Who is your favorite villain in Shakespeare’s plays? Goodness knows there are enough to choose from. Some of the Bard’s greatest plays have more than one. Of course, the criteria for choosing the greatest villain is different for each. One could choose solely on the basis of how evil a character is, but I prefer his villains who have a bit more humanity to them rather than being just cartoonish devils in disguise. Other may look at choosing Shakespeare’s greatest villain in terms of how much of an acting opportunity it proves to be. My criteria for choosing Shakespeare’s greatest villains are thus: doing evil but being a fairly complex character, as well as having good enough lines to make one look forward to his or her appearance.
Honorable Mention. Queen. Cymbeline.
Like one of my top five picks, the Queen is another strong female villain lost inside one of Shakespeare’s forgotten plays. She is unquestionably the dominant figure in the entire play, casting a shadow that rules over them all. She essentially is the power behind her husband’s throne and will stop at nothing, not even a little murder, to make sure her son is eventually crowed king. I’d love to see Cymbeline performed in modern dress with the Queen clearly intended to represent Barbara Bush.
5. Lord Angelo. Measure for Measure.
Measure for Measure is quite deserving of its inclusion as one of Shakespeare’s so-called problem plays. The problem here is that Measure for Measure may well be Shakespeare’s darkest comedy. And it is closer to a comedy than a tragedy, at least on the surface. Lord Angelo qualifies for fifth place on this list of Shakespeare’s greatest villains because his villainy is centered almost exclusively upon a character aspect that is present in almost all villainy: hypocrisy. Angelo is despicable precisely because he does not practice what he preaches. As such, his time has come as he represents that type of person to whom power is given with the implicit promise he will act in the best interest of the people, only to abuse it mercilessly for his own interest. Yeah, you know who I’m talking about.
4. Tamora. Titus Andronicus.
Lady Macbeth for the thinking person. Titus Andronicus is probably Shakespeare’s best unknown play. It is odd that this grisly tragedy is still unknown considering that the time is now ripe for a play which contains rape, dismembering and more blood than a Tarantino movie. Some might argue that Aaron the Moor is the real villain of Titus Andronicus, but ask any male chauvinist after watching this who is the villain and and find out whom the majority choose. Part of the reason that Aaron gets the nod usually is because he is pure evil, whereas Tamora does have some redeeming qualities. But what Aaron lacks in complexity, Tamora has in spades, no pun intended.
3. Richard. Richard III.
Who cares if the real Richard wasn’t a hunchback and probably didn’t kill the little princes. Shakespeare was writing drama, not history. Every actor loves to play Richard III. The pleasure lies in the fact that Richard revels in his villainy. Oh sure, he tries to hide it from the other characters, but he is fully open with the audience straight from his infamous introductory monologue. Richard III is the truly the king of Shakespeare’s villains, if not quite the greatest.
2. Iago. Othello.
Iago or Richard III almost always top the list of Shakespeare’s best villains, but I think Iago is better for one simple reason: he really has absolutely no motivation to destroy Othello. In that sense, he is very much a 20th century character; his is a psychopathic kind of evil that seems to defy explanation. When played to perfection, such as by Kenneth Branagh in the film version, it is easy to see why Iago is held in such high esteem. When played by someone looking to infuse a reason to his madness, he can fall apart. The greatness of Iago’s villainy is that he is delightfully funny even when he is at his most heinous.
1. Edmund. King Lear.
I’m not going to argue that Edmund is the most evil character Shakespeare ever created. He may not even be the most evil character in King Lear, as anyone who has ever watched the infamous “vile jelly” eye-gouging scene can attest. But then again, that guy that whose eyes Cornwall plucks out is none other than Edmund’s father and yet he still shows very little conflict. The reason I love Edmund so much is because he has all the funniest lines in the play, he absolutely has a valid reason for enacting his evil, and he is far more complex than even Iago. I was fortunate enough to see a performance of King Lear at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival a few years ago and the guy playing Edmund totally inhabited the character. He got Edmund unlike any other actor I’ve witnessed. If Hotspur is my favorite Shakespeare character ever, Edmund is a close second.
