Misery - A villain, what are they? What are their goals? How do they try to achieve them?

1648 Words7 Pages
A villain, what are they? What are their goals? How do they try to achieve them? More interestingly, what seems to motivate them? There may seem to be many motivations for villains throughout the times but as we study these scoundrels we find that generally they are motivated by pure jealousy, or a need of superiority. They utilize manipulation, both physically and mentally in order to achieve their goals and show a lack of remorse.

Stephan King’s “Misery”, provides us with a very graphical depiction in Annie Wilkes a sadistic, mentally unstable retired nurse, who has a desire for power and control. Annie goes to tortuous extremes on her captive Paul Sheldon to realize this. Iago from Shakespeare’s play Othello is also a power hungry villain who enjoys having people under his control, he is driven by extreme jealousy and the motivation, revenge. In order to accomplish these goals he manipulates his subjects in deceiving ways by utilizing their weaknesses against them. This differs from the Duke in “My last Duchess” by Robert Browning as the duke does not manipulate people in any way. Both Iago and the duke are driven by extreme jealousy to the villainous actions that they take. All three villains may differ in many ways, yet it seems they share a common urge for power, control and a use of sadistic measures.

Jealousy is a very powerful emotion that can cause resentment and envy, creating strong anxieties in villains. This enviousness is a common motivational force for socio-paths. Both Iago and the Duke take on this form of motivation, in order to justify their actions that lack morally-correct social behavior. The Duke’s duchess is flirtatious in nature and this displeases the Duke “Sir, ‘twas not her husband’s presence only, called that spot of joy into the duchess’ cheek”.
The duke became jealous of all the other men that “called upon that spot of

More about Misery - A villain, what are they? What are their goals? How do they try to achieve them?

Open Document