Literary Villains Weekend!

[Scheherazade]

This weekend (Aug 20 - 22) we will have a literary villains weekend.

Share your favorite and least liked villains in this thread.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcdQk7JBPzQ

[Paulclem]

I wondered what the new avatar was for. Who shall I be.....?

[Scheherazade]

Who shall I be.....?Hmm... Can't think of anyone!

:p

[Paulclem]

But is it the monster or the creator who is the real villain? Or perhaps we should just blame the creator God... But no, no we don't want to get into that.

[Delta40]

I always think of that candy guy who starred in chitty chitty bang when someone says villain. you know, the dude who could smell children...(shivers down my spine)

[LitNetIsGreat]

Oh no, oh no - don't nag me to change my avatar - oh!! But wait, mine's Dorian Gray, ha, ha!!

[Helga]

This was a difficult choice... but I found my villain

[papayahed]

Fun! My villian is only marginally literary but I love him.

[DanielBenoit]

My two favorite villains aren't really despicable villains, as a matter of fact they're quite sympathetic.

The most unforgettable "villian" or anti-hero for me is Satan from Milton's Paradise Lost whose vision of Hell and the fallen angel is unmatched in the language.

"[H]is pride
Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host
Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring
To set himself in glory above his peers,
He trusted to have equalled the Most High,
If he opposed, and with ambitious aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God,
Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud,
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
Hurled headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms.

Nine times the space that measures day and night
To mortal men, he, with his horrid crew,
Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf,
Confounded, though immortal. But his doom
Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain
Torments him: round he throws his baleful eyes,
That witnessed huge affliction and dismay,
Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate.
At once, as far as Angels ken, he views
The dismal situation waste and wild.
A dungeon horrible, on all sides round,
As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames
No light; but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all, but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed
With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.
Such place Eternal Justice has prepared
For those rebellious; here their prison ordained
In utter darkness, and their portion set,
As far removed from God and light of Heaven
As from the centre thrice to th' utmost pole."


My other favorite villain isn't really a villain at all, that is unless, if you consider Shakespeare to be a creator of irredeemably evil men (Iago is one of the very few exceptions). Shylock in my opinion and by my interpretation is one of Shakespeare's most misunderstood characters, who acts in dreadful ways as a result of the anti-Semitic society he has lived in. He is hated by all because he is a Jew, it is only human nature that he would hate them back. His cold merciless logic is the result of the cold merciless logic of society. Indeed Shylock is a deeply flawed character, but his buying of "a pound of flesh" of Antonio is nothing more than a mirror to the hypocrisies of a highly prejudice society:

"You have among you many a purchas’d slave,
Which, fike your asses and your dogs and mules,
You use in abject and in slavish parts,
Because you bought them; shall I say to you
‘Let them be free, marry them to your heirs?
Why sweat they under burdens? let their beds
Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates
Be season’d with such viands? You will answer
‘The slaves are ours.’ So do I answer you:
The pound of flesh which I demand of him
Is dearly bought; ’tis mine, and I will have it."

Shylock's lack of human compassion and decency is inherited from the lack of compassion and decency by society. He is a deeply human character who is in a profound sense, still relevant today:

"I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we shall resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."

[The Comedian]

Mess with my does, you mess with me!

[billl]

I was wondering if I was brave enough to go one weekend with a female avatar (Nurse Ratched), but was finally saved by memory of this one. Still, not technically male, I guess, but fine for a weekend.

[Virgil]

Cool idea. I will have to think of someone before the weekend. :)

[Wilde woman]

Here's mine. I wanted to go with Morgan le Fay in keeping with my Arthurian interests, but my avatar searches kept returning with Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop. :(

So I went with a more current witch.

[prendrelemick]

I always think of that candy guy who starred in chitty chitty bang when someone says villain. you know, the dude who could smell children...(shivers down my spine)

Yes ! you are right, a shared cultural moment there Delta.


My two favorite villains aren't really despicable villains, as a matter of fact they're quite sympathetic.

The most unforgettable "villian" or anti-hero for me is Satan from Milton's Paradise Lost whose vision of Hell and the fallen angel is unmatched in the language.

"[H]is pride
Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host
Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring
To set himself in glory above his peers,
He trusted to have equalled the Most High,
If he opposed, and with ambitious aim
Against the throne and monarchy of God,
Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud,
With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power
Hurled headlong flaming from th' ethereal sky,
With hideous ruin and combustion, down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
Who durst defy th' Omnipotent to arms.

Nine times the space that measures day and night
To mortal men, he, with his horrid crew,
Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf,
Confounded, though immortal. But his doom
Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain
Torments him: round he throws his baleful eyes,
That witnessed huge affliction and dismay,
Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate.
At once, as far as Angels ken, he views
The dismal situation waste and wild.
A dungeon horrible, on all sides round,
As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames
No light; but rather darkness visible
Served only to discover sights of woe,
Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace
And rest can never dwell, hope never comes
That comes to all, but torture without end
Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed
With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed.
Such place Eternal Justice has prepared
For those rebellious; here their prison ordained
In utter darkness, and their portion set,
As far removed from God and light of Heaven
As from the centre thrice to th' utmost pole."


