Characters of fascination.

[Zee.]

I know there have been a few "what are your favourite characters" threads but they've all gotten quite long and I really want to know what characters really fascinate you and why. They don't have to be your favourite, although I have found the ones that fascinate me usually are ;)

Mine, and in order

Joe Christmas
Alex - A Clockwork Orange
Hailey and Sam - Only Revolutions
Navy - House of Leaves
Romeo and Juliet - they died, ultimately, for love. Through everything love prevailed, even through their deaths.

[Stargazer86]

A few of mine would be:

Lady MacBeth
O-lan (The Good Earth...though on one hand she seemed simple, I think she may have had some real depth to her and I always wondered what was really going on in her mind)
Beowulf
The Narrarator as well as many other characters in Cantebury Tales (Wife of Bath, The Pardoner, the Summoner, etc etc)

[Maximilianus]

Boromir, in The Fellowship of the Ring.

He was greedy at first, but ultimately he sacrificed his life to protect his people. He changed, and when people change, the change speaks for a good heart.

[Desolation]

Raskolnikov from 'Crime and Punishment' immediately comes to mind. I love the depth and psychology of the character.

[Josef K.]

Josef K. from The Trial and Meursault from The Stranger. They both express an individual who lives in a beaurocratic society and has to deal with an absurd world.

[sixsmith]

Darl from 'As i lay dying' - For reasons i can't possibly make clear now as i am still reading the novel.

Suttree from Cormac McCarthy's 'Suttree' - Though the novel centres around him, Suttree's pride and resolve means we never learn much about what makes him tick or why he lives in squalor.

The Colonel in Denis Johnson's 'Tree of Smoke' - A Kurtz-esque character and key to Johnson's brilliantly disorientating novel

[jinjang]

Faromir, Boromir's brother for his detachment to worldly things;
Maggie Tulliver for her deep love of people around her.

[Mr Endon]

Raskolnikov from 'Crime and Punishment' immediately comes to mind. I love the depth and psychology of the character.

I second that. Larger than life he is.

[kiki1982]

That must be Rochester (up until now).

Waw, such a character... So much to say about him. Likeable yet bad.

[bazarov]

Bazarov - his nihilism and intellectual domination above others are impressive!

[The Comedian]

Edward Abbey -- in his nonfiction, in which he himself is the main character is one of the most amusing, complex, and thought provoking characters that I've read. Books of note: Desert Solitaire & Down the River.

Lately, I've enjoyed Hellboy, from Mike Mignola's comics of the same Hellboy title.

[Pryderi Agni]

A few of mine would be:

Lady MacBeth

Beowulf



Boromir, in The Fellowship of the Ring.



...Besides a host of others;): Julius Caesar, Cesare Borgia, Virgil (Dante's guide), Ghosts of Christmas, Gulliver, Roland (of Roland de Chanson fame) and so on...

[Dark Lady]

Okay this is all off the top of my head; there are probably many more.

Loads of characters from Shakespeare. Including: Mercutio from Romeo and Juliet; Prince Hal from Henry IV (parts i and ii) and Henry V; Hamlet and Ophelia from Hamlet; Othello from Othello; Kate from The Taming of the Shrew; Malvolio from Twelfth Night. Plus the 'Dark Lady' and 'Young Man' from his sonnets and even the narrator (Shakespeare himself?) from the sonnets.

Moving on from Shakespeare a few that spring to mind are Humbert Humbert (and to a lesser extent Lolita) from Lolita. Also by Nabokov, Kinbote from Pale Fire.

Also there's Nancy from Oliver Twist; most of the characters from Catch 22; a lot of characters from Blake's poetry; Satan from Paradise Lost; Prufrock from The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock...

That'll do for now.

[wat??]

Ivan Karamazov!

[loe]

Don Quixote
Proust's Swann and Albertine

[eyemaker]

Emma Bovary
Raskolnikov
Humbert Humbert
Mr Darcy
...and quite a lot in Shakespeare's plays

[bazarov]

Emma Bovary


:flare: I simly HATE her.

[Tsuyoiko]

:flare: I simly HATE her.

Totally agree :sick:

Lara Antipova. She is a true hero, but a believable character.

