How do your chosen authors explore victims and villains? Within the supernatural the victims and villains will most likely appear as major plot devices. Throughout the film of Dorian Gray many fall for his charm and beauty, later paying the price with death, for example the lover Sibyl Vane who commits suicide at the apparent thought of being rejected by Gray. Faraday in The Little Stanger also has an effect on the Ayres family as he brings an unknown presence into the house which results in the destruction of the family. While individuals play a role, there are other themes that the villains and victims are conveyed, such as the class shown in the needless death of James Vane or the inability to adapt to the changing times for Mrs. Ayers. Both Water and Wilde have villains and victims as tropes of the genre, but they also convey their ideas about the times. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay One way that texts present villains and victims is through the theme of class. In the post-war era, The Little Stranger is set in a time where social mobility was increasing and rich, wealthy families were beginning to die. How Waters shows that the Ayres are a victim of this change as in the opening chapter of Empire Day the house shone as Faraday explored the “marble-floored passages” filled with “wonderful” things. This shows that they possessed great wealth and had substance to their name. The aesthetic contrast thirty-odd years later, when Faraday next visits and sees the previous opulence replaced with "signs of decay", shows the effect that changing ideas in the class system and the war itself have on the wealthy families of the time who they lost financially. The dilapidated house could therefore be seen as a microcosm for dwindling families and the people within them. Throughout the novel the Ayres are never able to get enough money together because they don't know how to make money like they did before it was handed to them on the silver spoon when they were born. In particular Mrs. Ayres, who has the ability to adapt to the times, leaves her behind in the time when her family thrived. Waters reversed the usual cliché of the vilified upper class, making them victims instead, which is a supernatural feature since the reader is most likely not used to sympathizing with the wealthy elite of British society. In comparison, Wilde presents the working class as victims in The Picture of Dorian Gray shown by James Vane. When the grieving sailor tries to avenge his sister, he is killed by an "unfortunate accident". If he had killed Dorian it would have marked a class triumph, but alas the futility of his death reflects how, no matter how hard James Vane tried, the upper classes will always emerge victorious. This was a common theme in writing of the time with novels like Bram Stoker's Dracula, which is essentially the count of the upper class preying on the stupid lower classes. There is little emotional language or pathos in light of the dead man as Dorian responds "listlessly" and is "bored", the only reason he cares is because James Vane was a threat to him, sowing that in the end the classes superiors are only interested in themselves. It can also be argued that Sibyl Vane is also a victim of class as the only way she could hope to leave the circumstances she found herself in was dependent on marrying a rich man, such as Dorian. Working class actressesthey were very menial work and were often forced into prostitution to earn extra money for the theater owner, not to mention the girl herself. Such a low class girl could never hope to be free from her social trap, which is why the nickname "Prince Charming" is so appropriate for Dorian as the prince saves the princess from heartache into a life of prosperity. The pureThe idea that this is possible means for Sibyl Dorian “life for us now” rules that indicate the scale to which a toy of the rich can influence a life like this. Therefore, her suicide is not only the work of the individual Dorian himself, but also the consequences in terms of class, as Sibyl surely could not hope to find another suitor as lavish as Dorian with so many doors to new opportunities. victims are presented is the role of influence. Lord Henry plays a significant role in Dorian's character development as he introduces him to the ideas of hedonism and that he should "shape every feeling, expression" in his "low musical voice" which traps Dorian. Wilde deliberately uses the term “musical” to make readers imagine what a pleasant voice Henry must have had, lulling them in the same way as Dorian. So everyone is put in Dorian's shoes making Henry's words stand out even more. Henry knows that Dorian is an impressionable young man with a lot of money and this is shown by the way Dorian "rocks" in his chair. Everything that happens in the garden could be an allegory of Genesis as Henry represents the serpent and entices Dorian to take a bite of the proverbial apple. This also fits with the Dionysian philosophy as Henry wants to live a life of degradation and frenzy compared to the Apollonian Basil who to Dorian symbolizes order and normality. It is Henry who gives him the yellow book that fascinates Dorian so much that he gets them for him in many different colors or the fact that Henry found "exquisite pleasure" in playing with Dorian even going so far as to describe it as an "experiment". This shows that Henry is selfish and perhaps the most evil character in the novel as he sets Dorian on the path to chaos. The influence is also seen in The Little Stranger to present the villains and victims through a character very similar to the dynamic Lord Henry. Faraday could be interpreted as the villain of the narrative and the reader as the victim. The entire story is from his point of view and the way he is very confused about various topics contributes to the ambiguity of the story, for example from the beginning saying that the house was "fuzzy and uncertain". This is called an omniscient narrator and it fits very well into Gothic literature because a reader puts all his trust in the narrator when he tells the events that happen, but what those events appear unreliable or peculiar would give that uneasy sense of what is real and it isn't. 'T. Reality is something that Faraday seems to manipulate when he feels "out of time and out of place" as he travels in his mind's eye to Hundreds Hall and the reader wonders if he is really traveling there or is it simply a vivid dream. Waters accentuates this liminality by using phrases such as “I see myself crossing the silver landscape and passing like smoke,” the adjective “silver” creating this unnatural coloration for nature that repels reality. Furthermore, the simile "like smoke" evaporates Faraday into an ethereal being contradicting his previous beliefs that nothing supernatural could happen, it all depended on science. These events that happened on the night of Caroline's death make everything seem suspicious to the reader, as it could be an attempt by the evil Faraday to lead a path away from the real events and gain the reader's trust.