An analysis of villains from the Shakespearean plays Othello, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Hamlet.¬

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In every great play, there must be a villain to assist in forming the base of the plot. Without a villain, no story or play will be successful or interesting. Shakespeare is well known for his use of different types of villains in his plays. “What constitutes a villain? -- You could probably write a whole thesis on that one. I'm going to adopt a rather loose working definition - villains are people who do bad stuff.” (Dooley) Dooley’s description of villains is a very accurate summary of the description of villains. They are, essentially, people who do things that are seen as morally wrong by readers. Many of the villains in Shakespeare’s plays come across as almost sociopathic. In Shakespeare’s plays Othello, Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Hamlet, the villains are Iago, Oberon, and Claudius, respectively.
Iago, from Othello, is a very interesting villain to analyze. A good way to describe Iago would be to call him an amoral villain. Iago completely lacks any form of a conscience. In today’s world, Iago would be considered a complete psychopath. “Through his words and actions, which are carefully thought out, Iago is able to manipulate others for his personal benefit.” (Huntsmen) Not only is he an envious deceiver and a thief, Iago is a cold-blooded killer. When his wife, Emilia, reveals his plot, Iago murders her. He straight-up kills his wife, the woman he supposedly loves, all because he saw her as an obstacle. Does Iago feel bad about killing Emilia? Nope, he doesn’t feel an ounce of remorse because he’s a guy and most of them don’t care about women. Iago is quoted in Act One, Scene One as saying “Heaven is my judge, not I for love and duty”. Iago should know that, if Heaven is his judge, he is going nowhere b...

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...villain. He is motivated by his greed and uses fake sympathy to gain popularity. He killed his brother to gain the throne, however; he feels terrible about it in the end. Shakespeare’s use of villains is interesting and helps to add suspense and strengthens the plot line of his plays.

Works Cited

Andra, Ashlika. "Character Analysis on Claudius." StudyMode. N.p., Aug. 2012. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.

Anglish, Cassandra. "Character Analysis-Oberon." AntiEssay. N.p., 14 Feb. 2012. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.

Dooley, Gary. "Bard to the Bone." Ezine Articles. SparkNET, 26 Aug. 2010. Web. 25 Jan. 2014. .

Huntsmen, Kaliskate. "Iago Character Analysis." StudyMode. N.p., Mar. 2006. Web. 25 Jan. 2014.

Yellowman, Alyscia. "Character Analysis Hamlet." EssayPedia. N.p., 11 Jan. 2014. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.

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