The most Memorable Character in all of literature?

[waryan]

hello everyone, I have a slight inquiry for you all. I am currently curious to learn about what makes a great fictional character and rather than just try and study a fiction writing book, I was wondering if you all wouldn't mind suggesting some fiction works that you thought had everlasting or especially rich characters in them- I know several novels have great characters which I of course it is argued is essential to a great work but out of all the books you've read, which ones had characters that were not just interesting in their history, but written so vividly that you felt you could hear or see or know especially well? thank you for any help!

[Kyriakos]

For individual characters i would think that Dostoevsky has created a number of very memorable ones, since his literature is basically that: interesting characters explaining their inner life.

For writer-narrators i would go for De Maupassant, since his entire body of work presents a study of a person descending into madness, all too human with his strenghts and weaknesses :)

[country doctor]

well one of the most memorable characters and maybe the most memorable female character has to be scarlett o'hara...upper echelon, for sure...

[country doctor]

and rhett is quite memorable as well...but they don't come any bigger than scarlett...

[ScribbleScribe]

The Monster in Frankenstein by Mary Shelly was memorable for me. :)

[Emil Miller]

hello everyone, I have a slight inquiry for you all. I am currently curious to learn about what makes a great fictional character and rather than just try and study a fiction writing book, I was wondering if you all wouldn't mind suggesting some fiction works that you thought had everlasting or especially rich characters in them- I know several novels have great characters which I of course it is argued is essential to a great work but out of all the books you've read, which ones had characters that were not just interesting in their history, but written so vividly that you felt you could hear or see or know especially well? thank you for any help!

You might not believe it but there are some here who will tell you that young master Harry Potter fits the description.

[JCamilo]

Nobody

[papayahed]

Notes from the Underground

[Patrick_Bateman]

Well Patrick Bateman of course :D

The stream of consciousness style and the graphic description of his deeds certainly didn't hurt him to be a resonant character of modern literature.

[ScribbleScribe]

Well Patrick Bateman of course :D

The stream of consciousness style and the graphic description of his deeds certainly didn't hurt him to be a resonant character of modern literature.

I'm going to offend you by asking this but, who is Patrick Bateman? :D

[arrytus]

Hamlet or Odysseus or Faust.

As for a novel with rich characters I don't think anyone outdoes Tolstoy in Anna Karenina, or War and Peace.

[Lord Macbeth]

Hamlet or Odysseus or Faust.

As for a novel with rich characters I don't think anyone outdoes Tolstoy in Anna Karenina, or War and Peace.

I agree almost in whole--add Hugo and Les Miserables and I'd say that's pretty much the closest we'd come to a universally-acceptable list...

Hamlet, Odysseus, and Faust are all immensely well-known and known for their literary work, and then Tolstoy's two works have a plethora of great names, and to cap it off, Hugo's work--it MUST be in there...really, Vajean, Javert, Fantine, Cosette, Marius, Enjolras, Gavroche, the Thernadiers, Eponine...huge cast, all very memorable.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

A few more you should consider:

“Don Quixote” created by Miguel de Cervantes
“Quasimodo” created by Victor Hugo
“Aeneas” created by Publius Vergilius Maro
“Beowulf” created by ??????
“Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin” created by Fyodor Dostoevsky
“Pinocchio” created by Carlo Collodi

Gilliatt

[JuniperWoolf]

Sherlock Holmes was the first thing that popped into my head. We don't think about him very often because the image of Holmes has been so engrained in our society that it's actually a cliché, but really - the cocaine addled manic depressive genius with an aptitude for chemistry, boxing and the violin who's arrogant little jibes at his friend of average intelligence are always somehow unexpected and hilarious, that is a memorable character.