My other favorite villain isn't really a villain at all, that is unless, if you consider Shakespeare to be a creator of irredeemably evil men (Iago is one of the very few exceptions). Shylock in my opinion and by my interpretation is one of Shakespeare's most misunderstood characters, who acts in dreadful ways as a result of the anti-Semitic society he has lived in. He is hated by all because he is a Jew, it is only human nature that he would hate them back. His cold merciless logic is the result of the cold merciless logic of society. Indeed Shylock is a deeply flawed character, but his buying of "a pound of flesh" of Antonio is nothing more than a mirror to the hypocrisies of a highly prejudice society:

"You have among you many a purchas’d slave,
Which, fike your asses and your dogs and mules,
You use in abject and in slavish parts,
Because you bought them; shall I say to you
‘Let them be free, marry them to your heirs?
Why sweat they under burdens? let their beds
Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates
Be season’d with such viands? You will answer
‘The slaves are ours.’ So do I answer you:
The pound of flesh which I demand of him
Is dearly bought; ’tis mine, and I will have it."

Shylock's lack of human compassion and decency is inherited from the lack of compassion and decency by society. He is a deeply human character who is in a profound sense, still relevant today:

"I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? Fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means, warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we shall resemble you in that. If a Jew wrong a Christian, what is his humility? Revenge. If a Christian wrong a Jew, what should his sufferance be by Christian example? Why, revenge. The villainy you teach me I will execute, and it shall go hard but I will better the instruction."

Iago -yes. But the other two have, over the ages, become merely misunderstood. Like victims of the society they were brought up in.

[Lulim]

Are movie-villains allowed?

[prendrelemick]

So, Meester Bond, can you change the cat litter please.

[Emil Miller]

Pinkie Brown, the personification of evil in Graham Greene's Brighton Rock.

[OrphanPip]

Are movie-villains allowed?

If they are, I'm not changing mine. He's not just a villain, he also sings, dances, and looks good in tights.

[Helga]

Fun! My villian is only marginally literary but I love him.

Q makes everything fun. Love him!!

[Niamh]

Here's mine. I wanted to go with Morgan le Fay in keeping with my Arthurian interests, but my avatar searches kept returning with Faye Valentine from Cowboy Bebop. :(

So I went with a more current witch.

Did you try it under Lady Morgana or Morgraine?


If they are, I'm not changing mine. He's not just a villain, he also sings, dances, and looks good in tights.

You can say that again! :D

I dont have to change mine so! :D There are lots of bad faeries in the Bitterbynde Saga, and she's a bad faerie. :nod: (yes i know i'm lazy but i cant think of anything else!)

[papayahed]

Q makes everything fun. Love him!!


:thumbsup::banana:

[dafydd manton]

Ah, James - exploding jockey shorts. Shoots projectiles about 200 yards. Good show!

(Ouch!)

[Paulclem]

Good old Dracula. The Goths still go to the annual vampire festival in Whitby each year.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

“The archdeacon had in Quasimodo a most submissive slave, a most docile valet, a most vigilant dog.”

Victor Hugo - The Hunchback of Notre Dame"

[Maximilianus]

Then Eöl looked into the eyes of King Turgon, and he was not daunted, but stood long without word or movement while a still silence fell upon the hall; and Aredhel was afraid, knowing that he was perilous. Suddenly, swift as serpent, he seized a javelin that he held hid beneath his cloak and cast it at Maeglin, crying ‘The second choice I take and for my son also! You shall not hold what is mine!’ But Aredhel sprang before the dart, and it smote her in the shoulder; and Eöl was overborne by many and set in bonds.

[Virgil]

I bet no one can guess mine. :p

[Scheherazade]

I bet no one can guess mine. :pIs it Moby Dick?

[Genocide]

:nod: That is very much Moby Dick, it's just the Japanese cover! Tricky, tricky!

Mines obvious?

[Virgil]

Is it Moby Dick?

Yes. :D

[Maximilianus]

Mines obvious?
Caligula?

[Basil]

Bugs Meany.

[jocky]

Personally, I think Hamlet is the biggest villain in English Literature. He cannot cope with life and everyone is to blame, Claudius is Mister bad, Gertrude is the worst mother on the planet, Polonius is a double dealing waste of space, Laertes can fight back, Rosencrantz and Guildenstein are dispensable as well as Guidenstein and Rosencrantz. As for poor old Ophelia there is not much passion there. For all the young passionate lovers of Shakespeare do not take the play at face value or as your tutors have taught you. Here is a different take, everyone that hero worships Hamlet dies, the only character that sees through the prince is the grave digger. All I am saying is look at the play again and figure out for yourself who the real hero is. Maybe Shakespeare has been misunderstood, perhaps Hamlet is the villain of the play. All I ask for is a fair hearing? At least it is a different take. All I hope for is that the next director can try something different.

[Genocide]

That just reminds me of that one youtube video... (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnvgq8STMGM)


Caligula?

Nein. It's Cassius. He's my favorite. Second to Scar from The Lion King of course!

[Maximilianus]

Nein. It's Cassius. He's my favorite. Second to Scar from The Lion King of course!
Cassius and Scar shared similar practicalities :thumbsup: