The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Following my first Top 5 Villains post, here are another five fictional antagonists - from misguided youths who think they are in the right, to hardened crooks who are rotten to the core.
5. Count Dracula
(Dracula by Bram Stoker)
First encountered by Jonathan Harker in his Carpathian castle, the Count is introduced to us as an elderly European aristocrat. One doomed voyage of the Demeter later, he re-emerges in Victorian England as a seductive killer. Written against the backdrop of the fin-de-siecle, a period known for body horror, numerous diseases and a fear of invasion from the East, the figure of Dracula becomes an embodiment of these concerns: an alien, rapacious force which seeks to corrupt and transform from within.
4. Edward Hyde
(Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson)
The aggressive, bestial alter ego of Dr Henry Jekyll, Hyde thinks nothing of trampling children and generally wreaking havoc on an unsuspecting city. This tale is a moral one, of course - much like Frankenstein's monster, Edward Hyde's persona was unlocked through Jekyll's well-meaning research into human nature. What makes Mr Hyde so genuinely threatening is the novel's assertion that a version of him resides in each and every one of us.
3. Tom Ripley
(The Ripley novels by Patricia Highsmith)
As the protagonist and puppeteer of numerous twisted escapades, Tom Ripley is at heart a chameleon. Ingenious when it comes to attaining his goals and literally getting away with murder, he is both terrifying in his ruthlessness and inspiring in his intelligence.
2. Alec D'Urberville
(Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy)
From the very first moment we meet Alec, we are yelling at Tess to get the hell away from him. His arrogantly handsome face and obscenely red lips foreshadow a seduction - or, in this case, a rape. Not only does Alec destroy poor Tess's virtue, but he also has the gall to reappear later in her life, a "changed man". Already a pariah, Tess has no choice but to become Alec's companion. It is the cruel fate doled out in Hardy's universe that the raped woman is executed for finally taking control of her own life - although I am sure every reader feels a grim satisfaction when Alec finally meets his end.
1. It's A Tie!
Amir & Briony
(The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini & Atonement by Ian McEwan)
These impressive and moving literary novels would have you believe that Amir and Briony are the protagonists of their respective stories, when in fact they are the catalyst for almost every bad thing that happens. Amir is too much of a coward to come to the aid of his friend during their childhood, the after-effects of which are devestating. Similarly, Briony's colourful imagination taints her perception when she sees the growing attraction between her sister Cecilia and Robbie, leading her to tell a destructive lie. In their defense, Amir and Briony spend the rest of their lives trying to make up for their actions, but one can't help but get the feeling that all would have ended well if they'd just done the right thing to start with. In an alternate fictional universe, I can see these two hitting it off.
Showing posts with label villains. Show all posts
Showing posts with label villains. Show all posts
Monday, 6 June 2011
Tuesday, 17 May 2011
Top 5... Villains in Fiction
Heroes are alright I suppose. They get the job done, they fight the good fight. But isn't it so often the case that the villain of the piece is the more interesting character? Here are my top 5 fictional villains, ranking from bad seed at Five to evil incarnate at One.
5. Meursault
The Outsider by Albert Camus
Existentialists may wish to have me hanged for categorising Meursault as a villain, perhaps preferring to refer to him as an anti-hero or a damaged everyman. But my reading of the character is as follows: a feckless bureaucrat loses his mummy but still has a job and a pretty new girlfriend to live for, then throws it all away by committing a senseless murder on the beach.
4. Bill
Kill Bill, Vol.2 by Quentin Tarantino
We don't properly meet the elusive target of The Bride's rage until the concluding instalment of this kung fu saga. And when we finally do, we already know what he is capable of, after seeing him shoot his pregnant former lover in the head, leaving her in a coma and stealing her child. Pretty darn twisted. Even worse is his defense: Uma Thurman's character broke his heart, so he ordered the execution of her entire wedding party. As overreactions go, it's what one might call a "biggie".
3. Mrs Coulter
Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
She is beautiful. She is clever. She has a vicious, golden monkey on her shoulder. And SPOILERS, she is our heroine Lyra's mother. Which makes her experiments on children and other wicked deeds all the more despicable.