[JacobF]

Claudius, Hamlet
Peter, Ender's Game
Lord Henry, The Picture of Dorian Gray
Hari Seldon, Foundation

[PoeticPassions]

I am going to repeat many characters here, but, here goes:

Raskoljnikov
Satan from Paradise Lost
Alex from Clockwork Orange
Humbert Humbert
All the Karamazovs, basically
The Undergound Man/ the narrator from Notes from Underground
Mersault from The Stranger... he is still a bit of a mystery to me
Iago from Othello


ok.. still thinking on more... I know there are more... will get back to this.

[ImaginaryFriend]

Madame Bovary - her life is like a car crash you cant tear your eyes away from
Alyosha Karamazov - for his innocence
Frankensteins Creature and Quasimodo - for their tortured existences
And Emily St Aubert from The Mysteries of Udolpho - for her perseverance in the face of all the things that are thrown at her

[virginiawang]

I was shocked and amazed each time I read the book by his rash actions, which I seldom found in other books. In a sense, he was another child-adult created by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

[Adderhead]

Yossarian from Catch-22!!!!

[wat??]

<3 Yossarian

[Dark Muse]

Howard Roark and Dominique from the Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

Maurice Conchis from The Magus by John Fowles

Many of the characters from the works of J.D Salinger's stories as well as that of Edgar Allan Poe

Meursault from The Stranger by Camus

Anthos from The Three Muskeeteers by Dumas

Ok I cannot resist I have to say this, let others think what they will, I shall feel no shame for it.

The vampires of Anne Rice

Haha it is late, I may yet add to this list but this is what I have for now, which come immediately to mind.

[prendrelemick]

Squire Weston from Tom Jones, because I'll never be like him.:(
John Ridd, same reason.
Becky sharpe. a scheming little minx, but fascinating.

[Dark Muse]

This one might just be a passing fancy, but during the time of reading The Scarlet Letter I found Pearl to be quite fascinating

[kelby_lake]

Humbert Humbert
Jay Gatsby
Iago

Can't think of any fascinating female characters

[Dark Lady]

Can't think of any fascinating female characters

Yes I noticed I had more male than female characters. Not entirely sure why it is but I do think it's more difficult to write female characters well than male ones.

Anyway, I've had a quick think and will add some more female characters I find fascinating.

Lise from The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark
Estella from Great Expectations by Dickens
Nicole from Tender is the Night by Fitzgerald

[Fen]

Steerpike, the Countess and others from Gormenghast

I mostly find books more fascinating the individual characters. Its when you just can't work out why somthing happened or can't quite get their meaning. Me and E.M. Forster have a troubled relationship;)

[My name is red]

Solange-The Maids by Jean Genet
Ignatius Reilly-A confederacy of dunces by John Kennedy Toole

[higley]

In high school I read a book by Michael Chabon (The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay) called Summerland--to this day I have no idea what age group it is intended for, but it's stuck in general fiction--and was just absolutely fascinated by Coyote, the villain of the novel. He's undeniably manipulative and cruel, but so doggone likeable and genial, even funny. I think Coyote is a good example of creating a 'bad guy' that falls outside the traditional characteristics of one you'd normally find.

[Conchis]

Howard Roark and Dominique from the Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

Maurice Conchis from The Magus by John Fowles

Many of the characters from the works of J.D Salinger's stories as well as that of Edgar Allan Poe

Meursault from The Stranger by Camus

Anthos from The Three Muskeeteers by Dumas

Ok I cannot resist I have to say this, let others think what they will, I shall feel no shame for it.

The vampires of Anne Rice

Haha it is late, I may yet add to this list but this is what I have for now, which come immediately to mind.

Couldn't agree more. Just by reading my username you can get a slight understand how of fascinated I am with him. His story telling ability, his life, the reason he does what he does. It's all just almost too much for me.

[Adagio]

- Iago from Othello
- Quentin and Caddy from The Sound and the Fury
- Darl from As I Lay Dying
- All the Karamazov family
- Paul Morel from Sons and Lovers
- Humbert Humbert from Lolita
- Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights
- Claude Frollo from Notre Dame de Paris
- Leonard Bast from Howards End

[Equality72521]

I wanna know why everyone seems to be so fascinated by Iago from Othello. What on earth for?

Definitely Javert from Les Mis

Nick from Gatsby

[five-trey]

Ivan Karamazov!

Definately. I'd also add Fyodor Pavlovich. He always seems to be at the center of humor in the early parts of the book. Dostoevsky's attitude toward him is comical.


