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== Theatre ==
* In the play ''[[Alcestis (Theatre)|Alcestis]]'', King Admetus is the villain. He wins the favor of Apollo so that when it's time for him to die, another may take his place. The only person willing though was his wife Alcestis so that her children will know him and not be fatherless. Since she is the one dying for a noble cause, he is the de facto villain.
* From the perspective of the real world, [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Richard III (Theatre)|Richard III]]''. In the play, he is made into a villain who does plenty of vile stuff, so as to make him seem like a [[Complete Monster]]. But in real life, he was no more evil than any other King of England, and he was actually said to be quite affectionate towards children and horses. Shakespeare decided to villify him in order to suck up to the royal family. Considering that the reigning monarch at the time, Elizabeth I, was the granddaughter of Henry VII, who defeated Richard III in battle, Shakespeare didn't have much choice if he wanted to include Richard III in a play anywhere. There was also already quite a bit of misinformation about Richard III out - Henry VII launched a propaganda campaign against him to make his own rule seem more legitimate. Thus, an era of British kings conspired to make one kind man a [[Designated Villain]].
* Shylock from ''[[The Merchant of Venice (Theatre)|The Merchant of Venice]]''. As such, he's one of the most popular [[Ensemble Darkhorse]]s in history from roughly the 19th century on. He's been driven to what he's done by the persecution he endures as a Jew, including from the protagonist. [[Values Dissonance]] means anti-semitism was actually common in Shakespeare's day.
* Dick Deadeye in [[Gilbert and Sullivan]]'s ''[[HMS Pinafore (Theatre)|HMS Pinafore]]'' is roundly hated and vilified by all his shipmates, mainly for being ugly, intelligent, and outspokenly opinionated. His opinions are, however, the only sane ones in the show. This doesn't make him any more liked at any time. On the other hand, when he deliberately betrays the hero and heroine in Act II, nobody expects anything else from him and he suffers no punishment either.
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* ''[[A Dolls House (Theatre)|A Dolls House]]'':
** Magnificently subverted in Ibsen's story with Nils Krogstad, who is repeatedly demonized as an unpleasant and weak [[Kick the Dog|dog kicker]], but is, upon closer inspection, just trying to secure his job so he can feed his children, and is eventually talked into a total [[Heel Face Turn]]. The ''real'' villain turns out to be [[Knight in Shining Armor]] Torvald Helmer.
** Of course, Torvald's crimes include wanting to have a stable home, not wanting the family name slandered (it's ~1890), and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|wanting his wife to ease off the cookies]]. He'd be perfectly fine if he hadn't been such an [[Ungrateful Bastard]] to Krogstad in the first place...
* The Giantess in ''[[Into the Woods]]''. Her only real crime is not being human. She treated Jack kindly and protected him from her husband, and, in return, he robs her and kills her husband. If she was a human, Jack (who admits that he did it) would have been hauled off to jail, if not the chopping block. All the deaths in the second half are either accidents (because she can't see without her glasses) or caused by humans. There is even a scene in the second act deconstructing this, and discussing why she deserves to live less than Jack does. Eventually, none of them can tell who is supposed to be the hero anymore.
* ''[[Cyrano De Bergerac]]'': subverted by Colonel De Guiche [[In Universe]]. The audience of the play identify him as the villain because he wants to bully Roxane into being [[The Mistress]], but the Gascon Cadets who serve under him never call him out on this: they think he is the villain merely because he doesn’t want to be an [[Idiot Hero]], has [[Ambition Is Evil|villainous motivations]], and [[Screw the Rules, I Have Connections|prefers to thrive by his connections]] in the [[Deadly Decadent Court]]...[[Murder Arson and Jaywalking|and he dresses like]] [[The Dandy]]. In summation, De Guiche is the villain because he is [[No True Scotsman|No True Gascon]]. Observe that not one of the cadets even complain when De Guiche informs them of the [[Last Stand]].
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