Strong female characters

[cynara]

I am aware that this is probably a trite and over asked thread but I'm looking for advice on novels with intricate strong female characters. I'm an enormous fan of Scarlet O'Hara, and I'm looking for similar attributes. I dislike overly moral, staid attitudes, I want well developed characters. I rarely read anything published post 1950 (probably closed minded of me, but i've got years to appreciate modern literature.) I've read Anna Karenin (greatly enjoyed), Vanity Fair (too cynical for my taste), most of the Bronte's novels(enjoyed), Edith Wharton (very fond of), Jane Austen (found characters too perfect) and several others. So now that I've shown a bit of my preferences I would very my appreciate advice and opinions.

[Zee.]

I find most female characters in novels to be extremely irritating. I also find that you either have the goody, good, all rounded, moralistic character that makes me grind my teeth in to sawdust, or the character whose flaws are either that she is again, irritating, or a massive whore.

I've also yet to read a female character that is not only extremely strong, but free. I'm a little over reading traditional female roles.

[weltanschauung]

dostoyevski's the idiot
georges bataille's story of the eye
saramago's blindness
de laclos' dangerous liaisons
...

[Mathor]

The truth is, for whatever reason, I've found that most females in classic literature have been pretty stifled, or kind of lacking of emotion, or defining the womenly role in the book.

I think Jane Austen's female characters were a bit more vibrant than you see in literature over the years, but most often you found that the male characters in the same novel were more outspoken, had more to say, and altogether were more interesting.

I think a lot of this had to do with just civil rights of the past, and I hope that in the future female roles will be more fun and entertaining. I get kind of sick of the classic guy talks and girl responds to his narrative, which seems to be the way classic literature has portrayed girls. . I'd like to see a truly feminine character that is strong in her femininity and strong in her place in society.

EDIT: right as i said it i thought of one.

Holly Golightly in Breakfast At Tiffanys by Truman Capote

[cynara]

I find most female characters in novels to be extremely irritating. I also find that you either have the goody, good, all rounded, moralistic character that makes me grind my teeth in to sawdust, or the character whose flaws are either that she is again, irritating, or a massive whore.

I've also yet to read a female character that is not only extremely strong, but free. I'm a little over reading traditional female roles.

I think your a little harsh, there's definitely literature with dynamic female characters but I do find myself agreeing partly with you. I think if I had to choose between the overly morale female character and the whore i would usually choose the latter.

[Dark Muse]

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne
Women in Love ~ D.H. Lawrence (some might disagree but I highly enjoyed the female characters in this work and personally found them to be quite strong)
Their Eyes Were Watching God ~ Hurston
The Awakening ~ Kate Chopin
To the Lighthouse ~ Virginia Wolff
A Room With A View ~ E.M Forster

This one his after the 1950's but I still highly recommend it, it is set in the 1800's as a way of examining society of the day, and the restrictions upon both men and women. Very interested as well as well developed female characters.

The French Lieutenant's Woman ~ John Fowles

[Zee.]

I love reading about female bandits in literature. Female villains, "bonnie and clyde" type characters.

[wat??]

dostoyevski's the idiot

...

Nastasya and Aglaya were not exactly "strong" women.

[JBI]

L'Amant by Marguerite Duras
As You Like It Shakespeare
Romeo and Juliet Shakespeare
Lady Percy from Henry IV part 1 By Shakespeare (though she makes an appearance briefly in part 2)
In truth, most of Shakespeare's great heroines - certainly are stronger characters than their male counterparts.

Lucrezia from Mrs. Dalloway - one of the most powerful characters I have ever read about, and certainly one that has made one of the most devastating impressions on me, though her actual part in the book is rather minimal.

Hagar from The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence

Isabelle-Marie from La Belle Bête by Marie-Claire Blais

Tess from Tess of the D'Urbervilles

Lena Grove from Light in August

The controversial Mrs. Bentley from As for me and My House (controversial, as the novel has a lot of metaphorical ambiguity, and she is not a reliable narrator in the slightest) By Sinclair Ross

Whylah Falls by George Elliot Clarke,

Lives of Saints by Nino Ricci

The Electrical Field by Kerri Sakamoto

Eugene Onegin by Aleksandr Pushkin



I tried to add a few non-cliché names into the mix, to mingle with the others that will probably get named and renamed.

