At Book and a Brew, this fortnight’s reading prompt is A Book About A Villain. All fortnight, we’ve been celebrating the mad, bad and dangerous to know of literature!

Because let’s face it, a great villain can often be more memorable than the hero, right?

Here are five of our favourites:

Mrs Danvers (Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier)

Mrs Danvers is a terrifying villain because she exists in the shadows – lurking, watchful, and (almost) ever present. From the moment Max de Winter and the second Mrs de Winter (we never learn her name) arrive at Manderley, she is there, determined to destroy Rebecca de Winter’s successor. She is manipulative, devious and persuasive. So set is Mrs Danvers on preserving the memory of her adored former mistress, that she almost convinces the new Mrs de Winter to jump from a window.

That’s one way to do it, I suppose!

Mr Hyde (Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde)

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is little more than a short story, but it is a powerful one. Mr Hyde, the deformed, evil alter-ego of Dr Jekyll is frightening because he exists in all of us. He represents the side of us that is unhinged, who we become when we lose our temper, what we are capable of when wronged. For that reason, he is a very real kind of villain.

Becky Sharp (Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray)

Vanity Fair – a term symbolising a place of frivolity, privilege and hedonistic delights – is brilliantly dark comic novel, and my choice for this fortnight’s prompt.

The heroine is Becky Sharp, daughter of a poor artist and dancer, who is determined to rise through society by any means necessary. She’s quick witted, devious, manipulative and selfish. She befriends rich spinster Miss Crawley with the sole purpose of being left a fortune in the old woman’s will; she seduces and marries men she has no interest in; she’s fiercely ambitious, a terrible mother, an adulterous wife, and somehow manages to rise to the heights of society.

But viewed through a modern lens, is she really that bad?

At the time of publication, an ambitious, resourceful woman was an unspeakably awful concept. But in today’s world of powerful, independent women, she perhaps deserves a greater examination.

Dorian Gray (The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde)

Dastardly Dorian Gray is a great villain because he represents something that many of us lust after: eternal youth and beauty. Unfortunately for Dorian, it comes at a cost: his soul. Selling his soul for the opportunity to live forever without fear of consequences or death, his portrait instead bears the brunt of his evil deeds, becoming progressively more ugly and aged as the years pass.

We could argue that it is his friend Lord Henry Wotton who is the real villain, but the fact remains that Dorian’s choices are his to make. The real devil is not one we meet at the crossroads, but the one who lives within ourselves.

Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte)

Heathcliff is more of an antihero – a villain by circumstance, wronged by society for his gypsy heritage, treated with cruelty by the family who adopt him, and spurned by the woman he loves. But his actions throughout Wuthering Heights demonstrate a vicious, controlling, abusive personality.

He is unspeakably vile to Isabella Linton, the woman he marries to spite Cathy and inherit her fortune. He is frequently verbally abusive to Cathy, the love of his life (although she gives as good as she gets). He is a dreadful father and an even worse father in law. His all consuming rage, anger and jealousy destroy everyone and everything that crosses his path. His presence marks every page of Emily Bronte’s masterpiece, and the uncertain fate of his soul at the novel’s famous conclusion ends the novel in a eerie, disturbing way.

Anyone I’ve missed?

At Book and a Brew, we love our fortnightly reading prompts! If you’d like to join us, follow us on Instagram @book_anda_brew .