This is another 'best of' list this time drawn up by critics for The Telegraph. As expected not everyone's favourite villain is there, so many will be disappointed and disagree. But for whatever it is worth, here are some highlights.
1.Satan from Milton's Paradise Lost tops the bill. That is almost predictable, almost a politically correct choice. In Jose Saramago's The Gospel According to Jesus Christ, God is the megalomanic villain who is willing to destroy millions to become God of the world instead of just a few tribes of Jews, and uses Jesus as a pawn. Good fun, but for the broadminded only. (But then, this list appears to be for books originally written in English only.)
2. There is Bram Stoker's Daracula. Now that is one delicious villain. I read the book when I was a teenager, and I still think he is good. Others on the list from my childhood and teenage years that I agree with are Professor Moriarty (Sherlock Holmes' nemesis), Robert Louis Stevenson's Long John Silver (from Treasure Island), and Mr Hyde (Strange Case of Dr Jeykll and Mr Hyde). Moby Dick was a whale for goodness sake, not a villain, and Ahab was a loony. Ian Fleming's Ernst Stavro Blofeld was good, but I thought Auric Goldfinger was creepier (although some might think the former has the cooler name).
3. Shakespeare has three villains on the list: Edmund from King Lear, Claudius from Hamlet, and Iago from Othello. Actually, Lady Macbeth gave me the creeps more than the others and I think she should have been included. (But then, when I was a kid I thought she was one of the witches!)
Read the full list. I am sure you will find more points to talk and bitch about.
IMHO Steerpike from Peake's Gormeghast ought to be higher up than #49. He's a truly malicious character, compared to some others like Lovecraft's Cthulu (#26) who is more like a destructive force of nature.
ReplyDeleteJonathan Rhys Meyers does a great job of playing him in the BBC miniseries, too.