[stlukesguild]

I would have to say that it would be one of the Biblical characters... perhaps Moses... Satan... but quite likely Jesus. I say this because these characters... especially Jesus... live on far beyond the constraints of the Biblical texts. Jesus is further explored in the writings of endless other writers and poets, in the music of composers, and in endless works of art... to such an extent that we know how he was born, we know how he looks, and we have witnessed endless sides of his personality from the Sermon on the Mount, to The Gospel of Thomas, to Michelangelo's Apollonian heroic Christ, to the Bridegroom in the Song of Solomon and in Bach's duet from the cantata 140, to Kazantzakis' (and martin Scorcese's) Last temptation of Christ, to Dostoevsky's Christ and the Inquisitor... and endless other examples. Very few literary characters have achieved anything near as much. Don Quixote lives well beyond the confines of Cervantes's novel... to an even greater extent than almost any character by Shakespeare... but pales in comparison. I'd be hard-pressed to think of another outside of Western culture.

[Lord Macbeth]

Sherlock Holmes was the first thing that popped into my head. We don't think about him very often because the image of Holmes has been so engrained in our society that it's actually a cliché, but really - the cocaine addled manic depressive genius with an aptitude for chemistry, boxing and the violin who's arrogant little jibes at his friend of average intelligence are always somehow unexpected and hilarious, that is a memorable character.

YES! HE'S MY FAVORITE, HE AND HAMLET AND GAWAIN!

I used to idolize Holmes as a kid and still do, my best friend and I argued so much, she taking the humanistic side and me being analytic, our English teacher once referred to us as Holmes and Watson, and we've sort of kept those titles to this day when we talk to one another...

I actually really AM a lot like Holmes; flip Holmes' math and science prowess for literature and philosophy and you have someone whose personality is actually very much like my own--built like a wire, hair slicked back, usually wearing a black jacket--the famous deerstalker-and-coat look is actually the lesser-used of the two looks in the book, as, well, he's usually dealing with society folks in one manner or another, so he usually dresses in a black suit and often with a cane, like in the Jeremy Brett series--very analytic, prone to huge bursts of energy followed by a huge down period of some depression or boredom, arrogant with a capital A, a best friend who's his opposite who he can bicker with and yet remain friends with...even the stimulant thing, I never do any drugs but I'm a HUGE caffeine addict, usually at least a couple litres every day...

If I'm not drinking something I'm either in a place its not allowed, asleep, or in a VERY bad state of affairs...and probably wanting some damn caffeine already! ;)

I ws going to pick Holmes as my name and avatar here, but I went with a creation of my overall author...

But not a day goes by that I don't think of those two, Sherlock and Shakespeare; the former's in my head and the latter governs the heart (however small it may seem, analytic *** that I might be...) ;)

[Big Dante]

Yeah I would say Sherlock Holmes. He's become such a well known character that even people who have never touched a book in their life know who he is.

[kelby_lake]

Yeah I would say Sherlock Holmes. He's become such a well known character that even people who have never touched a book in their life know who he is.

Have you seen the recent BBC adaptation?

As for vivid characters, Humbert Humbert and Lolita, amongst others.

[Alexander III]

I would have to say three of my favorite and most well crafted ones are Milton's Satan and Aeschylus' and Shelley's Prometheus.

[Patrick_Bateman]

I'm going to offend you by asking this but, who is Patrick Bateman? :D

http://hubba-u.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Shame-award-1.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Psycho

[ladderandbucket]

Captain Ahab (Moby Dick)
Mr. Kurtz (Heart of Darkness)
Judge Holden (Blood Meridian)
Long John Silver (Treasure Island)

These are the most vividly imagined characters I can think of and all seem to conform to an archetype. I think there is only room for one such character in a novel, although I am thinking they would make for an interesting dinner party :)

[Seasider]

Mr Rochester...the ultimate in romantic heroes...moody, handsome, mysterious and eventually tamed.

[Emil Miller]

Bertie Wooster... the ultimate in silly asses... moneyed,impressionable, unpractical but still manages to avoid the marriage trap.

[Wilde woman]

Bertie Wooster... the ultimate in silly asses... moneyed,impressionable, unpractical but still manages to avoid the marriage trap.

Brilliant! He reminds me a bit of Lord Henry in Dorian Gray.

Why haven't any female characters been named? I can think of a few:

Medea
Ophelia
Rosalind
Lady de Winter

[Seasider]

Female characters ?? Lady Bracknell The Importance of being Earnest Jane Eyre, the eponymous heroine of Charlotte Bronte's novel. The Wife of Bath from Chaucer's prologue, Portia from The Merchant of Venice Cleopatra fromAnthony and Cleopatra MillamentThe Way of the World by Congreve, Hedda Gabler from Ibsen's play. And much much more but I'm tired and on my way to bed.

[Syd A]

John Yossarian - now there's a character!

[IceM]

Finally a Yossarian nomination!

Yossiarian from Catch-22, Lord Henry Wotton from Picture of Dorian Gray, and Iago are all very entertaining.

Enlightening characters: Siddhartha from Siddhartha, Stephen Dedalus for Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man, and the narrator from Notes from the Underground.

[MarkBastable]

The Mad Hatter, perhaps. I'd also nominate Bertie Wooster.

But, if pushed, I'd go for Ebenezer Scrooge.

[manolia]

The count of Monte Christo is the first that popped to my head.

Then Rashkolnikov, Becky Sharp (Vanity Fair), Gatsby, Holden Caulfield (Catcher in the rye), the musketeers, Lolita, Alex (clockwork orange), Oskar (Tin Drum), Anna Karenina, Jane Eyre, Herzog..the list is long.

[mal4mac]

Surely Dickens produced the mos memorable characters - try an experiment - take any major author, but Dickens, and name their main characters. Now name major characters from Dickens.

Dostoevsky has been mentioned twice, but without naming one of his characters :)

[andy13]

I might get some crap for this, but personally my most memorable character was Ivan Ilych.

[Gilliatt Gurgle]

...Dostoevsky has been mentioned twice, but without naming one of his characters

See post no. 13


.

[Seasider]

Sadie Thompson.

[Sulla]

I wouldn't pick Christ from the Bible. His dialogue is weird and he has no serious development at all.

There's plenty of Christ figures in fiction who do it better.

My pick would be R. P. McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. He's a Christ figure that fits with our times and is complicated and not always right. Plus, he's cool.

[TheChilly]

Patrick Bateman ("American Psycho")
Romeo & Juliet ("Romeo & Juliet")
Dorothy ("The Wizard of Oz")
Harry Potter ("Harry Potter" saga)
Jesus Christ ("The Bible")

[aliengirl]

A few more you should consider:

“Don Quixote” created by Miguel de Cervantes

“Prince Lev Nikolaevich Myshkin” created by Fyodor Dostoevsky

Gilliatt

Right! I read "The Idiot" a few days ago. Myshkin's character will always remain engraved in my memory. And who can forget Don Quixote.

A few other memorable characters for me:

Milady de Winter (The Three Musketeers) by Dumas

Watson, (Friend of Sherlock Holmes). Yes, Holmes is a memorable character but I never fail to think of Watson along with him.

Hercule Poirot created by Agatha Christie. Initially I disliked the detective with the egg shaped head and with an uncanny knack for order. But he is memorable for his own peculiar ways.

Antoinette (Wide Saragasso Sea) by Jean Rheas

[Bastable]

I wouldn't pick Christ from the Bible. His dialogue is weird and he has no serious development at all.

There's plenty of Christ figures in fiction who do it better.

My pick would be R. P. McMurphy from One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest. He's a Christ figure that fits with our times and is complicated and not always right. Plus, he's cool.

But without the Christ from the bible you would have no McMurphy as 'christ', making the original the superior, wouldn't you think? Besides, the weirdness of his dialogue and lack of development are irrelevant to his "memorability", that being the issue at hand.

[Persuasion]

Mr Poirot

Cleopatra

Mr Darcy

[country doctor]

here's a list of the 25 top characters from 1900 on, compiled by book magazine...hit the link for the top 100...there's also a list compiled of all-time characters if you'd like to google it...

http://www.infoplease.com/ipea/A0932846.html


Book Magazine, now defunct, compiled a panel of 55 authors, literary agents, editors, and actors in 2002 to “rank the top one hundred characters in literature since 1900.”

•Jay Gatsby, The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald, 1925
•Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger, 1951
•Humbert Humbert, Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov, 1955
•Leopold Bloom, Ulysses, James Joyce, 1922
•Rabbit Angstrom, Rabbit, Run, John Updike, 1960
•Sherlock Holmes, The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, 1902
•Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960
•Molly Bloom, Ulysses, James Joyce, 1922
•Stephen Dedalus, Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, James Joyce, 1916
•Lily Bart, The House of Mirth, Edith Wharton, 1905
•Holly Golightly, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Truman Capote, 1958
•Gregor Samsa, The Metamorphosis, Franz Kafka, 1915
•The Invisible Man, Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison, 1952
•Lolita, Lolita, Vladimir Nabokov, 1955
•Aureliano Buendia, One Hundred Years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1967
•Clarissa Dalloway, Mrs. Dalloway, Virginia Woolf, 1925
•Ignatius Reilly, A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole, 1980
•George Smiley, Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, John LeCarre, 1974
•Mrs. Ramsay, To the Lighthouse, Virginia Woolf, 1927
•Bigger Thomas, Native Son, Richard Wright, 1940
•Nick Adams, In Our Time, Ernest Hemingway, 1925
•Yossarian, Catch-22, Joseph Heller, 1961
•Scarlett O'Hara, Gone With the Wind Margaret Mitchell, 1936
•Scout Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird, Harper Lee, 1960
•Philip Marlowe, The Big Sleep, Raymond Chandler, 1939

[Mockingbird_z]

Well, if I skip the obvious names (Brothers Karamazov, Hamlet,)
I would add
Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth Benett
Douglas Spolding (Dandelion wine)

[DanielBenoit]

I would say the Hebrew Bible's Yahweh because he lies at the center of the three major religions in the West and has inspired controversy, literature, countless other works and re-workings, not least of all in the figures of Allah and Christ, who are pretty much reactions to Yahweh and the Hebrew Bible. As the saying goes, Christ hardly sneezes in the Gospels without referencing the Tanakh.

Though while Yahweh may not be as revered as Christ today (though indeed various normative interpretations of him from various books of the OT still live on) he is still, I believe, the backbone of our entire Western religious and even literary identity. All monotheistic representations of God seem to be derived from the J writer's Yahweh, from Milton's watered-down God in Paradise Lost (who is a weak character when compared to the greatly human Satan) to Michelangelo's mighty God swooping out of the clouds in the Sistine Chapel. Even Freud's hyperbole that the Yahweh is the origin of the super-ego in the West, I certainly don't dismiss the similar claim that there has never been a more powerful and omnipresent embodiment of the super-ego in literature.

I would also argue that Yahweh is probably the most enigmatic and strangest character in all of literature. I would be hard-pressed to name any characterization that is more uncanny than J's (the hypothetical writer of the best parts of the Torah). What character has inspired so many readings of this perplexing passage here?:



And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

22 And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel [is] my son, [even] my firstborn:

23 And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, [even] thy firstborn.

24 And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him.

25 Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast [it] at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband [art] thou to me.

26 So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband [thou art], because of the circumcision.

KJV trans

Another personal favorite passage of mine and one that has enamoured me for so long is Jacob's wrestling with a strange man who turns out to be Yahweh himself:



And he rose up that night, and took his two wives, and his two womenservants, and his eleven sons, and passed over the ford Jabbok. And he took them, and sent them over the brook, and sent over that he had. And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. And when he saw that he prevailed not against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh; and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint, as he wrestled with him. And he said, Let me go, for the day breaketh. And he said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him, and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? And he blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. And as he passed over Penuel the sun rose upon him, and he halted upon his thigh.Therefore the children of Israel eat not of the sinew which shrank, which is upon the hollow of the thigh, unto this day: because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew that shrank.

Then there is the triumphant meeting between Yahweh and Moses with his priests on the top of Mount Siani which is altogether unlike anything literature has ever offered.



