MetaChat - Traitor and backstabbers

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09 April 2007

Traitor and backstabbers What are some good ones in literature and movies?→[More:]I was trying to think of some good villains of the traitorous sort and am coming up blank. I'm looking for people who everyone THINKS is a good guy but who turns out to be bad.

This is not for my homework. This is for no reason whatsoever.

Can anyone help?

post by: small_ruminant at: 22:19 | 18 comments

This is a great question. The only one I can think of is Mr. Wickham in Pride & Prejudice. I'd love to think of a more conniving one, though.

posted by Claudia_SF 09 April | 22:26

John Lanchester, The Debt to Pleasure. It's not that everyone ever thinks he's good, but it takes a long slow time to realize how evil he is.

Tom Sawyer's pretty lousy at the end of Huck Finn, keeping Jim chained and telling tall tales when he knows Jim's already been freed. Whether or not he's a metaphor for reconstruction, it was still a lousy thing to do.

Some Roald Dahl short stories (the ones for adults) might set you up, too.

posted by Miko 09 April | 22:32

Iago in Othello is definitely a traitor, and everyone in the play thinks he's on the up-and-up until fairly late in the game. He's very up-front about his treachery with the audience, though, so he might not be what you're looking for.

posted by bmarkey 09 April | 22:37

Cypher. Fuckin' Cypher.

posted by Eideteker 09 April | 22:47

And, paradoxically, Leonard Shelby. That time Cypher wasn't the traitor.

posted by Eideteker 09 April | 22:50

Judas.
Serpico (?)
Every soap opera character ever.

Lindsay Lohan's character in Mean Girls.

posted by SassHat 09 April | 22:51

Tessio. Fredo too, for that matter.

posted by bmarkey 09 April | 22:58

Heh. I forgot about Cypher. I haven't ever seen Serpico (I know I know) and I haven't even heard of Leonard Shelby- I'll have to check it out.

Though that mafia mole in Infernal Affairs/ The Departed probably counts. He was a schmoozy popular guy.

Iago for sure. (So who's the best Iago you've seen?)

posted by small_ruminant 09 April | 23:13

Actually, I don't think I've seen the play performed. If I have, it's completely slipped my memory.

posted by bmarkey 09 April | 23:22

Angela Lansbury unforgettably played the ee-vil Mrs. Iselin in the original Manchurian Candidate. It will be interesting to see what Nicole Kidman does with the treacherous Mrs. Coulter in the film version of Pullman's Golden Compass.

My favorite Iago? James Morris, in Verdi's fantastic adaptation of Shakespeare's play.

posted by rob511 10 April | 01:18

There are all manner of backstabbers in The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas.

posted by amro 10 April | 06:28

A Fish Called Wanda has about three levels of backstabbing going on.

posted by plinth 10 April | 08:24

The Kevin Costner character in No Way Out.

posted by iconomy 10 April | 08:32

Dune's rife with traitors and backstabs.

But my vote for best backstabber is Deadwood's Al Swearengen. Can't really call him a traitor, since he's very pointedly on his own side, but I can't think of another character who screws people over with such style.

posted by cobra! 10 April | 10:10

Oh, duh: Howard W. Campbell, Jr, in Mother Night.

posted by cobra! 10 April | 10:12

Damn. I haven't seen most of these!

starts making list

posted by small_ruminant 10 April | 11:09

Does Verbal Kint in the Usual Suspects count?

posted by deborah 10 April | 11:25

Spoiler alert below:

Tim Robbins in Arlington Road.

posted by essexjan 10 April | 11:33

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