Can evil characters engender sympathy?

• Can evil characters engender sympathy?
  
  
  1. empathy:understanding and entering into another's feelings
  2. sympathy:sharing the feelings of others (especially feelings of sorrow or anguish)

As humans, we are generally sympathetic and understanding creatures. If an evil character is given background and a prior life to his evil doings then an evil character can most definitely engender sympathy.

As we read in A League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, the monster was not always that way. He was once just a regular human which makes us relate to him and feel sympathetically towards him. We understand that it is not up to him to change and become the monster that he dose. this engenders emotions for him.

In many other movies such as The Dark Knight, we see the downfall of an evil character. The director and the actor of this movie do a great job of pulling their audience into the movie.this allows us to feel as if we know the characters an seeing the downfall of a hero makes most people empathetic. We have all had hard times in life and some of us overcome them while others succumb to them. Though the character in the movie, Harvey Dent, succumbs to his problems and turns to harming people, we still feel for him when he dies in the end.

It's human nature to care though we do not show it all the time.