9 Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:

10 And they saw the God of Israel: and [there was] under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in [his] clearness.

11 And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.

Christ of course is right there along with Yahweh as one of literatures most memorable characters (even though I am personally more moved and awed by the J writer than any of the writers of the Gospels) and I find all of his various representations fascinating, for they are about as diverse as Yahweh's; from the love-thy-neighbor Christ of Matthew to the anti-Semetic Christ of John to the Gnostic and enigmatic Christ of Thomas to the warrior Christ of Revelations.


I wouldn't pick Christ from the Bible. His dialogue is weird and he has no serious development at all.

There's plenty of Christ figures in fiction who do it better.


The so-called "lack of character development" is probably because it's a pre-novel ancient text and was meant as scripture. Also, I don't know what you mean by the "weird" dialouge. Sure the dialouge in the Gospels isn't in modern English dialect (that would be weird if it was), it's made up of sermons, soliloquies, question-and-answer bits, etc.

That said, it is arguable that there may be better "Christ-figures" in literature even than Christ himself. Indeed I am far more moved by Dostoyevsky's Prince Myshkin than even Matthew's immortal depiction. That said, my favorite "Christ-figure/version" is probably the Christ from the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas.

[MarkBastable]

On the radio show Desert Island Discs, the guests are asked to say which book they would take with them to the island. In the early days of the show, so many people chose either The Bible or The Complete Works of Shakespeare that the point of thing - which was to provide a hook for original and entertaining discussion - was rather dulled. So a rule was introduced that you get those two books for free, and what would your other one be?

Do you think we here at Litnet could introduce an informal convention that the Bible and the Koran don't feature in discussions of general literature? As things stand, it's inevitable that theists will cite their religious text - which, after all, they believe to be more important and more crammed to the gills with meaning than all other books put together. And atheists will tend to cite those texts in order to make their own point, which usually comes down to the view that they're not more important and more crammed to the gills with meaning than all other books, but simply part of the broad literary canon.

None of which really advances the general discussion much, but does tend to divert any thread towards a religious debate rather than a conversation about books.

[Seasider]

Once Isabel Allende, the novelist daughter of President Allende of Chile, was on Desert Island Discs and when she was told that Shakespeare and The Bible came by default said she didn't want either of them. I was so shocked I missed what she chose.

[MarkBastable]

Once Isabel Allende, the novelist daughter of President Allende of Chile, was on Desert Island Discs and when she was told that Shakespeare and The Bible came by default said she didn't want either of them. I was so shocked I missed what she chose.

Indeed. The woman's an idiot. You're going to need something to start a fire with.

[DanielBenoit]

Do you think we here at Litnet could introduce an informal convention that the Bible and the Koran don't feature in discussions of general literature? As things stand, it's inevitable that theists will cite their religious text - which, after all, they believe to be more important and more crammed to the gills with meaning than all other books put together. And atheists will tend to cite those texts in order to make their own point, which usually comes down to the view that they're not more important and more crammed to the gills with meaning than all other books, but simply part of the broad literary canon.

I don't know if you're referring directly to me or not but note that I am indeed not a theist and that I do not think that even something like the Torah is "crammed to the gills with meaning than all books put together".

Also, why not discuss religious texts as literature? To ignore the literary importance of these works is to ignore a great part of literature because they are so immensely influential and vital to the "canon".

I think the problem lies in people having to get rhetorical over things, I simply cited what I thought was the most memorable literary character in literature, I wasn't advertising my religion or something because I have none.

[TheFifthElement]

Sherlock Holmes
Yossarian (Catch 22)
Olafur Karason (World Light, Halldor Laxness)
Grendel (Grendel, John Gardner)
the unnamed narrator of Hunger by Knut Hamson

[MarkBastable]

I don't know if you're referring directly to me or not but note that I am indeed not a theist and that I do not think that even something like the Torah is "crammed to the gills with meaning than all books put together".

