This class will analyze depictions of villainy and evil, starting with iconic villains in Shakespeare and linking them with depictions of human malice in contemporary media. What motivates villains and how their malice is defined can reveal a great deal about the cultural anxieties of specific times and places. We will discuss what cultural and social norms might be threatened, disrupted, or ruptured by a devious person who is properly motivated and has the opportunity to engage in villainy. While our starting point will be Shakespeare’s villains (Iago, Richard III, Claudius, Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, etc.), we’ll link early modern depictions of villainy with contemporary threats in literature, comics, and film. In analyzing what counts as villainy, we’ll also consider what figures of virtue, duty, or compassion stand heroically in opposition.