Monday, September 17, 2018

Profiling Villains in Literature


I meet a lot of students who want to become detectives, criminologists, and/or FBI profilers. It might be due to the popularity of CSI-styled shows during the last two decades, or maybe they are inantely passionate about injustice. In either case, these types of students enjoy analyzing characters through psycho-analytic criticism, which is a great way to approach a text.

For students who want too peer into a dark mind of a literary character, say perhaps such as an Iago or a Lady Macbeth, I have come up with an entertaining little prompt, a series of questions in which the student attempts to answer from the point of view of the villain.

Here's the prompt... 


Antagonist / Villain Profile (Pretend you are the character)

Name:

Approx. Age:

Gender:

What do you see in the inkblot?



What do you want most out of life?



How do you feel about the protagonist?  Explain:




For each emotion, write the first word or phrase that comes to your mind: 
Society:                                                                       Friendship:

Success:                                                                       Failure:




What do you hate? (Why?)                             What do you love? (Why?)




Do you have any regrets?  Why / why not?





Have you ever experienced a downfall due to hubris?  If so, explain:


 





One of the creepiest characters in our literature textbook is Arnold Friend from "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?" A UC Davis student created an excellent character analysis of this villain, positing the idea that Arnold might be the devil himself.

Read Spencer Martinez's essay: "Satan Drives a Convertible."

No comments:

Post a Comment