Edgar Allan Poe creates a stereotypical villain in “Tell – Tale Heart”, because the killer always stalks the man in the “dead of the night”, especially when he is asleep. The realisation of this is that the victim is left vulnerable; a perfect scenario for the villain to assassinate. The killer is “patient” too, which would symbolise him deadly because a stereotypical murderer assassinates and scrutinises his victim without knowing his presence. The villain proves that he is bloodthirsty as he “dismembers” the corpse, by cutting off the “head, arms and legs”. This directly devises images of disgust as the corpse is mutilated, which would portray the slaughterer’s villainy temperament. He believes: “what you mistake for madness is but over – acuteness of the senses?”. We are unsure of his sanity, because he amazingly adjudicates his rights when we know his actions are unreasonable in society.
Dr. Grimsby Roylott is an antagonistic person, who constantly finds disgust of other characters in his presence in the story. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has included great detail of the description of Dr. Roylott; “high, thin fleshless nose.” It establishes a depiction of a bird to kill a prey to replenish his hunger. This relates to the portrayal of a stereotypical villain, because it manifests evil from death. A typical villain is strong as well, and Conan Doyle has illustrated his physical abilities: “hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace”. The word “hurling” depicts a powerful throwing force and would portray Dr. Roylott to be determined. The object that Roylott threw is an important element to his infuriating comportment: “twisted poker”. This denotes an act of physical ability through anger at Sherlock Holmes of whom he describes as a “meddler”, which clearly proves his abhorrence of other characters. Dr. Roylott had also “beated” his butler to death in a “fit of anger” caused by robberies in the house. This indicates that Dr. Roylott’s behaviour is psychopathic and has a serious mental disorder. Dr. Roylott had achieved a “medical degree” as a skilled profession, so not only he is brawny he has good intelligence.
Both villains are brought to ruin by their crime; in The Speckled Band, Sherlock Holmes discovers that Dr. Roylott had used a “swamp adder” to kill Julia Stoner. A “thick bell rope” was used to escort the snake into her room. This would eliminate clues of the murderer because using a form of “poison” could not be discovered by using chemical tests. Dr. Roylott had deserved his comeuppance when he committed suicide, using his poisonous “adder” snake. This circumstance is not a stereotypical villain, as the hero would supposedly end the villain. Dr. Roylott was imprudent to be killed by his own murderous snake as described “indiscreetly playing”. He is less astute than the villain in Tell – Tale Heart, because he reveals his dishonesty in other characters which portrays him a strong villain. It turns out that this villain is brawny and is dissimilar to the Tell – Tale Heart villain, who is the opposite.
In Tell – Tale Heart, it was perfect timing for the villain to conceal the corpse before confronting the officers. He believes that he is perspicacious in what he is doing: “I smiled – for what had I to fear?”. The villain had set the scene himself by offering the officers to “ rest from their fatigues”. The atmosphere now, is not stereotypical for a villain’s presence. We can see in the mind of the villain that he has a sickening “audacity” to sit upon the wooden planks of the corpse, and he describes it as his “perfect triumph” which indicates his enjoyment of his murder. He had the fearlessness to convince the officers his welcoming spirit, but something in his mind described was eccentric which lead on to wreck the villain’s crime. He had heard an exasperating “ringing” that the officers seem to disregard; it was almost as if they were expecting this. The villain attempts to talk more “fluent” but still the ringing continues. The villain could not bear the sound anymore, and it was this “agony” that caused him to divulge the “dismembered” corpse. The stereotypical villain at the end of this story turns out to be intelligent, but the inevitable “mockery” of his crime by the confrontation of the officer certainly deserved his chastisement.
The two villains have the strength of nerve to act, by this statement the villains have a comparability to stalk their victims until the relevant time comes to massacre. In Tell – Tale Heart the villain believed that he was “nervous”, this could imply that he did not mean to murder him. This is not a stereotypical villain, as he should be ruthless and shows no signs of timidity as his determination is strong. The sound of the “beating” of the man’s heart gave the villain “uncontrollable terror” which gave him audacity. He describes that the beating “stimulates the soldier into courage”. This quote delineates the killer’s mind and how it invigorated his motivation to “uncontrollable terror”. This villain is forbearing as he describes “some minutes longer I refrained and stood still”, which portrays his strength of nerve is unhurried, until the perfect moment comes. His patience is continuous and shows good persistence in the story until he murders: “with a loud yell”. This action would have frightened the man to his death, as it was sudden for the faint – hearted man.
Dr. Grimsby Roylott has parallels with the Tell – Tale Heart villain, because his strength of nerve to act is tolerable as well. In the murder scene Holmes was unable to find any “satisfactory cause of death” for Julia Stoner, this tells that the villain was careful with his timing and pursued the victim, until her death. Helen Stoner had informed Holmes that she had died “two years ago”; an astonishing amount of time for Roylott to pursue Helen to generate an absolute indistinguishable murder.
Roylott had used his time to manipulate his passion for Indian animals as an excuse to “lock doors” during the night so there was no evidence of a forced break – in, which would drive him far from the involvement of murder. He had deliberately secluded the ancestral house with “blotched windows” etc, which constructed a perfect crime scene to leave its victim vulnerable; a truly sinister and stereotypical villain.
Both stories enable viewers to establish a connection between stereotypical villains from their devious murders, and how the writers have conveyed it through their writing techniques. These stories relate to us in modern society, how and why murders happen and are contemplated, which all reflects the demonstration of villainy.
