So, after posting about The Scarlet Pimpernel last week, I was thinking-- Some of literature's best characters... are totally evil.
For example-- Chauvelin (seen here played by a very young Ian McKellen) and Iago (seen here played by Kenneth Branagh). Love to hate 'em.
I mean, really, listen to Chauvelin singing "Where's the Girl?" and tell me there's not something freakishly compelling about the man.
No really, go, go listen now. I'll wait.
You can download it for 99 cents--Where's The Girl (LP Version)
or you can listen free if you have an account on Kazaa or Napster.Or you can watch it on Youtube-- not the most fabulous sound and it comes in part way through, but the best clip I found. (I don't like that they actually kiss in this one, though.)
But I digress. What was I talking about?
Oh yes, evil. Why is it evil is so compelling?
Iago is possibly one of the best-written characters in literature... and there's not a single nice or redeeming thing about him.
And we've already talked about Chauvelin's complexity and intensity. (And that song... *shivers*)
So what is it about these evil characters? And it's not just the men-- of all the characters in A Tale of Two Cities, the one that has stuck with me is Madame DeFarge.
And frankly, I think really good villains are harder to write. I know I could never match the complexity of Chauvelin. Not sure I'd want to try.
So what is it? Or am I the only one that's fascinated by the evil side of things? I'm not, right?
(To quote the fabulous Phineas and Ferb-- "A hero is a hero, but everybody loves a great villain.")
