Fictional victory

It is a curious part on human nature that we are usually more attracted by the bad character in fiction than in good. Long suffering heroes and heroines meeting life's adversities with saintly forbearance do not have the same fascination for us as the outright sinner. We are able to appreciate the excellence of good characters, even to suffer with them, but they do not arouse our passions in the same way as a really evil character. It is true to say that the function of the wicked in fiction is to provide the cliffhanger situations without which we should soon lose interest.
A story conceived only with thoroughly good people would be insipid, not to say boring. If we are honest with ourselves, great heroism and spectacular achievement excite our admiration not so much because he is good at what he does. A character who leads his men to victory against overwhelming odds, or bluffs his way out of one agonizing secret service situation after another, needs the same qualities of ruthlessness and ingenuity as a successful bank robber. On the other hand, since the majority of us are content to live comparatively dull and blameless lives, subjected to the faceless tyranny of tax officials, government legislation and big business, our fascination with the wrong doer is a way of getting our own way back. We can do little to resist the villains in our daily lives, but we can read with mounting thrills and anticipation the triumph and ultimate downfall of fictional villains since the good,even beyond the grave, always win in the end, in stories at least.