Department 19 Villains

“Works of literature often depict acts of betrayal. Friends and even family may betray a protagonist; main character may likewise be guilty of treachery of may betray their own values.”

The antagonists of a story are usually not the ones critically acclaimed. Due to our human inclination it’s fairly relevant that, as readers, more of an emotional attachment is built with the protagonists. However, in spite of that, villains still deserve our attention. From taking a close look at a few villains and the methods in which they manipulate, parallels in strategy are prevalent. A few examples of antagonists that particularly stand out are: Iago from the tragedy Othello written by William Shakespeare, Roger Chillingworth from the novel The Scarlet Letter written by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Abigail Williams from Arthur Miller’s novel The Crucible, these characters all use isolation to manipulate others throughout the stories.

In Ken Kesey’s novel “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”, the nurse Miss Ratched is a fine example of a realistic fictional villain. Possession of three key components is essential in identifying what makes Miss Ratched a villian. Motive is what drives the villain to commit the very acts that allow them to be considered evil in the first place, and often drive their entire being as a character. While they must possess motive, they must also have a sense of morals that coincides with their motives (typically evil, or distorted) and follow their moral compass in a way that often causes trouble for those around them. Additionally, a villain is frequently associated with their opposite; the hero who combats them. Kesey’s character perfectly aligns with these three categories of what makes a villain, and it is unquestionable that she is the villain of the novel.

What do your neighbors, your coworkers, your family all have in common? A powerful evil that lays deep within all humans, only to be released under the most heinous circumstances. This fact is clearly articulated in the works of world renowned authors Shakespeare and William Golding in their novels Macbeth and Lord of the Flies. Shakespeare's Lady Macbeth and Golding's Jack share many similar qualities in their path to success proving that if good people who begin with positive intentions become provoked by the lust for power, then ambition can get in the way of their moral compass and capability for making good decisions because of the evil which lays inside all mankind.

After decades of collected prose and literary works, the nature of evil has been reintroduced through bombast and pomposity words, much like those found in Macbeth and Beowulf. These two masterpieces have set the standard not only for dark literature, but also for malevolent characters. While Macbeth and Grendel may have lived hundreds of years apart and do have many differences, both are characterized by evil traits such as naive ambition, rapacious guilt, and genuine immorality. These fatalistic and malicious characters expose that any man, or creature, has the potential to ultimately become an evil and commanding oppressor, completely disregarding the essential qualities of human

‘Macbeth’ is a play in which a Lord and his Lady come into supreme power through acts of injustice and despicable inhumanities. In the play Macbeth there is no main focal theme that overrules the others; the play however has several underlying themes, namely there are important themes i.e. good and evil (like ying and yang), greed and power, guilt and conscience, fear, ambition – this leads to the murder of other people illustrating to the reader that even the most sane of people can result to character diminishing methods to get what they want. These particular themes are the most prominent and when closely looked at, it can help to understand characters and meanings behind the play. The theme of ambition is very important in this play,

In William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth evil is conveyed in many ways through characters, themes and settings. Many themes are explored in detail contributing hugely to the sense of evil with characters being used along with these themes to create evil within the characters. These themes and characters are shown in different settings at different times consequently affecting the mood and atmosphere of the play.

Obviously, Macbeth and Scar are the antagonists. There are many scenes that show their similarities. Antagonists must have evil characteristics. In my opinion, they are jealous,

Media, regardless of its outlet, will always exploit the primal fears of its audience. As such, the villain can always be boiled down to motives and what makes it an effective use of fear. The villains remembered by audiences, such as the classic archetype Grendel in Beowulf and the enigmatic Anton Chigurh in the Coen brother’s No Country for Old Men, remain timeless reminders of evil. Despite the differences in Grendel’s and Chigurh’s era and outcome, they continue to personify the fears audiences will never outgrow.

Every great plot in literature has a victim, villain, and venerable. Over the course of the year we have engaged in several alluring novels and stories that contain some of the most villainous characters in all of American literature. Iago from Othello was a master manipulator who used others to commit his mischievous plans. Abigail from The Crucible lied to save her reputation and get what she wanted taking anyone in her way down. Daisy from The Great Gatsby selfishly made decisions and did what she wanted disregarding the feelings of others. The decisions, motives, and actions of all three characters led to the death of another thus making them a villain. Iago, and Abigail are prime examples of literatures worst villains, but perhaps a character such as Daisy Buchanan flies under the radar with her villainous actions. A great villain allows readers to engage in the text and hope for the destruction of one the evil one and the

When the word, villain, is said most people would think about an animated movie or television show. In this film, there are multiple villains with different characteristics and different motives. Some villains had good intentions and others purposely played the villain role. A villain is described as a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot. “In Lila and Eve,” the villains would be Alonzo, the justice system, Lila, and Eve and these are known to be the villains because someone feels a sense of fear or hatred toward each other. Although everyone in this group are villains they are also victims. Each victim seek revenge or justice, and in most cases, both which in turn make that victim a villain.

In the stories: “A Rose for Emily” and “The Yellow Wallpaper” the authors create characters that have very unique traits which makes them stand out in their community. Commonly, in fiction authors purposefully create a character that is outwardly different from the other characters. As a result, the reader must search for the reasons as to what makes them who they are and try to relate to them. As a part of literature, it is necessary for the reader to put themselves in the shoes of the main character to try to understand why they might react in a specific way to certain situations. When reading fiction stories, characters that appear to be the antihero or villain do not always purposefully

Samantha Hoppe – The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Good versus evil, the primary plot to numerous literary genres, is concretely displayed in every Western text. Whether it is cowboys versus Indians, the law versus outlaws, or cattlemen versus cattle rustlers, the audience always sides with one side, and it is always the side of “good”. The Western genre is carefully crafted to influence the audience in siding with a certain character. Authors and directors develop distinct yet similar characters to show the relationship between good and evil.

The villain who attracts and repels over the change of character is Macbeth. Macbeth does this through his appearance of being a wise and noble towards the king and always supporting him. He goes on to deceive his inner self from being a noble man to being a man who is deceiving to become king. This is shown in the theme appearance vs reality as due to the development of the character of Macbeth. This is due to him pretending as someone he isn’t and not represent what he is in reality. An example of a quote is, “I dare do all that may become a man: who dares do more, is none”. This quote means that he is appearing to forward or convey a message peacefully, but in reality his intentions are not good towards his

The most interesting aspect of Macbeth’s character is that it is flawed. The audience can identify with his human frailties. Despite the fact that Macbeth commits evil and is drawn to the successes he thinks evil can provide him, one can tell he has goodness in him. Shakespeare reveals Macbeth’s moral development through the use of symbolism in the soliloquys which portray