Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Evil characters in literature

I am currently reading two books, or rather a book and a play: Dorothy Dunnett's The Game of Kings, and William Shakespeare's Richard III. Both readings were inspired by Carola Hicks' book on the Arnolfini Portrait by Jan van Eyck, which led me to a book on the Paston family (A Medieval Family, by Frances and Joseph Gies).  I've also had Dunnett's Francis Crawford of Lymond in mind since I read an article by Marie Brennan, "Five Things Epic Fantasy Writers Could Learn from Dorothy Dunnett" (it's posted on Tor.com here).

Reading these two together is a weird experience, because they both include a great literary villain.  Moving from book to play and back again is like being caught in a call and response of evil.  And that got me started thinking about evil characters in literature.  I love making lists, but I can't come up with others who measure up to these two.

I have seen at least one production of Richard III, the 1995 film with Ian McKellan.  I can't remember if I've ever read the play before, though.  As a history major concentrating on British history, I read about the Wars of the Roses, and about Richard's reign, both in historical works and in novels.  Just the other day I was looking through Josephine Tey's The Daughter of Time, because I remembered a reference to the Paston Letters.  Of course I ended up reading through my favorite parts, marveling again at the passion Tey brought to her defense of Richard.  I remember Dorothy Dunnett taking a more measured view of him, when he appears as a character late in the House of Niccolo series.  But the pure evil of Shakespeare's Richard came as a bit of a shock.  When I read his aside on Clarence in Act 1, I felt a chill:
Exit Clarence
Richard:
Go tread the path that thou shalt ne'er return.
Simple, plain Clarence, I do love thee so
That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven,
If heaven will take the present at our hands.
And then he goes from there to court the Lady Anne, over the body of her father-in-law Henry VI, whom Richard cheerfully admits to having killed, as well as her husband Edward.  All for love of her, he says.  When she accepts his ring, I want to Cher-smack her.

Dorothy Dunnett's villain is a woman, like Richard based on a historical person: Margaret Douglas, Countess of Lennox, the niece of Henry VIII and eventually the mother-in-law of Mary Queen of Scots.  When we meet her in The Game of Kings, she and Lymond already have a history together, which is only gradually revealed.  Their relationship plays out across the six novels, to the very end of the series. "From her jealous concupiscence at twenty-seven for a boy eleven years younger had come all of the ills that dogged him."  And it's not just Lymond who suffers.  In this first book alone she is responsible for the death of three innocents, and the toll will continue to mount. (Two people that I talking into reading The Game of Kings have never forgiven me [me?] for one of those deaths, and have refused to read any further in the series.)  Margaret Lennox is such fun to loathe, and I always enjoy the last glimpse of her in the final pages of Checkmate.

So those two are my list of not just villains, but literary evils.  I haven't been able to think of any others to add to the list - and I'm not counting serial killers or psychopaths, because I don't read about them by choice.  I was considering Mrs. Norris in Mansfield Park, who I do believe is evil, but she doesn't have as much scope for her talents (appropriating cream cheeses and green baize rather than crowns, and really with only Fanny to torment). Also smaller in scope is Charlotte Mullen, of E.O. Somerville and Martin Ross's The Real Charlotte, but then she is truly an evil woman, unredeemed even by her love of her cats.  Maybe I will complicate my list with a second rank, the lesser of two evils.  In the meantime, I will be keeping my eye out for other villains, and welcome any nominations.

12 comments:

  1. I love the list you've started here. I've been thinking about the idea of evil literary characters a lot after reading 'The Golovlyvov Family' - I'd like to recommend the son, 'Little Judas', for a spot on your list. Also, because they share some character traits, there's also Mr Pecksniff in Dickens. In fact, Dickens contains loads of wonderful villains!

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    1. Shoshi, thanks for stopping by! I have not read much Russian literature, which I see by your blog you're a big fan of. I had to google 'The Golovlyvov Family'. But anyone named Little Judas is clearly not going to turn out well :)

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  2. Richard III really is quite delightfully terribly in the Shakespeare play. I am a Richard III-defender, and even I enjoy watching Shakespeare's Richard slink around doing ill deeds. As for other literary evil -- what about Count Fosco in The Woman in White? Or gosh, Lord Glyde even more!

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    1. I can see a reading list forming itself... I read The Woman in White so many years ago that I've forgotten almost everything about it. And I see more Collins suggestions below!

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  3. What an interesting post, Lisa. I agree that Margaret Lennox is a great literary evil and I can think of at least two more villains in the Lymond Chronicles who would be on my list as well. I still haven't read Richard III, but what about some of Shakespeare's other villains...Iago or Lady Macbeth, maybe. I was going to suggest Count Fosco but Jenny beat me to it!

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    1. I was so focused on Game of Kings that I completely forgot about Gabriel. Is your second villain Lecherous Leonard Bailey, I wonder?

      I thought about Lady Macbeth, but then I said no, not Groa :)

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  4. I see Helen and Jenny are already dipping into Wilkie Collins, but I'll add Lydia Gwilt from Armadale. She's so deliciously evil. Stephen King has great villains, too: Randall Flagg and Annie Wilkes come to mind first.

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    1. As with the Russians, I have neglected Stephen King - though I did at least recognize Annie Wilkes' name. I haven't read Armadale, but if Gwilt is pronounced something like guilt, that's a very suggestive name!

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  5. I nominate Gilbert Osmond from The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James. He marries Isabel Archer...and he's definitely the villain of the book. I really hate him.

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    1. Another book to add to my "Villainous" reading list :)

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  6. Ah, Teresa beat me to Armadale - a splendid villain(ess), and unredeemed by cats for sure (I am now taking that as my total maker of evil, thank you!). I did think about Carmilla (the Le Fanu 'heroine'), but the supernatural can't really be expected to be good... I think I thought of her mostly because I prefer an element of ambiguity in my villains. Ah, have you read John Lanchester's A Debt to Pleasure? Great, funny villain. I like your x-degrees of separation with your reading -- how one book interconnects with another: such a delightfully way to read.

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    1. I see I've been missing a rich vein of villains in Wilkie Collins. And I haven't read A Debt to Pleasure - I'll have to check that out too.

      I do enjoy following one book to another - in fact, Lymond is making me think of Peter Wimsey, and reminds me that I've been meaning to give Rafael Sabbatini another try - both literary ancestors of Lymond.

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Thank you for taking the time to read, and to comment. I always enjoy hearing different points of view about the books I am reading, even if we disagree!