The Other Half of the Story: Evil Villains, Shakespeare

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No story is complete without an evil villain. No great book, movie, or play goes without an evil character; this includes the famous play write, William Shakespeare. Even though Shakespeare never had any further education, he is one of the greatest writers of all time and wrote many plays. His plays are primarily either comedies, or tragedies. His plays include A Midsummer Night’s Dream which is about people who love the wrong people and a magic love potion confuses everyone even more, but eventually everything gets straightened out and everything works out. Another play would be Hamlet, a story about a brother killing a brother, taking the throne, and then marries his brother’s wife, and the protagonist, Hamlet, happens to be the dead king’s son, and the new king, or his uncle’s stepson. “The king of Denmark has been murdered by his brother, Claudius, who then becomes king and marries the dead king's widow.” (E.D. Hirsch). The last play that will be analyzed will be Othello, a play about a jealous soldier who seeks revenge by ruining a marriage and ends with everyone dead. Shakespeare creates three different villains in each of these plays: Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Claudius in Hamlet, and Iago in Othello.
Primarily, Oberon is the evil character from Shakespeare’s Play A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Oberon is the Fairy King who stirs up all the trouble in the play. It starts off when his wife Titania refuses to give him a small child she had found. Oberon want’s the child as a knight, and seeks revenge on his wife. “Oberon is angry and determined to take the child, and teach his wayward wife a lesson.” (Heath, Sue). He sends a Puck Fairy, or Robin Goodfellow, after a flower to create a love potion. Oberon succeeds b...

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...r so he killed him and then took his throne and wife. Lastly, Oberon from A Midsummer Night’s Dream causes a variety of chaos over a small child that his wife refuses to hand over. All of these villains have at least one thing in common; they were all making everyone else suffer for their own gain.

Works Cited

Adams, Michael.. Othello. Barron's, 2004. eLibrary. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.

E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. "Hamlet." The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. 2002. eLibrary. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.

Heath, Sue.. "A Midsummer Night's Dream, Newcastle Theatre Royal." Northern Echo. 16 Nov. 2005: 13. eLibrary. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.

Hunter, Dianne. "Skakespeare's continuity through the daughter." Literature and Psychology 4(2002):38. eLibrary. Web. 26 Jan. 2014.

Pitman, R... "Othello." Video Librarian. 11 Jul. 1996 eLibrary. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.

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