Captain Ahab, Moby-Dick
Rochester, Jane Eyre
Sidney Carton, A Tale of Two Cities
Prince Myshkin, The Idiot
Orin, Mourning Becomes Electra

[Adagio]

I wanna know why everyone seems to be so fascinated by Iago from Othello. What on earth for?
Why did he want to destory Othello?

[Janine]

Okay this is all off the top of my head; there are probably many more.

Loads of characters from Shakespeare. Including: Mercutio from Romeo and Juliet; Prince Hal from Henry IV (parts i and ii) and Henry V; Hamlet and Ophelia from Hamlet; Othello from Othello; Kate from The Taming of the Shrew; Malvolio from Twelfth Night. Plus the 'Dark Lady' and 'Young Man' from his sonnets and even the narrator (Shakespeare himself?) from the sonnets.

Dark Lady, I agree with all your Shakespeare choices, including the Bard himself! I would also add Iago to this list. Is there a more enigmatic villan?

I was fascinated with Prince Myshkin from Dostoyevski's The Idiot... Simplistic, but complex at the same time.

Gerald and Gudrun in Women in Love by D.H.Lawrence fascinated me. They both were unusual and complex; hard to really figure out in the end. That always makes for fascination.

Paul Morel in Sons and Lovers, mainly because he represents the author in his youth and he was certainly fascinating and complex.

[Barbarous]

A few that have already been said, I definitely agree:
Iago, Othello
Humbert Humbert, Lolita
Smerdaykov, The Brothers Karamazov
Prince Myshkin, The Idiot
Stephen Dedalus, Ulysses/A Portrait of the Artist
Ahab + Ishmael, Moby-Dick
Shem the Penman+ Issy Earwicker, Finnegans Wake

[Maximilianus]

Can't think of any fascinating female characters


Yes I noticed I had more male than female characters. Not entirely sure why it is but I do think it's more difficult to write female characters well than male ones.

Anyway, I've had a quick think and will add some more female characters I find fascinating.

Lise from The Driver's Seat by Muriel Spark
Estella from Great Expectations by Dickens
Nicole from Tender is the Night by Fitzgerald

How about Cora Munro in "The Last of the Mohicans" and Jo from "Little Men" and "Little Women"? Anyone other than me finds them fascinating?

[Janine]

How about Cora Munro in "The Last of the Mohicans" and Jo from "Little Men" and "Little Women"? Anyone other than me finds them fascinating?

I found both of those women fascinating. However, I admit that I have not read either book yet. I own copies of both. I read The Deer Slayer, thinking I would work up to Last of the Mohicans, but got sidetracked. However, I have seen the film adapations of each and love the stories and characters.

[prendrelemick]

I wanna know why everyone seems to be so fascinated by Iago from Othello. What on earth for?

Definitely Javert from Les Mis

Nick from Gatsby
Iago for me too.

Its the fascination of watching an arch manipulator at work, and then see him ensnared in his own machinations.

In the end, he refuses to give any reason for his actions. We can try to guess what they are, but does he even Know himself? That is why I find him fascinating.

[DanielBenoit]

Hamlet
Ophelia
Falstaff
Hal
Prince Myshkin
The Underground Man
Abraham

Hamlet in particular has been giving me an array of fascination ever since I first expereinced the play. He, and the play itself, is so deep and possesses so many possible interpritations, that he could be worth a lifetime of contemplation.

I have found that many of the greatest charecters I have read are not clearly defined charecters, but rather ones that unravel like spirels in a sunflower, infinitley revealing more and more depth.


Raskolnikov from 'Crime and Punishment' immediately comes to mind. I love the depth and psychology of the character.

Absolutley! Throughout reading it I was thinking "how ever did Dostoyevsky accumulate such knowledge of human thought as to create a character such as this?"

[kelby_lake]

Iago for me too.

Its the fascination of watching an arch manipulator at work, and then see him ensnared in his own machinations.

In the end, he refuses to give any reason for his actions. We can try to guess what they are, but does he even Know himself? That is why I find him fascinating.

And he has some cool lines :)

[Maximilianus]

I found both of those women fascinating. However, I admit that I have not read either book yet. I own copies of both. I read The Deer Slayer, thinking I would work up to Last of the Mohicans, but got sidetracked. However, I have seen the film adaptations of each and love the stories and characters.

