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Non, je ne regrette rien. (No, I don't regret anything).
Is it only the shallow villains who cry this to the heavens as they go to meet their much deserved fate? Do some villains live happily after with this motto on their shield? Do we respect such villains who say this?
Or is it the heroes who swear this as they go into a battle they cannot win? As they lay dying are these their final words? Do we find it in our heart to mourn them for believing they must never reflect on life or loss or have their hero heart be tarnished?
Which characters in a story do we respect who do have regrets and do something about redemption? Pride, ambition, selfishness, honor, mistaken goals, bad luck...all these things we find in villains and heroes. Some heroes shine and some villains are complex because they do have regrets.
Macbeth has doubts about killing his king the night that Duncan died by his hand. Was it the prophecies of the three witches or the words of his wife that led him on past reflection and regret to that killing and more murderous deeds? Is there regret in his later belief that he had waded so deep in blood he could not stop? He finally faces the fact that he has been betrayed, but does he admit his own part?
MACBETH
Accursèd be that tongue that tells me so,
For it hath cowed my better part of man!
And be these juggling fiends no more believed,
That palter with us in a double sense,
That keep the word of promise to our ear,
And break it to our hope. I’ll not fight with thee.
MACDUFF
Then yield thee, coward,
And live to be the show and gaze o' th' time.
We’ll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted on a pole, and underwrit,
“Here may you see the tyrant.”
MACBETH
I will not yield,
To kiss the ground before young Malcolm’s feet,
And to be baited with the rabble’s curse.
Though Birnam Wood be come to Dunsinane,
And thou opposed, being of no woman born,
Yet I will try the last. Before my body
I throw my warlike shield. Lay on, Macduff,
And damned be him that first cries, “Hold, enough!”
Heathcliff In Wuthering Heights did not seem to have regrets as he tried to destroy the two families who he felt had betrayed him. Does his pain over Cathy’s death grant him any compassion by the reader?
I was shocked on two different occasions that people blamed Anna Karenina for her life and showed no compassion for her ending under a train. I had a lot of empathy for a woman caught in a loveless marriage besieged by a man who claimed to love her. Perhaps she had not shown enough reflection and remorse to be forgiven by the readers.
In Stephen Vincent Benet’s short story, The Devil and Daniel Webster, the hero of the legend realizes just in time what end has been prepared for him and how he nearly has fallen into the trap. He softens his words and brings the hardened men of the jury to reflect on what it means to be human and to make mistakes.
The story is here:
http://gutenberg.net.au/...
Sometimes, there is no time for regrets and yet how often before an epic battle do the opponents sit in a tent or walk about the battleground considering the future?
Does Brutus finally understand how he was used? Does he regret his part in killing Caesar?
Brutus
Remember March, the ides of March remember.
Did not great Julius bleed for justice' sake?
What villain touched his body, that did stab,
And not for justice? What, shall one of us,
That struck the foremost man of all this world
But for supporting robbers, shall we now
Contaminate our fingers with base bribes,
And sell the might space of our large honors
For so much trash as may be grasped thus?
I had rather be a dog, and bat the moon,
Than such a Roman.
Act 4 Scene 3 Lines 18-28
The Ghost promised to meet Brutus again at Philippi. With the battle being lost, Brutus falls on a sword. Was he a hero or a villain?
He says:
O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet!
Thy spirit walks abroad, and turns our swords
In our proper entrails.
O hateful error, melancholy’s child,
Why doest thou show to the apt thoughts of men
The things that are not? O error, soon conceiv’d,
Thou never com’st unto a happy birth,
But kill’st the mother that engender’d thee!
Caesar, now be still,
I kill’d not thee with half so good a will.
A good article that discusses Brutus:
https://theplaystheblog.wordpress.com/...
Do villains only have regrets when they are caught and punished?
Long John Silver in Stevenson’s Treasure Island was one of the creepiest villains ever, imo. Yet, he is one of the most memorable villains of all time because of his energy and complexity.
Wiki says:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
His relationship with Jim Hawkins, the novel's protagonist and narrator, is interesting, as he serves as a mentor and eventually father-figure to Jim, creating much shock and emotion when it is discovered that he is in charge of the mutiny, and especially when Jim must confront and fight him later on. Although willing to change sides at any time to further his own interests, Silver has compensating virtues: he is wise enough to pay attention to money management, in contrast to the spendthrift ways of most of the pirates, and is physically courageous despite his disability; for instance, when Flint's cache is found to be empty, he coolly stands his ground against five grown men despite having only Jim, a boy in his teens, to back him.
In Rowling’s Harry Potter,
Voldemort ends up making the wrong final choice. He doesn’t listen when Harry explains about the wand.
Do you approve of second chances? Captain Ahab in Moby Dick could have tried to help find the lost son of the Rachel’s captain, but he refused in his obsession to get revenge.
http://www.shmoop.com/...
The Rachel’s captain admits that his own son is on the missing boat and begs Ahab to help, even just for a day. He offers to charter the ship and pay for their help.
I admit to having a great deal of pity for
Erik, the Phantom of the Opera. Yet, he was a heartless villain and in other movies without the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber he is truly frightening. And yet, he makes the right choice in the end in Lloyd Webber's version.
Wiki says:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
The Phantom brings Christine back down to his lair. Madame Giry shows Raoul where the Phantom lives, and he goes to rescue Christine. The Phantom forces Christine to don the wedding dress and once again professes his love, and orders Christine to marry him. Christine tries to convince the Phantom that she does not fear his ugliness, but rather his anger and willingness to kill to get what he wants.
Just then, Raoul enters the lair, and the Phantom ties him to a gate and threatens to kill him if Christine refuses to marry him. Christine reflects over the impossible choice before passionately kissing the Phantom to show him he is not alone in the world. The Phantom is shocked from experiencing real human love for the first time in his life. Ashamed of his murderous actions, he allows Christine and Raoul to leave and orders them to never return.
Films based on the Phantom:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Film
Onscreen, Erik has often been cast as a tragic hero but also a tragic villain, depending on the film's point of view.
Lon Chaney, Sr. in the 1925 American silent version by Rupert Julian, The Phantom of the Opera, starring Mary Philbin as Christine Daaé.
Claude Rains in the 1943 Technicolor version of Phantom of the Opera.
Herbert Lom in the 1962 version of The Phantom of the Opera.
William Finley in the 1974 rock-musical version of The Phantom of the Opera, Brian De Palma's Phantom of the Paradise.
Robert Englund in the 1989 horror film version of The Phantom of the Opera.
Julian Sands in Dario Argento's adaptation The Phantom of the Opera in 1998.
Gerard Butler in the movie adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage version The Phantom of the Opera (2004)
There was one TV movie with Charles Dance as the Phantom and Burt Lancaster had a large role in the story.
A list of famous literary villains is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
Who is your favorite hero or villain who has no regrets?
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