Cecil Clayton

""Go ahead, shoot me. Be a man.""

- - Clayton taunting Tarzan.

Clayton is the main villain in Disney's Tarzan who has only one motive in mind that he lets no one except his crew know until he is confident he has the upper-hand, in the end, however, Clayton's dark heart and greed would be his undoing.

Plan
Clayton first started out as a rather haughty and aggressive guide who was clearly more interested in hunting animals than researching them, much to the displeasure of Jane and her father - who were searching for gorillas for research rather than for profit. Despite his behavior Clayton didn't show signs of being a true villain at that point, though he was always slightly antagonistic - his antagonism worsened however when the group came across the jungle-hero known as Tarzan, Clayton figured that this "missing link" could be his ticket to finding the gorillas and he attempted to get Tarzan to aid him.

However Clayton was neither patient nor particularly nice, thinking of Tarzan as inferior and somewhat stupid (without knowing that Tarzan was both stronger and smarter than he was) - eventually Tarzan did lead the group to the gorillas, but more out of his growing love for Jane and the way she and her father had treated him (with respect rather than insults): Clayton came along under the false promise that the gorillas would not be harmed.

Once he learned of the gorillas' home Clayton's true nature quickly surfaced as he had Jane, her father and Tarzan captured and imprisoned - it was then Clayton revealed what he truly was: a poacher - he and his mob then began causing havoc in the jungle, snatching gorillas and putting them in cages, presumably to be either sold or killed.

However Tarzan manages to escape and battles Clayton to save his family, during this conflict Clayton shoots Kerchak dead - later the tragedy of the moment is made worse as Kerchak finally accepts Tarzan as his son, only to die. Angered, Tarzan renews his attack on Clayton and gets the upper-hand, holding the rifle to Clayton.

Clayton mocks Tarzan and tells him to shoot him and become a "man", however Tarzan regains his senses and smashes the rifle against a tree - stating bitterly to Clayton that he was "not a man like you" - Clayton is unmoved and proceeds to attack Tarzan with his machete, but Tarzan is too quick and agile and uses vines to try and restrain Clayton: this only serves to drive Clayton into a frenzy and he slashes at the vines, unaware of it tightening around his neck - Tarzan realizes what was happening and warned Clayton to stop but the mad hunter wouldn't listen and ultimately cut the last vine, causing him to plunge down as the remaining vines wrapped round his neck and effectively hanged him: presumably snapping his neck instantly.