[mono]

In addition to what others have recommended: practically anything by Virginia Woolf, Great Expectations by Charles Dickens, The Scarlett Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, Aurora Leigh by Elizabeth Barrett-Browning, Major Barbara by George Bernard Shaw, Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel García Márquez, For Whom the Bell Tolls and A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway.

[Dark Muse]

Good Morning, Midnight by Rhys is an interesting look at a female character, but it is debatable how strong one might see her, but the story is told from the woman's point of view, and her own thoughts.

[weltanschauung]

Nastasya and Aglaya were not exactly "strong" women.

in "your" opinion

[Mathor]

Lena Grove from Light in August


:thumbs_up That's the best one of the lot!

[Adagio]

Howards End has two great central female characters. JBI mentioned a couple of Shakespeares, I would like to throw in Othello, Macbeth and Much Ado About Nothing - all feature some really great and strong female characters.

[kiki1982]

Brideshead Revisited maybe, although Julia in not really a major character.

Far from the Madding Crowd features a strong woman, but in a tragic situation, all be it because of her own over-estimated strength.
Tess from Tess of the d'Urbervilles could be called a strong woman, altough she ends tragically. (Both by Hardy)

Dumas Musketeer-trilogy features strong women who work behind the scenes. Particularly the last part (The Vicomte) features women's politics as a major force at court.

Saramago's Siege of Lisbon featured a woman who knew what she wanted. This is modern, though, so it's a little bit more logic that she would be strong.

There are a number of Dutch ones, but they are not translated...

[FalseReality]

Nurse Ratchet- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

[wat??]

in "your" opinion

lol no

[weltanschauung]

every person, a universe, dude.http://l.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/mesg/emoticons7/3.gif

[JuniperWoolf]

Nurse Ratchet- One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

A great character, but maybe not exactly a Scarlet O'Hara type. ;)

[treebeard-ette]

Definately--
Hester Prynne from The Scarlet Letter
Tess from Tess of the D'Urbevilles

[Wayfarer32]

These suggestions may be more in the realm of the fantasy genre, but they came immediately to mind:

The Mysts of Avalon has a host of strong female characters

The Hunger Games has Katniss and Prim

Lysistrata from the play of the same name.

[smerdyakov]

Miss Kenton - The Remains of The Day

Polina Alexandrovna - The Gambler

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

Someone mentioned Romeo and Juliet. Assuming you're talking about Juliet . . . how exactly is she a strong female character? She seems like the stereotypical love-struck, doey-eyed, irrational woman. I mean, come on, she commits suicide because the man she loves is dead. Doesn't get much weaker or defendant than that.

[Desolation]

Esther Greenwood in The Bell Jar by Plath
Catherine in A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway
Caddy in The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner
Sonya in Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky

[Wayfarer32]

Someone mentioned Romeo and Juliet. Assuming you're talking about Juliet . . . how exactly is she a strong female character? She seems like the stereotypical love-struck, doey-eyed, irrational woman. I mean, come on, she commits suicide because the man she loves is dead. Doesn't get much weaker or defendant than that.

I think it is arguable that Juliet was a strong woman. We can't really compare her to the concept of a "strong woman" in by modern feminists standards. In Shakespeare's time (late 1500s or so), the "independent" woman did not exist. The very concept of being husband-less was practically unthinkable. Modern concepts of a strong woman would be completely anathema back at that time. Additionally, in noble society, one was to fit into their place and follow orders, or was left to the wolves, so to speak (After all, her family threatens to disown her if she doesn't wed Paris). Juliet specifically defies her family's orders, chooses Romeo despite risking complete abandonment by her family and in a way faces the intense feud between the Montagues and Capulets head on.
Yes, she does commit suicide at the end, but consider the mental state : Her cousin has been murdered, her family is quite sure to abandon her if she reveals herself as alive, her love is now dead. She couldn't just pick up and somehow "start over". It's a moment of complete desolation that drives her to suicide: She literally has nothing left. Would I call particular scene that a moment of strength? No, however its arguable that the preceding events show that she at least has a backbone.

