Of male and female characters

[Scheherazade]

I like the female characters in Vanity Fair by Thackeray... Both Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley are memorable characters, I think.

[irock_poems]

Yes yes James Baldwin does okay.

[_JadeRain_]

Mary Shelly does an excellent job depicting Victor in _Frankenstein_.

Nathaniel Hawthorne also masters the female essence with Hester Prynne in _The Scarlet Letter_.

[PeterL]

It's especially hilarious when male writers write female characters who fall hopelessly in love with a character who looks suspiciously like the face on the book jacket...

Amen

All characters are part of the author, but that is excessive. I hope that I manage to avoid doing that.

[Pensive]

In case of Madam Defarge from A Tale Of Two Cities, I think that Charles Dickens pictured her very well. I can't think of more right now.

[ThousandthIsle]

I couldn't stop marvelling at Arthur Golden's 1st-person portrayal of a woman in Memoirs of a Geisha. There were a lot of subtle things he picked up on that surprised me. All humans are capable of putting themselves in another's place and seeing the world through a different set of eyes, but I felt that he immersed himself into a woman's mind (especially for that time period and location, when women's lives were much much different than men's). Sayuri was one of the best developed female characters I have ever read, even among women authors!

You'll have to excuse me and I'll return when I remember it... I recently came across the opposite situation - a very well-written male character by a woman. Give me some time to remember!

[manolia]

I like the female characters in Vanity Fair by Thackeray... Both Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley are memorable characters, I think.

I agree with this I am reading "Vanity fair" currently and liking it very much. Thackeray did a very good jod describing two different types of women..very lifelike characters

[Pensive]

Also, in Midnight's Children, Rushdie seems to have pictured the female characters very well.

Lawrence's female characters also seem to fit quite a lot. But then again both these authors, Rushdie and Lawrence, are good with their male characters too.

Charles Dickens' Madam Defarge, as I already mentioned, looks quite realistic but some of his other female characters like Lucy Manette just annoy me a great deal. They seem quite unrealistic to me for some reason...

I like the female characters in Vanity Fair by Thackeray... Both Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley are memorable characters, I think.

Yes, I second that too.

[Janine]

Pensive, of course I too was thinking of Lawrence; he seems to get right into a woman's mind and see her so clearly. He certainly delved far below the surface of Ursula and Gudrun's mind, but then again he was deep into the thoughts of Gerald and Birkin, too. Lawrence is very well known though, for his intuitive talent in delving below the female mind - look at "Lady Chatterly's Lover". Most of his books do center around the woman characters especially, probably a result of his close relationship to his mother.

And Madame DeFarge is a good example. I thought that "A Tale of Two Cities" was one of the best I ever read. I loved the characterizations. Isn't Dickens noted for that? DeFarge did especially stand out in that novel.

Sher, I have not read Thackery yet, but I do own a copy of "Vanity Fair"; Manolia....glad to see you reading it and recommending it as well. I will have to read that one soon. I have heard good things about the book before.

Jade Rain - Amen...I agree! Victor's mind is really detailed and complex and Mary Shelley does a fantastic job on his characterization - to think she was so young when she wrote such depth. I have read the book three times - it is one of my favorites and never ceases to fascinate me; I think that is because of the extent to which Shelley reveals what is going on below the surface - within Victor's thoughts. It is an amazing book!
Thanks for the input everybody!

[Scheherazade]

Female forumers, which male writer do you think has most accurately described the mind of a woman; the same question to male forumers: which female author has most accurately described the mind of a male character's inner world?

I like the female characters in Vanity Fair by Thackeray... Both Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley are memorable characters, I think.

I agree with this I am reading "Vanity fair" currently and liking it very much. Thackeray did a very good jod describing two different types of women..very lifelike characters

Sher, I have not read Thackery yet, but I do own a copy of "Vanity Fair"; Manolia....glad to see you reading it and recommending it as well. I will have to read that one soon. I have heard good things about the book before.

I just want to clear something up... The OP was asking good examples of female characters created by male authors (and vice versa), which is why I mentioned Thackeray. Otherwise, I am not a huge fan of Vanity Fair. However, if you are fond of 19th century literature, you are sure to enjoy this book

[PeterL]

We already rule the world...men spend their time wondering what the hell we want, so we rule their minds at least...

That is true. Women have always ruled the world, and they will continue, if they remember to let men believe that men rule the world.

[Annamariah]

That is true. Women have always ruled the world, and they will continue, if they remember to let men believe that men rule the world.

"Man might be the head of the family, but woman is the neck that turns the head"

[PeterL]

"Man might be the head of the family, but woman is the neck that turns the head"

Amen, or should I write: "Ah women"?

[bibliophile190]

I think Agatha Christie usually did a pretty good job in realistically portraying her male characters.

[dramasnot6]

I thought, at the beggining,before it became painfully misogynistic in message, "The French Lieutenants Woman" by John Fowles offered a very interesting portrayel of the female mind.