During the month-long celebration of Shakespeare, we wanted to pay homage to the Bard’s most loathsome characters: his villains, schemers, whiners, and all-around bad actors.

So, we asked our lit experts here to name their least favorite Shakespearean characters and explain why. Here’s what they said:

Easy! Iago, the quintessential villain of Othello. The best manipulative, obsessive, jealous frenemy you can ever ask for. —Jhenelle Robinson, Morrisania

And my off-the-top-of-my-head reply was going to be, “Easy! Othello! The obsessive, pathologically jealous protagonist of the play that bears his name. How can he be so easily manipulated and so blind to Desdemona’s unshakably deep devotion to him?”

As runner-up: Falstaff (Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2 and The Merry Wives of Windsor). I just never have found him all that funny. Certainly not three plays’ worth. —Kathie Coblentz, Special Collections

Of all the villainous cretins in his plays (of which there are many), Shakespeare really thought the least of men who use their power in small-minded ways. Which leads me to conclude that while Richard III is a total creep, you can’t help but like him, because he’s got a certain charisma. (Especially when he’s played by Kevin Spacey!) Ditto with Iago. So I’d have to go with Saturninus, Tamora, Tamora’s two sons, and Aaron the Moor in Titus Andronicus. I can’t decide on just one because they’re all complicit together. They’re just a thoroughly evil family, orchestrating the rape and dismemberment of poor Lavinia, the execution of Titus’s sons, and the downfall of Titus himself. —Anne Barreca, Battery Park City

Got to go with Hero from Much Ado About Nothing. Unpopular choice? Maybe, but she was just so passive and so yielding I was just like, come onnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn, Hero. —Joe Pascullo, Grand Central

For me, it’s always been Hamlet. Know what, dude? We get it—your life is hard. Your dad is dead. Your mom just married your uncle, who probably murdered your father, and you’re feeling totes emo. But horrible stuff happens to everybody, and sometimes you just have to suck it up. So do us all a favor: Stop whining about your existential crisis, stop treating Ophelia like trash, and move on already. —Anne Rouyer, Mulberry Street

Angelo from Measure for Measure. He’s a lascivious and power-hungry creep who hypocritically enforces some seriously messed-up laws in Vienna when the Duke is away. Here’s the short list of his offences: blackmailing a nun, conspiring to take said nun’s virginity, sentencing an innocent man to death, and breaking off an engagement because the bride-to-be doesn’t have a dowry. —Nancy Aravecz, Jerfferson Market

Angelo is monstrous, but Lin-Manuel Miranda told us that Frosh in that play was his least favorite character. I have always hated Osric, the political enabler, and I’m sure that his next move is into Fortinbras’ cabinet. —Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, Exhibitions

Helena from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Demetrius may be a callous monster, but Helena is his enabler. Somehow she manages to be an aggressive sexual harasser and a mouse with no backbone simultaneously.  She’s clingy, whiny, and annoying—and she intentionally sabotages her best friend’s chance at happiness to impress a guy who repeatedly verbally abuses her. Woman, have some self-respect. —Althea Georges, Mosholu

How about Antonio, that drama queen from The Merchant of Venice? Right from the opening, you want to smack him upside the head and tell him to get to the stinking point already instead of moping and making you play 20 questions. He’s an anti-Semitic bully as well, as evidenced by his and Shylock’s loan negotiations. I would have let Shylock take his pound and a hundred more from Antonio. Whiny little punk. —Joshua Soule, Spuyten Duyvil

I was going to say, ANTONIO! What a jerk! All of the drama in all of The Merchant of Venice is all his fault, that arrogant, lily-livered miscreant. It’s always been a struggle to read this play because of the anti-Semitism, but the fact that Antonio, a legitimate cheat to a criminal level, gets away with cheating Shylock, who has a completely valid complaint against Antonio, is too infuriating. —Katrina Ortega, Hamilton Grange

Lady Macbeth. How delightful to watch her scheme only to have all of her machinations thrown back at her. As she slowly unravels she repeats one of the best lines ever with OCD fervor. But, alas, that damn spot will not out.  —Arielle Landau, Digital Experience

He’s not always understood as a villain, but for me, it’s Petruchio from The Taming of the Shrew. I read the play in high school, long before learning about feminism and sexual politics. Even then, something chafed about Petruchio’s dedication to “taming” headstrong Katharina. He plays psychological games with Katharina, denies her food and clothing, and ultimately convinces her that all wives should defer to their husbands. Petruchio: Shakespeare’s consummate bro. (Did they wear fedoras in 1590?) —Erica Parker, Mid-Manhattan

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