The essay “They Got Me a Long Time Ago”: The Sympathetic Villain in Nineteen Eighty-Four by Tony Something analyzes what he calls the ‘sympathetic’ villain. The ‘sympathetic villain’ is “implied to have been, in his younger days, something of a failed rebel himself and thus may be termed a “sympathetic” villain in both meanings of the word: each has some measure of sympathy for the dissident protagonist, and each, by virtue of his own tragic lost potential, receives more sympathy from the reader than a mindless drone ever could,” according to the essay. He examines the fact that although O’Brien savagely tortured Winston Smith, he still felt sympathy for him. Smith even felt friendship towards him. The essay analyzes O’Brien, and shows how sane he is compared to the rest of the society around him.
No comments:
Post a Comment