Chris Bonds:

>Besides Don Giovanni, what males in operas represent evil (and the Don is
>a paradox to begin with--bad guy and hero)?

Scarpia is enough evil?.  The Doctor ("Wozzeck") and Yago ("Otello") are
definitively disgousting.  Pluto (Monteverdi's "Orfeo") could be perhaps in
the list (he is not evil in itself, but he is the master of an evil place).
Don Giovanni is hardly a hero.  Where have you seen a hero delivered to
hell?.  (OK, but Orfeo and Eneas did return!...).

>I can think of several women--in opera women are either paragons of virtue
>or seductresses or destroying types--the queen of the night, Salome, etc.
>If there is male evil it's often stereotyped with some deformity or feature
>that makes that person different

It's true, but there are also many female characters in opera which are
not paragons of virtue nor seductresses, nor "destroying type":  Susanna,
Fiordiligi, Dorabella, Violetta, Aida (she betrayed his father after
all...), Nedda, Santuzza.  And there are many male characters which are
stupid or weak:  Eneas, Turiddu, Guglielmo, Ferrando, Count Almaviva
("Nozze di...") etc.

I find that you have in your mind a sort of stereotype about opera's
stereotypes...:-)

Pablo Massa
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