Actually, "The Last of the Mohicans" is probably the first novel I read (I was a kid), it's one of my favorite movies and it was the first DVD I bought, so it's the oldest of my treasures :p
"Little Women" was a great movie too, though I can't tell about its accuracy with the novel. What I read about Jo comes from "Little Men".
I've been lucky enough to find a downloadable edition of The Deerslayer dated 1862 on Googlebooks. I never read it before, so I'll see if I don't get sidetracked myself :p

[billl]

"The Last of the Mohicans" has an excellent soundtrack.

[Maximilianus]

"The Last of the Mohicans" has an excellent soundtrack.

Actually it was also the first soundtrack I bought, and since I can't stop playing it since I got it (many years ago) I made a backup copy just in case :p There are things we can't afford losing :nod:

[Janine]

Actually, "The Last of the Mohicans" is probably the first novel I read (I was a kid), it's one of my favorite movies and it was the first DVD I bought, so it's the oldest of my treasures :p
"Little Women" was a great movie too, though I can't tell about its accuracy with the novel. What I read about Jo comes from "Little Men".
I've been lucky enough to find a downloadable edition of The Deerslayer dated 1862 on Googlebooks. I never read it before, so I'll see if I don't get sidetracked myself :p

Good for you reading the first one, Max, and when you were so young; It sounds like you read Little Men but passed on Little Women. So Jo appears in both? I didn't honestly know that. I always meant to but that's where I got side-tracked. I love Last of the Mohicans film. Not long ago, I happen to find a free copy of it at my libraray. It's in my very extensive 'to be read' pile. Also, I own "Little Women" on DVD (newer one with W. Ryder. S. Sarandon); I love that as well. Bye the way, The score to Last of the Mohicans is wonderful. I have had that in my CD collection that for a long while now and play it often. That was an exciting movie. I didn't get side-tracked while reading Deerslayer; I got through the book sucessfully. I just didn't go onto the sequels of the complete Leatherstocking Tales; that was orginially my goal, to follow through with the adventures of Natty Bumppo....

"known by European settlers as 'Leatherstocking,' 'The Pathfinder', and 'the trapper' and by the Native Americans as 'Deerslayer,' 'La Longue Carabine' and 'Hawkeye'."
Quoted that last part from Wikipedia. Gee, he had a lot of names!

That's great you found the downloadable version online. At the time I read that book; I must admit I found it interesting reading, but I got weighted down with all the description, sometimes I could not quite envision what Cooper was talking about. I think I would most likely prefer reading Last of the Mohicans; the storyline seems to have more action and be more exciting a read; at least from what I have observed, peeking into the text; I know the film to be truly thrilling.

Hahah..I was slow to post this as I was still writing it and I commented too on that wonderful soundtrack. I do that Max, copy ones I am afraid I might lose or scratch. My favorite soundtracks are all copied and I take the copies only in the car. My goal is to collect as many soundtracks as I can find. Mohicans is definitely one of my favorites, too!

[hellsapoppin]

There are some excellent choices listed above.

Some of my faves have already been listed and these include:

Bazarov

Don Q

Falstaff

Jean ValJean

Karamazov, Ivan

Raskolnikov


Each character was portrayed with great depth by the authors. But what of those interesting characters who were not presented in such depth? Which would you choose?

Here are three:

Father Mapple (Moby Dick)

Sir Oliver Martext (Shakespeare)

Dr Mary Prance (Bostonians)



Father Mapple was a man of great devotion and passion.

Sir Oliver a comedic misquoter of the Bible & itinerant preacher

Dr Prance an enigmatic but dynamic character.


The authors could have told us much more about these three, especially as to what was their motivation in life. I would love to have seen a sequel of each writing which studied these characters in great depth.

[Maximilianus]

Good for you reading the first one, Max, and when you were so young; It sounds like you read Little Men but passed on Little Women. So Jo appears in both? I didn't honestly know that
The thing is that my parents (or my grandma, can't quite remember) had begun to buy me novels from a collection of classics, prepared as editions for children, and the one available in that collection by Louisa May Alcott was Little Men, so I became familiar with that story first, and yes, Jo is in both stories.


