Writing Meme Day 18

[erastes]

18. Favourite antagonist and why!

It has to be Michael Giddings from Transgressions because he’s so absolutely horrible, and yet he fools so many people for a lot of the time.

Thing is, that some people. mostly the ignorant masses, thought the Witchfinders were doing a service to the community. Hence they were paid for results – 20 shilllings per convicted witch, I believe (without checking) so it was bloody lucrative. For whatever reasons Matthew Hopkins, the self-proclaimed Witchfinder General, got into it in the first place, you can be assured that he stayed for the money. He convicted and was responsible for the deaths of hundreds of women in the East Anglian region.  So when Jonathan encounters the Witchfinders, at the Assizes in Chelmsford, he is impressed at the “Good Works” they are doing, and this feeling is shored up by the magnetic and silver tongued Michael Giddings, who is not only beautiful, but can see into Jon’s soul as easier as into a clear pool of water.

When you first meet Michael, you, like Jonathan, are fooled into thinking that he believes he’s doing Good Works, and he does everything to convince Jonathan of this – showing him how the women have every opportunity to clear their names, and how they are given a fair trial, but it’s only slowly that Jonathan learns how wrong he’s been—and his nature, which has already taken such a huge blow after David’s deception—is nearly destroyed when he finds out what is really happening with these poor women.

Comments

[joannesopercook.livejournal.com]

I think what I found scariest about Michael was that he honestly believed he was doing the right thing - that he was doing "God's work" you know? Like a lot of these Fred Phelps types (rarrrr, "God hates fags" blah blah) and showing up at soldiers' funerals - they honestly, in their own minds, think they are doing what God wants. And I think Michael believes this - I think he would be shocked if someone said he was evil or whatnot...you know, he has deluded himself or the Church has deluded him or whatever, and this is The Right Thing to Do. He's a 'true believer' and it's scary.

He's a great character - I really liked how you handled the dichotomy that lies at his core.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Now I don't really see him like that - I see him as doing "Michael's work" - he certainly tells Matthew and Jonathan that it's God's work he is doing and he's very convincing about it- but it's all a cover for the fact that he likes pain--the church gave him every opportunity to express his sadistic tendencies, even though they weren't called taht at the time. I don't know what the word is when a serial murderer is increasing in his M.O. but that's basically what Michael was doing -- going from manipulation, to interrogation, to torture and then to murder. Of course, I didn't kill him either, so God knows what happened to him...

[lee-rowan.livejournal.com]

The whole 'fee for witches caught' business makes me think of Terry Pratchett's Ankh-Morpork Fire Department. At first they were paid for number of fires put out...

Fanatics... gah.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Yes - and he had The Witchfinder Private in Good Omens! :)

[gehayi.livejournal.com]

That doesn't surprise me. Michael was a superb antagonist.

[erastes.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :)