Playing Shakespeare's Villains

the long version

"When we speak of Shakespeare's 'villains' we think we know who comes immediately to mind: Iago, Richard III, Edmund in Lear, Aaron the Moor, Lady Macbeth, etc. People who do bad things to nice people. But what about Macbeth, Caliban, Regan & Goneril? Evil? Victims? What about Bolingbroke and Margaret? Puck? Is Cassius a villain? Leontes? What makes a villain, as opposed to a monster, crook, or scoundrel? When does villainy descend into "evil"? Is vengeance evil? Is intent enough? Does the body count matter? Is bad kingship evil? Where do Shakespeare's fathers fit on this spectrum? Shakespeare spreads before us a panoply of evil, villainy and amorality - of characters doing bad things for good reasons, bad things for bad reasons, and bad things for no reason at all. What are we to make of this world view where some villains are punished and others seem to be rewarded; where mischievousness can quickly turn violent, and where an entire world can be brought down by someone's willful insistence on having one's way. This is the world explored in 'Playing Shakespeare's Villains,' the second in the series of 'Playing Shakespeare's Characters'"--