Dubious Men

After making a list of the women in the plays and seeing them as a collective, I created a list of the men in most plays (not including the history plays*). It was intriguing to discover that most of these men behave very badly. I am not implying that only a woman would write like this. I'm just saying it's interesting to look at.

Murderers
  • Titus in Titus Andronicus.
  • Demetrius in Titus Andronicus.
  • Chiron in Titus Andronicus.
  • Aaron the Moor in Titus Andronicus.
  • Romeo in Romeo and Juliet.
  • Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet.
  • Hamlet in Hamlet.
  • Claudius in Hamlet.
  • Laertes in Hamlet.
  • Brutus and Cassius in Julius Caesar.
  • Othello in Othello.
  • Iago in Othello.
  • Edmund in King Lear.
  • Macbeth in Macbeth.
  • Richard iii in Richard III.
  • Achilles in Troilus and Cressida.

Overbearing fathers
  • Capulet in Romeo and Juliet.
  • Mr. Page in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
  • Egeus (encouraged by Theseus) in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
  • Shylock in The Merchant of Venice.
  • Portia’s father in The Merchant of Venice.
  • Baptista Minola in The Taming of the Shrew.
  • Duke of Milan in Two Gentlemen of Verona.
  • King Lear in King Lear.
  • King Cymbeline in Cymbeline.
  • Prospero in The Tempest.
  • Duke Frederick in As You Like It.
Insanely jealous husbands
  • (Othello in Othello.)
  • Posthumous in Cymbeline.
  • Leontes in The Winter’s Tale.
  • Mr. Frank Ford in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Pompous and pedantic men
  • Don Adriano de Armado in Love’s Labor’s Lost.
  • Holofernes in Love’s Labor’s Lost.
  • Sir Nathanial in Love’s Labor’s Lost.
  • Robert Shallow in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
  • Malvolio in Twelfth Night.
  • Lucio in Measure for Measure.
  • Polonius in Hamlet.
Drunkards
  • Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, The Merry Wives of
  • Windsor.
  • Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night.
  • Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night.
  • Christopher Sly in Taming of the Shrew.
Cowards, liars, hypocrites, extortionists
  • Parolles in All’s Well That Ends Well.
  • Angelo in Measure for Measure.
  • Bertram in All’s Well That Ends Well.
  • Cloten in Cymbeline; attempted rape.
  • Sir Eglamour in Two Gentlemen of Verona.
  • Proteus in Two Gentlemen; attempted rape.
  • Iachimo in Cymbeline.
  • (Sir John Falstaff in Henry IV Parts 1 and 2, Merry Wives of Windsor.)
Men who get women pregnant out of wedlock
  • Gloucester in King Lear.
  • Richard the Lionheart in King John.
  • Claudio in Measure for Measure.
  • Launcelot Gobbo in Merchant of Venice.
  • (Aaron in Titus Andronicus.)
  • (Lucio in Measure for Measure.)
  • (Bertram, sort of, in All’s Well That Ends Well.)
Fickle men
  • Demetrius in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
  • Bassanio (a golddigger) in The Merchant of Venice.
  • Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing.
  • Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing.
  • Leonato in Much Ado About Nothing.
  • Cassio in Othello.
  • (Proteus in Two Gentlemen.)
  • (Romeo in Romeo and Juliet.)
Cruel men (besides the murderers)
  • Antonio the Merchant in The Merchant of Venice.
  • Don John in Much Ado About Nothing.
  • Duke of Cornwall in King Lear.
  • Thersites in Troilus and Cressida.
  • (Chiron and Demetrius in Titus Andronicus; rape and mutilation.)
  • (Titus in Titus Andronicus; murders his own son, cannibalism.)
  • (Launcelot Gobbo in The Merchant of Venice.)
Obnoxious, loudmouthed, or hot-headed
  • Gratiano in The Merchant of Venice.
  • Dr. Caius in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
  • Oswald in King Lear.
Men who usurp or kill their brothers, or attempt to
  • Duke Frederick in As You Like It.
  • Oliver in As You Like It.
  • Sebastian in The Tempest.
  • Antonio in The Tempest.
  • (Claudius in Hamlet.)
  • (Richard III in Richard III.)
  • (Don John in Much Ado About Nothing.)
  • Hamlet senior, as Ghost in Hamlet.
Dimwits
  • Abraham Slender in Merry Wives of Windsor.
  • (Christopher Sly in Taming of the Shrew.)
  • Gremio and Hortensio in Taming of the Shrew.
  • Thurio and Launce in Two Gentlemen of Verona.
  • Anthony Dull in Love’s Labor’s Lost.
  • The six rude mechanicals in A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
  • Dogberry and Verges in Much Ado About Nothing.
  • Silvius in As You Like It.
  • Sir Andrew Aguecheek in Twelfth Night.
  • Ajax in Troilus and Cressida.
  • Elbow, Froth, and Pompey in Measure for Measure.
  • Borachio and Conrade in Much Ado About Nothing.
  • (Prince Cloten in Cymbeline.)
  • Trinculo and Stephano in The Tempest.

 

*Many men in the history plays behave abominably -- betraying, murdering, lying, etc. -- but that's part of a larger project.

A name in parentheses indicates this person is in more than one category.

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