2. Iago
Othello by William Shakespeare
He never tells the audience why he does what he does. His actions cause the death of practically every character in the play, and yet at its finish, when it becomes clear that he is going to be tortured (potentially to death), he simply swears to never speak again. "I am not what I am", he declares early on in the play, a reference to his deceitful nature and an inversion of God's words in the Bible: "I am what I am." Are we to take this to mean that Iago is, in fact, the Devil?
1. Jadis
The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Chronicles of Narnia are hardly the scariest or most challenging works of children's fiction. But the otherworldly empress Jadis, rescued by Diggory and Polly from a dying world in The Magician's Assistant, provides genuine menace in an otherwise quite jolly tale. Once the characters are transported to the shiny new land of Narnia, Jadis becomes temptation incarnate: she offers the enchanted fruit to Diggory when they are both within the walled garden (Allegory! Allegory!) before vanishing into the wilderness, reappearing years later as the White Witch, title character and main villain of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. By this time, she has conquered Narnia and enslaved its many magical races. She also seems to have no qualms when it comes to corrupting children and committing vile acts of cruelty to animals (poor, poor Aslan). And anybody who has the power to make it always winter, and yet never Christmas, is pure evil in my mind.
Some other exceptionally nasty pieces of work: The Marquise de Meurtuil (Les Liaisons Dangereuses), The Man Jack (The Graveyard Book), and almost all of the boys in Lord of the Flies.
5. Meursault
The Outsider by Albert Camus
Existentialists may wish to have me hanged for categorising Meursault as a villain, perhaps preferring to refer to him as an anti-hero or a damaged everyman. But my reading of the character is as follows: a feckless bureaucrat loses his mummy but still has a job and a pretty new girlfriend to live for, then throws it all away by committing a senseless murder on the beach.
4. Bill
Kill Bill, Vol.2 by Quentin Tarantino
We don't properly meet the elusive target of The Bride's rage until the concluding instalment of this kung fu saga. And when we finally do, we already know what he is capable of, after seeing him shoot his pregnant former lover in the head, leaving her in a coma and stealing her child. Pretty darn twisted. Even worse is his defense: Uma Thurman's character broke his heart, so he ordered the execution of her entire wedding party. As overreactions go, it's what one might call a "biggie".
3. Mrs Coulter
Northern Lights, The Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
She is beautiful. She is clever. She has a vicious, golden monkey on her shoulder. And SPOILERS, she is our heroine Lyra's mother. Which makes her experiments on children and other wicked deeds all the more despicable.
2. Iago
Othello by William Shakespeare
He never tells the audience why he does what he does. His actions cause the death of practically every character in the play, and yet at its finish, when it becomes clear that he is going to be tortured (potentially to death), he simply swears to never speak again. "I am not what I am", he declares early on in the play, a reference to his deceitful nature and an inversion of God's words in the Bible: "I am what I am." Are we to take this to mean that Iago is, in fact, the Devil?
1. Jadis
The Magician's Nephew and The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Chronicles of Narnia are hardly the scariest or most challenging works of children's fiction. But the otherworldly empress Jadis, rescued by Diggory and Polly from a dying world in The Magician's Assistant, provides genuine menace in an otherwise quite jolly tale. Once the characters are transported to the shiny new land of Narnia, Jadis becomes temptation incarnate: she offers the enchanted fruit to Diggory when they are both within the walled garden (Allegory! Allegory!) before vanishing into the wilderness, reappearing years later as the White Witch, title character and main villain of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. By this time, she has conquered Narnia and enslaved its many magical races. She also seems to have no qualms when it comes to corrupting children and committing vile acts of cruelty to animals (poor, poor Aslan). And anybody who has the power to make it always winter, and yet never Christmas, is pure evil in my mind.
Some other exceptionally nasty pieces of work: The Marquise de Meurtuil (Les Liaisons Dangereuses), The Man Jack (The Graveyard Book), and almost all of the boys in Lord of the Flies.
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