The nature of James Taggart's character is the focus of this chapter. He believes that he'll make a fortune from his latest deal, which will allow him and his political friends to rob Francisco d'Anconia. However, Taggart doesn't want to celebrate the promise of financial gain. He wants to celebrate the blow struck against Francisco — the wound inflicted on a great man. Taggart savors this type of destruction. He has hated Francisco from the earliest days of his childhood. Francisco is a prodigy who excels at every endeavor — physical and intellectual. Jim hates him, not because of any flaw, but because of his joyous, life-giving ability. Jim is riddled with envy, an emotion that Ayn Rand describes as hatred of the good for being good. Taggart recognizes Francisco's genius and nobility of spirit and hates him because of it. For this same reason, he hates Dagny, Ellis Wyatt, and Hank Rearden.
Lillian Rearden resembles Taggart closely. She has only one goal in life: to use guilt, psychological manipulation, and treachery to harm her husband. She wants to hurt him in any way that she can — by criticizing his work and character, by making his home life miserable, by simultaneously refusing him a divorce and forbidding him Dagny, by scheming to rob him of his metal, by aligning herself with the looters, and so on. Like Taggart, she hates Rearden because of his stature. The only reason she has sex with Taggart is to try to hurt her husband. Taggart knows this, and the only words spoken during the act come from Taggart, who calls Lillian "Mrs. Rearden." To wound or disfigure greatness is the desire motivating both characters, but both lack the power to damage Rearden now. Rearden despises Lillian, and her actions no longer affect him. He can defend himself completely against the hatred of such empty souls.
