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/lit/ - Literature

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5620574 No.5620574 [Reply] [Original]

Who is Western Literature's greatest Machiavellian character?

>> No.5620580

Stone Cold Steve Austin

>> No.5620582

Lady Macbeth?

>> No.5620592

>>5620580
lmao

>> No.5620910

Richard III

>> No.5620974

Henry Wotton

>> No.5621011

>>5620574
Lord Vetinari.
>decks out lowest, darkest dungeon with all locks on the inside and hidden furniture and finery

>> No.5621021

Barabas.

Hell, Machiavelli gives the prologue to the Jew of Malta.

>> No.5621024

Machiavelli.

>> No.5621041

>>5620574
Don Giovanni

/thread

>> No.5621049

Dennis the menace

>> No.5621120

Iago of Othello seems to fit the bill. Peter(?), Ender's brother could be seen as fitting too. Though Iago is probably more universally backed as a Machiavellian villian that Ender's bro is.

>> No.5621124

the talented mr ripley

>> No.5621144

>>5620574
montecristo?

>> No.5621156

Since he was greatly inspired by Cesare Borgia, Michael Corleone would be the most Machiavellian of literary characters.

As for the greatest character of overtly Machiavellian characters, judging by aspects other than Machiavellianism, I will go with Richard III

>> No.5621253

the devil

>> No.5621264

Goethes Mephistopheles

>> No.5621289

Keyser Soze

>> No.5621331

>>5621120
+1 for Iago.

>> No.5621370
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5621370

>>5621156

Michael Corleone is a very good choice.

However, I'm tempted to go with Edmund from King Lear.

>> No.5621378
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5621378

>>5621331
>>5621120

Do you guys even know what that Machiavelli was talking about? Iago is just a shit stirrer who isn't trying to gain power because he hates Othelo for [insert interpretation of reason here].

>> No.5621391

>>5620574
Richard III is more classically Machiavellian than Iago.

>> No.5621407

>>5621378
He has the liver of Achilles, the brain of Odysseus, the stomach of Tantalus, and the heart of Neoptolemus.

>> No.5621410

>>5621391
Yeah Iago was just sort of a highly motivated asshole.

>> No.5623373

Tywin Lannister

>> No.5623408

>>5621410
Yeah, the point of the character of Iago is that he has essentially no reason for fucking with Othello. His is simply "motiveless malignancy" as Coleridge put it.