Top 5 Most Evil Charachters in Literature pt 3; Alex DeLarge

Alex from Anthony Burgess's novel "A Clockwork Orange" is one of the most entertaining and charming psychopathic charachters ever to be put to written word. He is sadistically violent, portrayed as someone who murders, robes, and rapes for little more than personal bemusement. For him the kill is the motive, hurting someone is the end. Ironically, he is also the protagonist of the book, acting as somewhat of the perfect anti-hero. He is the novel only 15 years old and already very seasoned in delinquent behavior. He leads a small gang called the Droogs, and he is the youngest member of the group, though he is portrayed as far more intelligent and vicious than his buddies and comes up with the majority of their sick tirades. As an intellectual, he knows his actions are inherently wrong, though because of a deep seeded need to destroy he doesn't feel any real remorse over his actions. He is most definitely a classic psychopath.

Even though he is a sadistic killer, the reader at times finding themselves enjoying Alex's many quirks, and in some ways it wouldn't be surprising if the reader would at some point come to like Alex. He speaks with a strange dialect created by Burgess called Nadsat, teenage slang based on some English and Russian words. He is enormously witty. He likes to drink milk that is laced with various stimulants, most likely methamphetamines, as well as psychedelics. He has a passion for Classical music, especially Beethoven. There is a scene in the book where he passionately listens to Beethoven and goes into deep and detailed fantasies of torture and rape, bringing him to the point of orgasm.

When Alex is eventually sold out by his friends to the police (they got sick of his arrogant manner), he is sentenced to a unique form of aversion therapy. Alex is injected with a drug and becomes violently ill, and then exposed to scenes of rape and murder. He is then not even able to fantasize about hurting people without experiencing the same symptoms. He is let out of prison, but still wholly unable to integrate himself back into society. He runs into old friends and enemies, all who mercilessly beat him, with Alex not even able to defend himself. The climax comes when Alex runs into the writers who's wife he had raped, the assault of which resulted in her death by some unnamed illness. The writer is able to make this connection after hearing Alex sing, "Singin in the Rain", the same tune he hummed when he raped his wife. The writer drugs Alex and locks him in a room, making him listen to the ninth symphony, the sound of also makes Alex incredibly ill. Alex attempts to commit suicide by jumping out of the house, but instead wakes up in the hospital, with the illness apparently subsided. He instantly reverts to his evil self, fantasizing of torture and murder. The novel ends on an ambiguous note, with a 21 year old Alex working a government job and fantasizing about starting a family. Alex represents the futility of trying to reform violent criminals, as his nature is deep rooted and unchangeable. The end of the novel shows that it was only boredom that was able to make Alex grow out of his psychopathy, but even then he is left with sinister urges.