Villain or Hero?

     The most current villain that I can think of would The Capitol in the recent book series The Hunger Games. That probably makes no sense to most people, but The Capitol is basically the new, dictator type of government in America about 50 years from now. It is run mainly by President Snow, but there are also many little minions and soldiers that he sends out from The Capitol to do his dirty work. I think the immense mystery factor is what makes The Capitol so frightening and ominous. The people living in the Twelve Districts are forced to watch video messages from The Capitol and are only told exactly what The Capitol wants them to know. Often times, workers from The Capitol will arrive on hover crafts, abduct a certain citizen, and then disappear with them never to be seen again. Many people are killed for the smallest crimes, so everyone is constantly scared to death to step out of line. The Capitol also holds The Hunger Games every year, where two children from each District must be given up to compete to the death. While most of the Districts greatly oppose and loathe this practice, The Capitol views it as a way of maintaining order and preventing another uprising like they had so many years ago.
     The Capitol is comparable to Shakespeare's Iago in that it has not very clear motives for the things that it does. Losing children in the annual Hunger Games completely disrupts the lives of the District for the entire year, until they have to turn around and do it all over again. Iago is very similar in that he is constantly disrupting the lives of all the people around him; and right when they're about to get over it or let it go, Iago chides them and gets them worked up all over again. While The Capitol claims that they continue the Hunger Games to maintain order, that is very questionable because they have many other ways of maintaining order throughout the Districts. Similarly, Iago claims that he is only stirring up trouble because of his love for Othello, but we all know that there are many other ways of showing your love towards another person.
     The thing that makes both of these villains so interesting is that you never really know what to expect from them. While it is extremely suspenseful and frightening for the people involved in the story, it's a bit exciting for the reader to wonder what in the world this person is going to come up with next. I think it is safe to say that Iago is truly evil. He was simply jealous and seeking revenge for not being named lieutenant by Othello. He is evil in the sense that there was absolutely no justifiable reason for the things that he did to multiple people's lives. I do think that Iago is brave, but only in the sense that it took a lot of nerve to try and mess with that many people's lives--especially people who have so much power over him, like Othello. I do think Othello is slightly to blame for a small part of the chaos, simply because he was so quick to believe Iago rather than question his wife, Desdemona. But there is no way to look past the completely poisonous thoughts that Iago was feeding Othello. It's no wonder that Othello became completely wrapped up and consumed by the seeds of hatred that Iago was planting in his mind.