Wilde Lily Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 Fictional literature is full of villains, and we love to hate them! Who are some of your favorites? Here's mine: Hannibal Lechter from Silence of the Lambs Bill Sikes from Oliver Twist Professor Moriarty from The Final Problem (Sherlock Holmes) The White Witch from The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Alec d'Urberville from Tess of the d'Urbervilles, Mrs. Danvers from Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier Count Dracula from Dracula by Brahm Stoker Lestat from The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice Javert from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo HAL from 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur c. Clarke __________________ Quote
Janet Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 Iago from Othello - he's a fantastic villain! Quote
BookJumper Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 Count Dracula from Dracula by Brahm Stoker Lestat from The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice Javert from Les Miserables by Victor Hugo I actually find Dracula a very sad, lonely figure; Lestat fascinates me in a way dull, goody-two-shoes Louis never did and Javert I don't think we're meant to hate at all - I found myself sobbing so hard during his last chapter, "Javert goes off the rails", when his whole world-view crumbles and he discovers he is not the emblem of Good he thought he was. He's easily the most complex character in "Les Miserabl Quote
Kell Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 Iago from Othello - he's a fantastic villain! He is one of my favourite Shakespeare characters ever! Quote
Fruska Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 I think Shakespeare's Richard III is a fab villain. Can't help myself falling under his spell every time I read/see it! Also Bradley Headstone in Our Mutual Friend, although you could say he was driven to his actions rather than setting out to be evil. Quote
SueK Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 Great thread:) I have to agree on Prof. Moriarty as the archetypal villain complete with floating black cape. Mrs Danvers as the sinister housekeeper again, dressed in black and quite evil. Another one of my favourite villains is Smallweed in Bleak House, nasty piece of work he was. Quote
Echo Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 I love Becky Sharp from Vanity Fair and Mrs. John Dashwood from Sense and Sensibility. I love how devious and manipulative Becky is, and how self-centered and stupid Mrs. Dashwood is. Quote
Stephanie2008 Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 Definately Bill Sykes from Oliver and Scrooge from A Christmas Carol Quote
Kylie Posted March 17, 2009 Posted March 17, 2009 Dorian from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Wickham from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Alex from A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess Quote
Jack Dawkins Posted March 18, 2009 Posted March 18, 2009 Obidiah Hakeswill from the Sharpe books is an excellent villian.I agree with Bill Sykes he's a real nasty piece of work.I liked Dorian Gray he's more of an anti hero than an out and out villian.A special mention to the Shark from Jaws! Quote
Rawr Posted March 18, 2009 Posted March 18, 2009 Two that come to mind; Professor Umbridge - my god, this vile creature deserves a slap. Randall Flagg, 'walkin dude, Walter 'O Dim etc - whatever you want to call him, he's prominent in a couple of King's novels, a very shifty, cocky and powerful guy, you'd be wise not to cross him. Quote
Weevilcharley Posted April 15, 2009 Posted April 15, 2009 I second Alex from clockwork orange! wow. an incredible character. Quote
Scarlette Posted April 15, 2009 Posted April 15, 2009 Oh yes I second Professor Umbridge Was Professor Umbridge that very pink obsessed woman from the films...? I've never read the books, but if that is in fact her, I second your.. um.. seconds. I loved her because she scared me... He's been mentioned, but Lestat, dear Lestat, my favourite bad boy. Also, Dracula featured in Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian was both a terrible and yet strangely fascinating individual - both in history and in that novel. Quote
leah86 Posted April 15, 2009 Posted April 15, 2009 I also vote for Professer Umbridge!! Hated her!! Quote
Nightwish Posted April 15, 2009 Posted April 15, 2009 Umbridge! She ruined my favourite book (OotP) as I just wanted to constantly slap her. Quote
Lucybird Posted April 15, 2009 Posted April 15, 2009 Was Professor Umbridge that very pink obsessed woman from the films...? I've never read the books, but if that is in fact her, I second your.. um.. seconds. I loved her because she scared me... He's been mentioned, but Lestat, dear Lestat, my favourite bad boy. Also, Dracula featured in Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian was both a terrible and yet strangely fascinating individual - both in history and in that novel. Yes that's her! I agree with Dracula too Quote
Ahsilet Posted April 16, 2009 Posted April 16, 2009 Dorian from The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde To me, he didn't seem as a villian for some reason. Quote
HJordan Posted April 16, 2009 Posted April 16, 2009 Tybalt, the king of cats! But, then again, I love everyone in Romeo and Juliet. Quote
Mac Posted April 16, 2009 Posted April 16, 2009 I think the character Jeremy in Jack Kerley's novels is marvellous. The books are well worth checking out. Quote
BookBee8 Posted April 17, 2009 Posted April 17, 2009 Umbridge! She ruined my favourite book (OotP) as I just wanted to constantly slap her. Quote
Kreader Posted April 19, 2009 Posted April 19, 2009 If you're talking Shakespeare then Shylock in Merchant of Venice is good. Quote
Charm Posted April 19, 2009 Posted April 19, 2009 Fictional literature is full of villains, and we love to hate them! Who are some of your favorites? Here's mine: Hannibal Lechter from Silence of the Lambs Count Dracula from Dracula by Brahm Stoker Lestat from The Vampire Chronicles by Anne Rice I loved all these three villians! I'd also like to add Dexter from the Darkly Dreaming Dexter series by Jeff Lindsay Not strictly the bad guy but he is a psychopathic killer! Quote
NiceguyEddie Posted April 20, 2009 Posted April 20, 2009 I think Shakespeare's Richard III is a fab villain. Can't help myself falling under his spell every time I read/see it! Also Bradley Headstone in Our Mutual Friend, although you could say he was driven to his actions rather than setting out to be evil. Hmmm... I'm in the middle of Our Mutual Friend. It's not yet apparent that Bradley is a villain. A prig definitely. Quote
BookJumper Posted April 21, 2009 Posted April 21, 2009 If you're talking Shakespeare then Shylock in Merchant of Venice is good. Ah, but is he a villain? The matter is far from decided; I should know as I'm currently in the midst of writing an essay on the subject. Shylock is a usurer because Christian society won't allow him a more dignifid profession, he has spent all his life being spat upon, called names, discriminated against in every possible way - such treatment would hardly make anyone into a saint, in my opinion. I don't go the full length of some critics and class him as a wronged hero; undoubtedly by the end he's lost all proper sense of right and wrong, but to class him as a clear cut villain is I think also inappropriate. Personally I like to think of him as someone who was made into a villain - more or less like Mary Shelley's Creature from "Frankenstein", the only difference is that in Merchant the side the author is on is less explicit. Someone once said that in a good play, everyone is in the right. Or, as Merchant proves, in the wrong (the added cast of backstabbing, forunehunting, intolerant, misoginistic Venetians isn't exactly in the right, either). Such is the genius of Shakespeare. Quote
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