Hi gang, now I need examples of "shady ladies" in literature.

[Nedsdag]

I already have a few:

Moll Flanders
Fanny Hill
Hester Prynne
Madame Bovary
Lady Chatterley
Lolita

I need a few more. Any suggestions? I will be discussing this with my students tomorrow.

I have two male "whores" so to speak:

Tom Jones
Joseph Andrews

[kevinthediltz]

Cathy from "East of Eden"
But that is more completely evil and sadistic than shady.

[Virgil]

Well you have define shady lady. I would not characterize Hester Prynne or Lady Chatterly as a shady lady.

[acdouglas92]

Tess in Tess of the D'Urbervilles could be considered one, as she is basically used as a means of trade by her parents in order to heighten their social status.

Julia from 1984 (?)

[billl]

Zola's Nana

[Virgil]

Tess in Tess of the D'Urbervilles could be considered one, as she is basically used as a means of trade by her parents in order to heighten their social status.

Julia from 1984 (?)

What? I would not consider eithewr Tess or Julia shady ladies. What is you definition of shady? These were both admirable ladies caught in a web of tragedy.

[Qaphqa]

Madame Defarge from A Tale of Two Cities.

[Nedsdag]

Sorry, what I should have said was so-called female characters who were sexually adventurous or used their sexuality to either enhance their standings or their narcissism.

[kevinthediltz]

Cathy from east of eden is your best bet there. She is manipulative and uses sex for gain.

[sixsmith]

Nicola Six from Amis' 'London Fields'

[Virgil]

Sorry, what I should have said was so-called female characters who were sexually adventurous or used their sexuality to either enhance their standings or their narcissism.

Well then Hester Prynne and Lady Chatterly are definitely wrong.

[Nedsdag]

I have to use Hester Prynne and Lady Chatterly regarding the sexual nature of their lives.

[billl]

have to? The Scarlet Letter is pretty unrelenting in its sympathy for Hester, if I remember right (and I might not, that was high school for me). I imagine she could maybe be worked in, but you'd probably be seriously misrepresenting the character as she is actually presented in the book if she were simply looked at as "sexually adventurous." Not to say it'd be technically wrong, it just seems like a loaded phrasing. And I don't think there was much evidence for narcissism or social standing being the motive... I mean, I don't know how the paper is going to go, but she seems an odd choice, just considering the use of the words "shady" and "whore" in the original post, the others in the list, etc.

If by "have to" you mean that the teacher assigned that list of women, then... well, I hope you are planning an angle that takes into account the fact that the community around Hester is what really takes a moral beating from the author.

Sorry if I'm spending too much energy defending Hester from a portrayal you don't intend or something, I guess that novel had an effect on me back in the day

[Nedsdag]

Again, I was using Hester Prynne as an example of female characters and sexuality. Perhaps I should've phrased it that way.

[Gustavo L.]

Alejandra from Ernesto Sabato's On Heroes and Tombs. Definitely.
Maria, from his short novel The Tunnel, somewhat qualifies too.

Edit: Darn! Morgana, of course. Notably in Steinbeck's version of the Arthurian mythos. And Vivien in Tennyson's.