Also, I own "Little Women" on DVD (newer one with W. Ryder. S. Sarandon); I love that as well. Lucky you! I still have to add that one to my collection :D


Bye the way, The score to Last of the Mohicans is wonderful. I have had that in my CD collection that for a long while now and play it often.
If you listen to the score for "Cliffhanger" (Sylvester Stallone, John Lithgow, etc.), also composed by Trevor Jones, you will hear some reminiscence to "The Last of the Mohicans" soundtrack (seems Trevor got quite satisfied with his prev work, of course without making a copy of it)

Gee, he had a lot of names!I believe it was fairly common in the old days once you became popular. Especially the Indians used to acknowledge popularity by giving commendatory names to those they thought worthy of them :D

I got weighted down with all the description, sometimes I could not quite envision what Cooper was talking about. I think I would most likely prefer reading Last of the Mohicans; the storyline seems to have more action and be more exciting a read; at least from what I have observed, peeking into the text; I know the film to be truly thrilling. Oh, Mr Cooper was quite a describer, always giving abundant detail about landscape and people. I like that, though it's true it can be confusing at times :D

Hahah..I was slow to post this as I was still writing it and I commented too on that wonderful soundtrack. I do that Max, copy ones I am afraid I might lose or scratch. My favorite soundtracks are all copied and I take the copies only in the car. My goal is to collect as many soundtracks as I can find. Mohicans is definitely one of my favorites, too!
Prevention is the mother of safety :p
Try to get the soundtrack of Passion of Mind (Demi Moore, William Fichtner, Stellan Skarsgard), composed by Randy Edelman, who also worked with Trevor Jones for The Last of the Mohicans. It has very sweet and touching melodies.

[Brad Coelho]

Pilar in For Whom the Bell Tolls. For all the criticism laid on Hemingway for the female characters in his novels, Pilar was arguably the most beguiling and richly described in the story. Perhaps she is the product of Hemingway's evolution as a writer, or just a fragment of the complexities that wartime can impart on a female's soul....but she certainly loomed large, bandaging the fragile leadership of her beaten husband.

[promtbr]

Most fascinating (not necessarily my favorite) characters? hmm...for me it would be

The Judge--Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian

Duchess Gina Sanseverina-- Stendahls' The Charterhouse of Parma

Vautrin- numerous of Balzac's The Human Comedey novels

Hanta-- Bohumil Hrabal's Too Loud a Solitude

Obi Okwonko-- Chinua Achebe's No Longer At Ease

All four characters in Waiting For Godot...


along with the usual suspects- many of Shakespeare's protagonist's 'foils'.
---

[2ndblogger]

Most fascinating (not necessarily my favorite) characters? hmm...for me it would be

The Judge--Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian

Duchess Gina Sanseverina-- Stendahls' The Charterhouse of Parma

Vautrin- numerous of Balzac's The Human Comedey novels

Hanta-- Bohumil Hrabal's Too Loud a Solitude

Obi Okwonko-- Chinua Achebe's No Longer At Ease

All four characters in Waiting For Godot...


along with the usual suspects- many of Shakespeare's protagonist's 'foils'.
---

The Judge--Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian - MY CHOICE AS WELLhttp://onlinestore234.notlong.com

[Phaidon]

For me, and I think for myriads of other readers as well, Hamlet is the most fascinating character of literature. He is so enigmatic and torn that he seems to embody the intellectual type in a perfect way. No other character has probably been examined and investigated that much, and yet, nobody seems to understand him fully. At the same time, each of us is a little Hamlet in his everyday life. This mix of living conundrum and familiarity is likely to be Shakespeare's greatest character.

[Maximilianus]

For me, and I think for myriads of other readers as well, Hamlet is the most fascinating character of literature. He is so enigmatic and torn that he seems to embody the intellectual type in a perfect way. No other character has probably been examined and investigated that much, and yet, nobody seems to understand him fully. At the same time, each of us is a little Hamlet in his everyday life. This mix of living conundrum and familiarity is likely to be Shakespeare's greatest character.

Well put, and very much agreed.

[maddystewart]

Ivan from The Brothers Karamazov, Caravaggio from The English Patient (and In the Skin of a Lion), and of course the incomparable Madame Bovary.

[Modest Proposal]

I always liked Marc Antony from Shakespeare's 'Julius Caesar' even though I didn't like him in 'Antony and Cleopatra'.

I thought Wolf Larson was a great creation by Jack London, though not as great as the prototype: Ahab.

[Eryk]

Don Quixote
Achilles
Christopher in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Hanna in The Reader
The General in Gabriel García Márquez' The Autumn of the Patriarch

and the most fascinating of all,

David in the Old Testament.

[Lulim]

Will Ladislaw, from Middlemarch
Gabriel Oak, from Far from the Madding Crowd
Eliza Sommers, from Daugher of Fortune
Clara Trueba, from The House of Spirits