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/lit/ - Literature

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4858753 No.4858753[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Are there any villains in literature that aren't comical parodies of themselves?

Or is it impossible?

>> No.4858774

>>4858753
so many its not even funny. people will probably disagree about these characters being 'villains' but

kurtz - heart of darkness
satan - paradise lost
ahab - moby dick
humbert - lolita
alex - clockwork orange
whatever character was the corrupt powerful one - things fall apart

thats just skimming off the top of my head from canon literature, let alone genre fiction or actually having some time to rack my brain

>> No.4858784

>>4858774

>implying any of those were villains

>> No.4858798

Denisov and Anatol Kuragin from W&P

>> No.4858832
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4858832

>>4858774

>"villains"

>> No.4858837
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4858837

>>4858774

>Implying Okwonko was a villain

>> No.4858844

>>4858784
>>4858832
Maybe that's the point... That the truest-to-life villains aren't really villains at all.

>> No.4858860

>>4858837
>implying you know what implying means

>> No.4858872

>>4858753
Judge Holden

>> No.4858875

>>4858872
Came into this thread just to post this.

The Judge does not fuck around.

>> No.4858892

>>4858872
>Judge Holden
>>4858875

he's the prime example of a comically evil villain...

can't take him seriously

>> No.4858903

>>4858892
Nigga you take him seriously precisely because you don't think you can take him seriously.

You want to find a way to make him ridiculous when he's already so ridiculous that it's frightening. He's the Ubermensch. He dances like the jester at the end of the novel. He will never die.

>> No.4859031
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4859031

>>4858903
>You want to find a way to make him ridiculous when he's already so ridiculous that it's frightening. He's the Ubermensch. He dances like the jester at the end of the novel. He will never die.

He's basically just a bald and tall version of the Joker.

>> No.4859064

>>4859031
Who happens to speak every language and know everything.

>> No.4859066

>>4859064
>Who happens to speak every language and know everything.

He doesn't. He just pretends to, just like the Joker.

>> No.4859105

>>4859066

Prove that he's pretending

>> No.4861341

>>4858774
>people will probably disagree about these characters being 'villains'
That, to me, is the point. Non-parodic villains will have defenders precisely because they are comprehensible. One of my favorite short stories is "The Things" by Peter Watts for helping to encourage this sense of perspective; "The House of Asterion" by Borges is another good example.

>>4858784
Anyone saying Ahab is not an antagonist has failed to read that book.

>> No.4861347
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4861347

<-- this guy

worst fictional villain in all of literature

>> No.4862558
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4862558

The chick from East of Eden?

>> No.4862563

>>4862558
That cunt makes me so fucking angry.

>> No.4862588

>>4858844
Are there any heroes in literature that aren't comical parodies of themselves?

Or is it impossible?

>> No.4862596

Nurse Ratched comes to mind