Jon
Something similar happens in Walter Jon Williams' book DAYS OF ATONEMENT, where the point of view character is Loren Hawn, the local sheriff in a small town that is being overwhelmed by Progress (it's a near-future SF novel). The guy seems sympathetic at first, but as he makes less than sympathetic choices, this reader began to be a little uncomfortable sympathizing with him. He learned better by the end of the story, but it was an interesting ride.
I'd recommend reading it to see one way to do this kind of thing.
The key is to make your character someone the reader can respect and care about. They don't have to do good things, they just need to be motivated by things the reader values. Michael Corleone kills to protect his family, the other gangsters kill because they are sadistic, greedy, fetishist, or other reasons that are revolting to the reader. Even the police have evil motivations in The Godfather.
Your evil POV character will engage sympathy if he is motivated to protect his family, woo his one true love, learn the truth behind some mystery or conspiracy, etc. If he is a two-dimensional character motivated by simple greed or sadism then this won't work. In that case you may need to go for humor, or give him a foil like Agent Starling was in The Silence of the Lambs.
Of course, I'm coming from the belief that no human being is essentailly evil--that every human being, regardless of his or her deeds, is essentially redeemable. So it seems to me that the first question you have to ask in writing from this view point is this: What does it mean to me for someone to be evil?
Perhaps this is too philosophical. I got slammed about a year ago for proposing that writers should study philosophy. But this is how I'd go about it doing it.
Still, I can’t help thinking about - A Clockwork Orange.
Alex, the main character, and POV character, is a fairly evil fellow, yet for some reason I don’t want him to be punished. I sympathize with him, even while he is doing despicable things.
If you saw on the news that gang members broke into a little old lady’s house and bludgeoned her to death, you would be outraged. Right?
But when you follow Alex through the actual crime, you are not outraged. Somehow he charms you into feeling like he is the victim.
I guess it is the POV. The story is told in 1st person, so you get Alex’s feelings along with his perspective on what he is doing. He is charming in an odd way, and the things he does, though despicable and sometimes disturbing, are told in a humorous manner.
Alex does not think of himself as being evil. Nor does he see any evil in the things he does. He has no conscience about what he is doing. He also does not have any noble motivations. You would think that would make the reader lose sympathy, but somehow it doesn’t. Somehow readers gain sympathy for him. Alex’s evil acts become merely mischievous when viewed through his POV.
It might be worth a read to see how Burgess does it. The movie does not do it justice.
CAUTION: The book seems to put a weird spell on its readers. Two of my family members who NEVER read anything but the newspaper are addicted to that book. I think it is one of the only novels my brother has ever read outside of a school assignment. And he read it twice! Call the Guinness Book!
In the case of Micheal Corleone, the story isn't just about how he defends his family and his business...it's also about his quest to try an legitimize his family and get it out of the crime racket. His perpetual struggle with trying to become "good" with the need to protect himself and his family--which requires some despicable acts on his part--is what drives that story (and the sequel).
A lot of "hero" bad guys are caught in similar struggles, becomming and doing bad things almost against their will. It's this struggle against who they are or what they're becoming that often makes them sympathetic.
Then there's the Clockwork Orange character, for which the only explanation I can offer would be simply Charisma. If they've got enough of it they could some pretty terrible things and we'd still like them. Also, in many cases the character is introduced/presented in a favorable light, and only in time do we see how rotten they are. These introductions mean a lot. First impressions...you know? They really do cement our opinion of a person and from that point a lot of bad behaviour can be explained away and thus forgiven...
my 2 pennies
A more current example of bad as good are the movies Pitch Black and The Chronicles of Riddick. Although we aren't given much info on what exactly makes Riddick evil, he becomes a hero of sorts, but I don't know as you're looking to write a redeemed villian story. This is only an example of bad guy as protag.
Long story short -- You have a lot of control over your character. When you begin your story will affect how the reader sees him. Also, his motivations (as mentioned before) will define whether he is a dark hero or pure evil.
But I think writing from a totally evil perspective would be a challenge in itself, and I think that the result would be fantastic if handled well.
So, if this helps any, let me know.
-BHJr-
Jon
quote:
Alex does not think of himself as being evil. Nor does he see any evil in the things he does. He has no conscience about what he is doing. He also does not have any noble motivations. You would think that would make the reader lose sympathy, but somehow it doesn’t. Somehow readers gain sympathy for him. Alex’s evil acts become merely mischievous when viewed through his POV.
I just re-read this and it reminded me of something from a theatre class that I took. When acting, you become the character. You are not to make judgements on your character, you just be your character. Some characters know they are evil and they revel in it. But, if the character doesn't make apologies about who they are, then the actor shouldn't make apologies for the character. One way to do this is to really know the character well. Know everything that motivates him, everything that makes him feel justified. Then let him tell his story.
My thoughts are really starting to ramble right now, but perhaps some characters to consider are Iago (from Othello) and Richard III (he even gets the play named for him ). They are evil and spiteful, and they know it and exploit it. Othello would be uniteresting without Iago and well, you can't have Richard III without Richard III.
[This message has been edited by Robyn_Hood (edited September 01, 2004).]
At least, if I'm remembering the play correctly. It's been a long time.
Jon