the pretty wife and kids, two dogs, two cars and white picket fence that turns out to be a sociopath? Yeah, he kinda reminded me of that.

Love the Javert reference. And I can't see it making a difference. If he got power, he'd be easily corrupted by it. It's just the way his nature was. He was the kind who thought he'd never do anything wrong so therefore, nothing he did was wrong. It's a dangerous mode of thinking, and can easily lead to disastrous consequences.  

[AlmostRulingTheWorld]

Both Light's personality and the death note seemed to corrupt him. I think it's obvious to say that the death note corrupted Light. In the beginning of the series he seemed mentally stable and when he obtained the death note it was clear that he had no evil intentions, he just wanted to rid the world of people that he believed to be evil. No matter how off I believe his philosophy was I can't deny that his intentions were at least good. But as the series goes on and he becomes more paranoid of being caught (for good reason) and more and more obsessed with becoming a God he loses sight of his original good intentions and begins using the death note for his own selfish purposes rather than to help all of mankind. But it also seems like he was a bit off before he got the death note. The fact that he is easily bored by mundane tasks shows that he lacks mental stimulation, which is common for people who are extremely intelligent because it's harder for them to be challenged intellectually. Many psychopaths are intelligent. Also, a psychopath lacks empathy towards others which is masked by the ability to act outwardly normal. Light obviously lacks empathy towards others and he also outwardly appears like a polite and trustworthy person. He seems to be a regular person in the beginning of the series to us as well, this only changes when we are shown how he thinks as kira. How are we supposed to know whether or not he was like that before the next few episodes role around just because he appears normal to us? He also appears normal to everyone else later on in the series when it is obvious to use that he is in fact not normal. Psychopathy is a personality disorder that isn't developed over time, similar to an antisocial personality disorder (sociopaths have APD). Psychopathic disorder is characterized by manipulative and cunning (which we know Light has), grandiose sense of self (similar to Light's strong sense of what is just and right), compulsive or pathological lying, lack of remorse/guilt towards actions, feigned shallow emotions, incapacity for love (Light has that somewhat, for instance he would pretend to love Misa/Takada just to manipulate them when really he had no interest in love), need for stimulation (mentioned earlier), callousness/lack of empathy (again mentioned earlier), impulsive nature (not really applying to Light, but in a way it is still there), lack of realistic life plan, changing of image in order to avoid prosecution for their actions (relates to Light very very much).
So it seems that although evidence of Light being corrupted by the death note was shown he also could have had a sociopathic or psychopathic personality disorder.
Sorry if I bored you.. That was a longer reply than I usually type.
I recently did a paper on psychopaths for a school research paper so I used some information on it as examples.
I didn't vote because I think all of the first three are true.  

[Ao Kirisaki]

I think Light was never evil and he wasn't corrupted by the Death Note.His selfish actions were because his goal became a competition between him and L. I think that's why he forgot his true intentions.  

[bluesweets97]

I don't really see him as evil, but the non Kira Light also had the same thoughts of what to do with the notebook as the Kira Light did. I think this, because in an episode when he's given up the ownership of the book, he says it's strange that Kira is doing what he would have done if he had the notebook.