Caliban certainly does not compare to Iago. Caliban is pitiable. He cannot do anything pernicious, although he has the intentions. Iago's plans are far more thought out, and he does carry them through.
Caliban certainly does not compare to Iago. Caliban is pitiable. He cannot do anything pernicious, although he has the intentions. Iago's plans are far more thought out, and he does carry them through.
Of course I find Caliban pitiable, I believe I said that in my post.
But, if you'll remember, the reason that Caliban is Prospero' slave is because he tried to rape Miranda, Prospero's daughter.
See: Act I, scene II.
Prospero: ...I have used thee,
Filth as thou art, with human care, and lodged thee
In mine own cell, till thou didst seek to violate
The honour of my child.
So, he is a villain, but one that you still kind of feel sorry for, especially after the speech he gives right before this above line.
But no, he's not on a level with Iago.
Lady Macbeth, she was the brain behind Macbeth, and the fact that she went crazy and commited suicide made it even better, in the end she was weak, but to start with she was very powerful and she set a lot of evil things in motion.
i can feel it coming back again
I am not sure if Iago's plans are "thought out." He seems to be improvizing all the time. I think Edmund's plan is "thought out" while Iago is the king of improvizing.Originally Posted by Arteum
If I compare those two to musicians, Edmund reminds me of Mozart's music, while Iago is more of a jazz/ blues improvizer.
I like Puck from AMND, he is the cause of all major problems in the play. (mind you he also solves them to) - hey that reminds me of a Simpson quote Homer: “to alcohol the cause of and solution to all of life’s problems” LOL’z
~let your dreams guide you to your fate and your fate will be what you have dreamed it to be~
Puck??? He's not much of a badie, is he? He's just a prankster. No one died as a result of his 'machinations.' And he did no lasting damage. So, I'm wondering, does he qualify as a villain?
Is Sir John Falstaff a villian or he's more a comical personage?
I don't think so. Look how he got rebuffed by Hal at the end of the last Henry IV play.
Perhaps Falstaff, like Puck, is there to move the plot along through comic plots. I don't remember him killing anyone...Puck isn't murderer either.
I think we need criteria for choosing villains. Here's my list for villainy:
1) Causing, either directly or through premeditated conspiracy, the death[s] of one or more characters.
2) Be a character in a tragedy or history. Not a comedy. (This is because in comedies, the villains are found out before lasting harm is caused. Hence, they never reach the heights of true villainhood.) I don't know about the Romances like The Tempest, because there are serious issues at state, but there is reconciliation at the end.
3) Motivations: Jealousy, greed, lust, hatred, etc. Not mischief.
4) Must be clearly the antagonist. For example, Iago is the master mind. Puck was following orders from Oberon.
That's all I can think of for now. Thoughts?
Caius Cassius
Iago is the obvious answer but my personal favorites are goneril and regan, although i have some good arguments for why i think Henry V (Hal) is a nasty nasty man.
Brutus, Cassius and Shylock. Shylock steals the show, even Portia's dreary monologue on mercy cannot diminish his power. One of the most intriguing characters ever.
My favourite is Polonius, he is such a fool.
---------------
Stanislaw Lem
1921 - 2006, Rest In Peace.
"Faith is, at one and the same time, absolutely necessary and altogether impossible"
....Hamlet
Would you consider Hamlet a villain?
~
"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
~
I'm with Admin on Macbeth. I liked the idea of Iago's evil jealousy taking over him, but I disliked the play and the overall literary outcome of Iago, he could have been a better evil villian. Or perahps I should say he had the potential to be a great villian, but the weaknesses of the play held him back.
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