In this class we will read six of the great portrayals of villainy in world literary history: Euripides' Medea (431 BCE), John Milton's Paradise Lost (1667), Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818), Fyodor Dostoyevsky's Crime and Punishment (1866), Junichiro Tanizaki's Quicksand (1930), and Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian (1985). Questions we will discuss include: How do literary portrayals of villainy differ (or not) from popular ones? Do portrayals of villainy challenge or reinforce the basic beliefs of the cultures from which they emerge? Do representations of villainy translate across different cultures? And, finally, why do readers often identify with villains? Grades will be based on pop reading quizzes, a research presentation, and two short papers.