Female Villains in Contemporary Popular Culture. Bellatrix Lestrange in the "Harry Potter" Series

Seminar paper from the year 2013 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 2,0, University of Paderborn, language: English, abstract: This term paper examines the origins of the lack of female villains in contemporary popular culture. The thesis aims to explain that female villains are more dangerous because of their sex.
In contemporary popular culture the most villains are men. It is very unlikely that the main villain could be a woman. Mostly men are the villain and the hero in popular culture and literature. What is the reason for that? What is the reason for such a sexist image of women? Why are there so few female villains? Why are there so few female heroes?
I want to find an answer to these questions by taking a closer look on the death eater Bellatrix Lestrange of the Harry Potter series. She is the most evil character, not only in the Harry Potter series, but also of all fictional female villains one can imagine.
I am going to compare her character to the one of Lord Voldemort, the most powerful male villain of the Harry Potter books.
Not only will I compare the male to the female villain, but also take a closer look on the relation between Bellatrix Lestrange and another female character of Harry Potter, that takes an important role in the plot. Bellatrix Lestrange compared to Molly Weasley, who killed the death eater during the final battle of Hogwarts.
After having compared Bellatrix Lestrange with the other female character, I will come to the final comparison of Bellatrix and Lord Voldemort; the comparison of a female and a male villain.