Fitz Dastard

He inhabits Shaw's burlesque of Victorian melodrama, where the dramatis personae are, as the preface admits, of the stage stagey, challenging the actor to act up to them or beyond them. His villainy is a deliberate overcharge, a puppet's wickedness performed with relish rather than psychology, and the plot turns on the poison and petrifaction his schemes set in motion. He matters because he shows Shaw at play, using the stock villain as a springboard for parody and for the sheer theatrical fun of a hissable antagonist.