What is your favorite literary character?

[catherine]

I'm friends with a writer on FB who asked the question: "Who is your favorite literary character?" He specifically said that doesn't mean the character you like a lot or is morally good vs bad, but a true, complex, compelling character.

I know there are many out there, but I can't put my finger on one. What about you readers? Do you have a favorite character?

[iris lilies]

I'm friends with a writer on FB who asked the question: "Who is your favorite literary character?" He specifically said that doesn't mean the character you like a lot or is morally good vs bad, but a true, complex, compelling character.

I know there are many out there, but I can't put my finger on one. What about you readers? Do you have a favorite character?

I like several of the Victorian heroines although I guess Jane Austenis not technically Victorian.

I like Becky Sharp from Vanity Fair, she was calculating, self-serving, pretty mean, but ultimately a little bit kind in the end.

[iris lilies]

I always felt deeply (for me anyway, not deep in the feelings department) for Phillip in Of Human Bondage. That young man went through a range of experiences to come out on the other side good and whole and mature.

wish I could think of some good literary villains. I’m sure there are many in Shakespear’s works But I am not well-versed in those. The villains are always more interesting than the good guys.

[catherine]

I always felt deeply (for me anyway, not deep in the feelings department) for Phillip in Of Human Bondage. That young man went through a range of experiences to come out on the other side good and whole and mature.

wish I could think of some good literary villains. I’m sure there are many in Shakespear’s works But I am not well-versed in those. The villains are always more interesting than the good guys.

Because I'm a redemption fanatic, I tend to go for the bad guys who do that one heroic thing at the end. People like Sydney Carton in Tale of Two Cities. My favorite Shakespearean villain/hero is Richard II. He was just a foolhardy, narcissistic king, but then he has that wonderfully profound soliloquy at the end.

Thus play I in one person many people,
And none contented: sometimes am I king;
Then treasons make me wish myself a beggar,
And so I am: then crushing penury
Persuades me I was better when a king;
Then am I king'd again: and by and by
Think that I am unking'd by Bolingbroke,
And straight am nothing: but whate'er I be,
Nor I nor any man that but man is
With nothing shall be pleased, till he be eased
With being nothing.

[Alan]

Jack Shaftoe, one of the many protagonists in Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle trilogy. He's a clever, yet slightly mad adventurer with a foul mouth and few morals. He's my kinda guy!

[Rogar]

I've not read Of Human Bondage, but was reminded of Larry Darrell from The Razor's Edge, which is a favorite character and story. I've read the book a couple of times and seen both the old and new version of the movie. The newest movie features Bill Murray in a serious role as Larry Darrell and in my opinion, under rated, but still a little too much Hollywood for the classic story. In a nutshell, he abandons the pursuit of money and society and searches for happiness, knowledge, and love outside of his high society roots.

[Tradd]

Anne Elliot in Austen’s Persuasion is a favorite.

Currently re-reading the Dragonriders of Pern books by Anne McCaffrey. Lessa, the Benden Weyrwoman, is a favorite current character.

[rosarugosa]

Questions like this seem to make my mind go blank! I can tell you my favorite fictional characters from books I have read this year, though:
Qouyle from The Shipping News
Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov from A Gentleman in Moscow
Captain Kidd from News of the World
Gertie Nevels from The Dollmaker
Marcellus from Remarkably Bright Creatures
Women are sadly under-represented in this list, aren't they?

[Tybee]

Charley Grey from Point of No Return.

[catherine]

Women are sadly under-represented in this list, aren't they?

I know!

I was going to mention Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind (I did read the book--I'm not thinking of the movie).
Jean Brodie from The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
Bathsheba from Far from the Madding Crowd
Lucy from The Lion, the Witch and and the Wardrobe

I know there are others!!