[louisgeorge]

I find most female characters in novels to be extremely irritating. I also find that you either have the goody, good, all rounded, moralistic character that makes me grind my teeth in to sawdust, or the character whose flaws are either that she is again, irritating, or a massive whore.

same here :iagree:

[dfloyd]

The Mill on the Floss.

[Buh4Bee]

Gloria- Beautiful and the Damned (Fitzgerald)

She's a well developed character, but not as well developed as Anthony, her husband. This is so, because the character of Gloria was loosely based on Fitzgerald's wife Zelda.

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami
Naoko, Reiko, and Midori
Murakami writes these three characters with respect and sympathy. They are all well developed and quite distinct in personality. Although this is a recent novel, you may be surprised by how lyrical the writing is. I myself tend to be turned off by most modern stories.

[kelby_lake]

Nicole Diver from Tender is the Night.

[bIGwIRE]

dostoyevski's the idiot
...

I agree that many of Dostoevsky's female characters were strong women, in the sense that they dominated or manipulated men around them. In Brothers Karamazov, both Agrafena Alexandrovna Svetlova and Katerina Ivanovna Verkhovtseva did this. I love how "human" and flawed they were, and yet I still had a great deal of strength in them.

[PabloQ]

My Antonia - Willa Cather

[Snowqueen]

Bathsheba Everdene from Far from the Madding Crowd is depicted as a proud and strong nerved woman.

[bIGwIRE]

Catherine in A Farewell to Arms by Hemingway
Caddy in The Sound and the Fury by Faulkner
Catherine I agree with.
For Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury I would add Dilsey, or even Quentin, as well as her mother, Caddy.

[TheFifthElement]

Kristin Lavransdatter from...Kristin Lavransdatter. By Sigrid Undset. Excellent book.

Also, can't remember the names of either of the characters but both main lady characters in Hotel du Lac by Anita Brookner and Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively.

[Mr. Mauve]

Lily Briscoe from Virginia Woolf's To the Lighthouse.

[kev67]

There can't be none stronger than Jean Paget from A Town Like Alice by Neville Shute.

[jmanu86]

I chime in with Sherine Khalil, from Paulo Cohelo's "The witch of Portobello". A strong and decided girl. really love her. He always depicts awesome female characters in his novels.

[kelby_lake]

Bathsheba Everdene from Far from the Madding Crowd is depicted as a proud and strong nerved woman.

Totally agree with this!

[Shea]

I just wanted to reiterate what others have suggested...

"Their Eyes Were Watching God" - read that several times, loved it!

"Tess of the D'urbervilles"- though it's been a while since I read it.

"Romeo and Juliet" - She is a strong female for her day. She doesn't "fall in line" with her family. It doesn't matter to her that Romeo is the son of her family's enemy. She loves him anyway.

[Seasider]

Am I going blind? I haven't seen Jane Eyres's name mentioned.

And what about the wonderful Miss Betsey Trotwood, David Copperfield's great aunt? He owes so much to her and she is generous to all she knew, even in the the case of Mr Wickfield, those who had cheated her. 4 Cheers for Betsey!!

[Shea]

Am I going blind? I haven't seen Jane Eyres's name mentioned.


I totally agree with you about Jane Eyre. But the originator of the topic mentioned enjoying many Bronte books already. I assumed they'd already read it. :)

[Gladys]

It's hard to better the enigmatic Catherine I (nee Earnshaw) from Bronte's Wuthering Heights.

For inner strength, I'd choose the ever-so-subtle Maggie (nee Verver) from The Golden Bowl of Henry James.

[JuniperWoolf]

Philomila and Procne

Rape my sister, will you?
http://cdn.paleothea.com/Pictures/ProcnePhilomelaRubens.jpg

[AlysonofBathe]

I'm a little late to the party, but I think there's a pretty good list here already. Definitely agree with much of Woolf's canon, as well as Austen's and the Bronte's.

