What great Shakespearean villains do you think of first?

I always think of Lady Macbeth.

MacBeth

Iago.

Iago, Lady MacBeth, Cornwall and Edmund, Richard the III

Nasty, conniving Iago with the gracious facade. I saw a modern day production of Othello at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in which Iago was played as a tough military officer who acted, not out of jealousy of Othello, but of lust for him. Very interesting and compelling. It worked.

Iago, then Richard III.

If Shakespeare were alive today, he would write about Nixon.

Iago, the Macbeths, Richard III.

Weird, Iago is the only one I think of. I had no idea I would be in such good company. He definitely left an impression on me.

I have always thought of MacBeth as being henpecked. Mrs. was inherently much more villainous.

Richard III.

Caius Marcius Coriolanus

Shylock

Iago is who I thought of, probably because Othello was the most recent Shakespeare I read, in high school. Also, Iago’s lack of a clear motive for his villainy makes him an even more evil figure…

Shylock & whoever Bill’s hairdresser was, I mean come on darling, purleeze!!

Lago, cornwall.

@King_Pariah: You’ve actually read “Coriolanus”? Amazing.