From a Villainess to Antihero: The Wicked Way

Abstract

A typical narrative has a theme of good and evil, the hero and the villain. Usually the reader roots for the hero and goes on the journey with the hero in a novel. But in recent years through modern literature, the villains have got more recognition and have become more popular as rounded characters. Villains in today’s stories are better constructed than before and allowed more depth. Another form of the hero and the villain is the antihero. The antihero is an independent character who is the protagonist of their own story in spite of their unusual aspects. This thesis focuses on how the concept of antiheroes in modern literature affects how female villains are perceived.The Wicked Witch of the West and Morgan le Fay are two female villainesses from two different genres of classical literature; children’s literature and medieval literature, i.e. the Arthurian legends. These two characters begin as villainesses and then are turned into antiheroines in modern literature, i.e. The Mists of Avalon (1983) by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Wicked: The Life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West (1996) by Gregory Maguire. The purpose of this thesis is by examining the transition from a villain to an antihero. By looking at this transition, the reader is given more insight into the villain’s behaviour, agendas and methods, which in some ways changes the character. To be able to analyse this transition further, it is necessary to compare and contrast the idea of what a female villain is. What is her role within the novel, how she faces her issues and her situation and moreover, their ideology. When all of this has been taken into account, will the female villain be content with playing the oppressive role or does she want to become independent from that role?The Wicked Witch and Morgan Le Fey, in their own right, are liberators for antiheroines. These two characters serve as an inspiration for antiheroines and villainesses alike but mostly as powerful, rounded characters.