Literary texts, through asking us to sympathize and engage with the material
they present, ask us to be moral agents, to pass judgments on scenarios
presented.  The ability of the reader to empathize with villainous characters is
stretched to the utmost when one is asked to confront stories involving crime
or madness.  Peculiarly, we have come to find explanations, which essentially
erase the agency of the villain very convincing: whether the individual is
steered by economical, psychological, biological or political forces, it is
compelled to act by powers beyond his/her control.  Our leading questions
are going to be: firstly, how do these texts envision agency, by what means do
they lift the burden of responsibility off of the villains?  To what degree do
these narratives erase personal responsibility?  Where do they see the border
between understanding and “forgiveness”, whether in personal or in the legal
sense?  How do these works envision moral crises, and what strategies do
they employ to convince their readers of the innocence of these perpetrators?
Which stylistic devices are employed to achieve these aims, and what are
their implications for the agency of the readers themselves?