Sympathy for Devils: A Study into Sympathetically Perceived Villains in King Richard III, Paradise Lost and Frankenstein: or, the Modern Prometheus

Abstract

The current thesis set out to identify a number of factors which contribute to the way in which villains can come to be perceived sympathetically by readers. To this end three separate narratives were chosen for study: William Shakespeare’s King Richard III, John Milton’s Paradise Lost and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein: or the Modern Prometheus. For each narrative two separate factors were identified as having the greatest impact on readers’ perception. Each villain and their corresponding factors were then discussed in regards to Meier Sternberg’s theory on primacy and recency effects in literature and the models of dynamic control which he identifies. The paper concludes with a summary of the findings and recommendations for further research.