I'm pretty nervous. I think I know my material pretty well, and my committee have been mostly supportive. But there's still the fear...
For those of you that have already done this, any tips you wish you'd known of beforehand? Either for keeping calm or answering questions well or last minute cramming?
Who's the most evil, within each novel, and overall? The most frustrating? The most entertaining? Who even counts as a villain?
Northanger Abbey
General Tilney (most evil), John Thorpe (most punchable), and Isabella are the clearcut villains. Frederick Tilney seems a tool and a rake, but I'm not sure enough to qualify him as a villain.
Sense and Sensibility
Willoughby is a strong contender for most evil overall. Mrs. Ferrars is also quite vile. If we include backstory, Colonel Brandon's father and brother are also reprehensible. I lean towards classing John and Fanny Dashwood and Lucy Steele as villains as well, but I agree it's a bit dicey.
Pride and Prejudice
Apart from Wickham, I'm not sure P&P has many villains. The antagonists -- Mr. Collins, Caroline Bingley, Lady Catherine-- don't seem quite bad enough to rank as villains, especially since so many problems are created by unmalicious loved ones.
Emma causes most of her own problems, so I'm not sure she has any villains. The Eltons are ungracious snobs and Frank Churchill is an inconsiderate fool, but nothing really bad. Even Mrs. Churchill is arguably justified in hindsight.
Mansfield Park
Mrs. Norris takes my vote for most evil & most infuriating. Henry Crawford is terrible, Maria is terrible. Mary will, I'm sure, inspire an interesting debate on the line between a villain and a rival. So before we class her as either, how does she compare to Caroline Bingley, Fanny Dashwood or Lucy Steele? Is there anyone else? The Bertrams are bad guardians, Tom is a spoiled tool, and of course, the Prices kind of suck.
Persuasion
Is Mr. Eliot the worst? How does he compare to other villains like General Tilney or Willoughby? Do Sir Walter and Elizabeth count as villains? Does Mrs. Clay?
Lady Susan
It's been a while, is there anyone we should count as a villain besides herself? How does she compare?