Don't know whether it's been mentioned, but also L.M. Montgomery's Anne series, especially the first. Moreover, her Emily series as well, often overshadowed by that loud redhead.

Cheers,
Alyson

[Shea]

Don't know whether it's been mentioned, but also L.M. Montgomery's Anne series, especially the first. Moreover, her Emily series as well, often overshadowed by that loud redhead.

Oooh, yeah, I'd forgotten about "that loud redhead" :lol: Great suggestion :yesnod: I'm not familiar with her Emily series. I'll have to read them someday.

[WyattGwyon]

Makepeace from Marcel Theroux's Far North is strong, psychologically, morally, and physically.

[AlysonofBathe]

Oooh, yeah, I'd forgotten about "that loud redhead" :lol: Great suggestion :yesnod: I'm not familiar with her Emily series. I'll have to read them someday.

I definitely recommend them. Emily is a little less verbose - fewer long-winded speeches lasting pages and pages and pages, as Anne is apt to do - but she's equally as spirited.

Good Canadian reading!

[WhiteRabbit24]

Tess from Tess of the D'Urbervilles
The main lady from the short story Fantomina or Love in a Maze
Antonia from My Antonia by Willa Cather
Jane Eyre
Nora Helmer from A Doll's House

Also to bring in an Eastern perspective, I would add:

Umrao Jaan from Umrao Jaan Ada: The Courtesan from Lucknow

[aliengirl]

Don't know whether it's been mentioned, but also L.M. Montgomery's Anne series, especially the first. Moreover, her Emily series as well, often overshadowed by that loud redhead.


Yeah, I love "that loud redhead". Nice pick. :yesnod: I'll explore the Emily series that you've mentioned.

I've always wondered why it is easier to find a strong female character in fantasy novels or crime-detective fiction rather than in realistic/classic narratives. Anyway, here are some who had not been mentioned earlier-

Grace Marks from Alias Grace by Atwood
Rebecca Sharp from Vanity Fair by Thackeray
Milady from The Three Musketeers by Alexander Dumas

As someone has mentioned bringing in Eastern perspective I'd mention-

Rosie from The Guide by R.K. Narayan
Fatima from Thoda Sa Asman by Umaira Ahmad (contemporary Urdu novelist)

[KCurtis]

Nicole Diver from Tender is the Night.

Much agreed, she had overcome alot and became well.


Gloria- Beautiful and the Damned (Fitzgerald)


I don't agree that Gloria was a strong character. She was very dependent and seemed as lost as her husband. She may have seemed stronger than him though, when compared!


Am I going blind? I haven't seen Jane Eyres's name mentioned.

And what about the wonderful Miss Betsey Trotwood, David Copperfield's great aunt? He owes so much to her and she is generous to all she knew, even in the the case of Mr Wickfield, those who had cheated her. 4 Cheers for Betsey!!

I agree with Jane Eyres's being mentioned. She was strong in her convictions, no matter the cost. And she was outspoken and determined for her day.

[byquist]

If by strong you mean tough (with some nastiness):

Hedda Gabler
Goneril in Lear
the wife, Laura, in Strinberg's "The Father."
the lady in Henry VI, III who wipes the face of her captive in his son's blood -- Margaret?
Miss Julie, Strinberg again, gets her will.

[Gladys]

Hedda Gabler

Not Hedda, but Mrs. Thea Elvsted (and without the nastiness)!

[kelby_lake]

I've always wondered why it is easier to find a strong female character in fantasy novels or crime-detective fiction rather than in realistic/classic narratives.

Really?

[Neringa]

I Think Jane Eire

[Pensive]

Arya Stark?
Pippi Longstocking? (even though it's a character from children literature!)

[kelby_lake]

Much agreed, she had overcome alot and became well.


I love how Nicole, who seems to be doomed, manages to escape the trap of her mental illness.

[Chrysostomos]

I advise you to try The She-Sevils by Barbey d'Aurevilly (a french author, not so popular), several short stories lying on worrying female characters. I read it two or three years ago, and was really enthusiastic then...