How is Nagina portrayed as the villain in Rikki-Tikki-Tavi?

"Nag" is the villain in Rudyard Kipling's short story Rikki-Tikki-Tavi simply because the author intended that to be the case and made very clear that this menacing serpent was the villain. A section of Kipling's famed Jungle Book, Rikki-Tikki-Tavi is a fable featuring a brave mongoose protecting its owners and other animals from the huge cobra that lived on the property. The fable's opening poem includes a stanza that leaves no doubt as to Nag's nature:

At the hole where he went in
Red-Eye called to Wrinkle-Skin.
Hear what little Red-Eye saith:
``Nag, come up and dance with death!''

Nag, it will be revealed, is a king cobra, a large, highly-toxic snake that preys on other animals, and will kill any human being that accidentally surprises it during a casual walk in the jungle. To reinforce the point, the mongoose's initial encounter with the cobra occurs immediately following a conversation with birds who describe the loss of one of their chicks to the snake. Responding to the birds' story, and their comment regarding their chick that "Nag ate him," the mongoose expresses curiosity regarding the identity of "Nag." As Kipling describes the scene that follows:

". . .from the thick grass at the foot of the bush there came a low hiss --- a horrid cold sound that made Rikki-tikki jump back two clear feet. Then inch by inch out of the grass rose up the head and spread hood of Nag, the big black cobra, and he was five feet long from tongue to tail. When he had lifted one-third of himself clear of the ground, he stayed balancing to and fro exactly as a dandelion-tuft balances in the wind, and he looked at Rikki-tikki with the wicked snake's eyes that never change their expression, whatever the snake may be thinking of."

The use of the word "wicked" should leave no doubt as to the role Nag plays in this story. Nag, to reiterate, is the villain of the story because the confrontation between mongoose and cobra provides the story's plot and its tension. Lest any reader miss the point, Kipling concludes his story with a second part to the poem that opened Rikki-Tikki-Tavi, in which he describes Nag in rather unflattering terms, noting that the now-deceased cobra was, in life, the "evil that plagued us." 

How does Nagaina worsen situations for herself and Nag in "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi"?

From the beginning of Rudyard Kipling’s short story “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi,” Nagaina and her husband Nag are set up as the antagonists to Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. When we first met the two black cobras, they are introduced by the Tailorbird, Darzee, who explains that one of his babies fell out of the nest and was eaten by Nag. Rikki isn’t sure who Nag is until he and his wife sneak up to attack him. Rikki is able to bite Nagaina, but he is “afraid of the terrible lashing return stroke of the cobra” and releases too soon. Nagaina is injured, but she survives.

Rikki overhears Nagaina’s plan to kill the people of the house; she believes that if the people are gone from the bungalow there will be no mongoose, and they will be able to have the garden to themselves so that they, and their children, will be safe:

Everything. When there were no people in the bungalow, did we have any mongoose in the garden? So long as the bungalow is empty, we are king and queen of the garden; and remember that as soon as our eggs in the melon bed hatch (as they may tomorrow), our children will need room and quiet.

Teddy and his parents have become Rikki’s family, so he knows that he must protect them. Rikki waits until Nag falls asleep to attack him. During the commotion, the man wakes up and shoots Nag with a shotgun. The next morning, he realizes he still has to fight Nagaina, who will be even angrier now that her husband is dead.

Rikki goes to Darzee for advice. Darzee, who is singing happy songs about Nag’s death, tells Rikki that Nagaina hid her eggs in the melon bed. Rikki develops a plan that Darzee will pretend to be hurt to lure Nagaina out; while Nagaina is gone Rikki will go after the eggs. Darzee stays behind to protect his own eggs while his wife pretends Teddy broke her wing. She plays the role perfectly claiming, "Oh, my wing is broken! The boy in the house threw a stone at me and broke it." Distracted, Nagaina doesn’t realize Rikki has killed all of her eggs.

As he’s killing the last three, Darzee’s wife comes back to warn him that she “led Nagaina toward the house, and she has gone into the veranda, and--oh, come quickly—she means killing!" Rikki runs and sees Nagaina ready to attack Teddy. Rikki uses the last egg to pull her away from Teddy. She grabs it and runs into her hole, with Rikki following close behind. We don’t see what happens underground, but Rikki emerges telling Darzee that Nagaina is dead: "The widow will never come out again."

Rikki would not have gone after Nagainia if she hadn’t made the decision to go after the humans in the bungalow. This decision is what makes things worse for her and leads to the deaths of both Nag, Nagaina, and their babies.

How does Nagaina's plan characterize her as a villain in Rikki-Tikki-Tavi?

Nag and Nagaina are the antagonists of Rudyard Kipling's celebrated short story "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi." Both Nag and Nagaina are intimidating, dangerous cobras, who reside in the bungalow's garden, where Rikki-tikki ends up living after a British family rescues him from a flood. Shortly after Rikki-Tikki arrives at the bungalow, he ventures outside, where he meets the menacing cobras. Rikki-Tikki initially fears Nag and Nagaina but quickly overcomes his fears and acknowledges that they are his enemies.

Later that night, Rikki-Tikki runs into Chuchundra, the muskrat, who hints that Nag and Nagaina are plotting something terrible. Rikki-Tikki then sneaks through the bungalow and overhears Nagaina instructing Nag to bite Teddy's father. Nagaina tells her husband,

"When the house is emptied of people...he [Rikki-tikki] will have to go away, and then the garden will be our own again. Go in quietly, and remember that the big man who killed Karait is the first one to bite. Then come out and tell me, and we will hunt for Rikki-Tikki together" (Kipling, 4).

Nagaina's plan to kill Teddy's father and Rikki-Tikki establishes her as a villain. Both Teddy and Rikki-Tikki have done nothing to justify Nagaina's actions, and her plan to kill them emphasizes her evil nature. Nagaina is depicted as a purely wicked cobra, who will stop at nothing to have the bungalow and garden to herself. Fortunately, Rikki-Tikki overhears her plan and prevents Nag from harming Teddy's father by killing him in the bathroom. After killing Nag, Rikki-tikki destroys Nagaina's eggs and eventually kills her in her burrow.