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The role of Don John It is possible to ascertain that Don John serves to entertain the audience with dramatic irony, playing the instrumental antagonist to the theme of deception and slander underlying the play's narrative. The employment of specific literary devices and melodrama illustrates Don John's conformation to the stereotypical role of the villain and illegitimate offspring, evident in Shakespearean times. The Elizabethan villain was entirely self-conscious and often a complete embodiment of evil. With the growing consciousness that revenge was evil, revengefulness - particularly for injuries less than blood - became almost exclusively a villainous characteristic. Envy was considered the greatest Elizabethan vice, and it may be one of the most powerful of the passions inducing revenge. Envy's passion was so great that, in contrast to anger, no wrongs were necessary for a person to become the recipient of its malice; indeed, it was often directed against the most...

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