Shrupnakha describes Ravana

 When Ravana asks Shrupanaka to describe Sita. He falls instantly in love with her image, and Shrupanaka urges him to capture Sita. Ravana walks out of his hall, ignoring his wives, and shuts himself in his private room. He rages and feels that everything is out to torment him. He moves to the garden, where he finds the late winter cool and uncomfortable. Ravana shouts at the weather, which obligingly changes to early summer. Ravana is still unhappy with the weather, so the monsoon season is coming. Finally, Ravana banishes all seasons and years disappear. He eventually asks for the moon, but finds it too bright and recalls the sun. This wreaks havoc on the world, as birds wonder where night went and astronomers can't figure out what happened. Finally, he orders complete darkness and hallucinates about Sita.

Ravana's temper tantrum is demonstrative of his extreme power over the world. The reader is reminded that at this point Ravana is selfish and not at all interested in using his powers for good, as the beings subject to his whims and fancies are at least shocked, if not harmed by his changes in the weather. Also, unlike Rama (but like Sita and Soorpanaka), Ravana is completely derailed by falling in love. Though Rama was disturbed and didn't sleep, he still managed to function. Ravana's inability to do so further distances him from Rama's heroism and goodness, and aligns him with the reactions of women and evil.

Ravana summons Soorpanaka and asks her to confirm that he's hallucinating about Sita. Soorpanaka insists that she sees Rama, and that since he damaged her she can't forget him. She urges Ravana to go fetch Sita, and Ravana calls for his advisers. He only values them for the formality, however, and soon leaves to speak with his uncle, Mareecha. Ravana explains that Rama mutilated Soorpanaka, and Mareecha advises Ravana to stay away from Rama. Ravana asks Mareecha to come along and help him steal Sita, but Mareecha is trying to live a virtuous life and tries to refuse.

Ravana continues to behave selfishly. Rather than wanting to truly consult others to formulate the best plan, he only wants to speak to advisors so that he feels important. Here we see Ravana operating essentially as a lone agent and bullying others into following him; the story will later show that behaving like this has disastrous consequences. Mareecha's attempts to refuse, however, continue to suggest that it's possible to choose good over evil and right past wrongs.