Also, why not discuss religious texts as literature? To ignore the literary importance of these works is to ignore a great part of literature because they are so immensely influential and vital to the "canon".

I think the problem lies in people having to get rhetorical over things, I simply cited what I thought was the most memorable literary character in literature, I wasn't advertising my religion or something because I have none.

I don't know which you are - theist or atheist. Your reason for citing it, in fact, is the second I suggested.

I tend to agree with you that the works have great literary importance. And I'm all for the rhetorical. Which is why I gave the 'why not' in my post.

I'm simply saying there's an argument for taking those books out of the game. I can't enforce that - and I didn't expect everyone to agree with me. But I think it would be a good idea.

[bohn]

Raskolnikov in Crime and Punishment (Dostoevsky).

[stlukesguild]

I would say the Hebrew Bible's Yahweh because he lies at the center of the three major religions in the West and has inspired controversy, literature, countless other works and re-workings, not least of all in the figures of Allah and Christ, who are pretty much reactions to Yahweh and the Hebrew Bible.

Yes, I was thinking of Yahweh/God as well after posting my suggestion of Christ or Moses. Like Jesus, Hamlet, Don Quixote, Satan, and a few other characters he lives outside of the original text as well: in Dante's Comedia, in Milton's Paradise Lost, in Blake's poems, on the Sistine, in Bach's cantatas, in Bob Dylan's Highway 61, etc... Like few other characters he also lives in other forms: as the unknown forces in Kafka, as the great whale (?) in Moby Dick, etc... Most of the other suggestions are nominations of characters that are but personally memorable, which is well and fine. There are but a few who tower over the whole of literature... and the arts as a whole.

[JCamilo]

obviously, mythological characters such as Christ, Buddah, J (or Y), Zeus, Ulysses, Hercules, Prometheus, Satan have a strong advantage of all others. They have millions of writers, they can have a thousand faces, the can be silly, deepth, simple, etc.

I do not give the throne to the bible so easily (even because greek mythology goes to the bible once or while), but it is easy... Quixote and Sancho are the only who go near the myths...

[stlukesguild]

it's inevitable that theists will cite their religious text - which, after all, they believe to be more important and more crammed to the gills with meaning than all other books put together. And atheists will tend to cite those texts in order to make their own point, which usually comes down to the view that they're not more important and more crammed to the gills with meaning than all other books, but simply part of the broad literary canon.

The Bible is indeed a unique book in that it is indeed considered a sacred texts by a great many. I don't see this as any reason to take it out of literary discussion or automatically include it. While many theists or believers may indeed take the position that the Bible is a book above all books, I would presume that just as many would be adverse to discussing the Bible as literature. However, I would guess that it is because the Biblical texts are such a central part of Western culture that many avoid them or don't even think to include them when talking of "desert island books", the "greatest stories", the "greatest poetry", etc... It is interesting just how many readers express such shock and surprise when they truly do sit down and read the Bible as literature for the very reason that it often is quite different from what they thought it was.

The Bible, I would add, is also unique in that it is not a single book or text but rather a collection or compendium of often brilliant texts (histories, fictional narratives, lyrical poetry, aphorisms, visionary poetry) compiled by a single culture the Hebrew people (two cultures if we count the "New Testament" as a compendium of texts accepted as canonical by the early Christian Church)... As a result, there are but few books that can possibly rival the Bible... and many of them are compendiums or collections in themselves: the Mahabharata, the Arabian Nights, the collected works of Shakespeare, the great classical compendiums of Chinese and Japanese poetry etc... Of course if were to compile a similar collection of history, fictional narrative, and poetry (The collected plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, Thucydides and Herodotus' histories, Plato's Republic, the poems of Sappho, Theocritus, etc... and the Epics of Homer) we might start to really rival the Bible... and we might also recognize the work for what it is.

[MarkBastable]

it's inevitable that theists will cite their religious text - which, after all, they believe to be more important and more crammed to the gills with meaning than all other books put together. And atheists will tend to cite those texts in order to make their own point, which usually comes down to the view that they're not more important and more crammed to the gills with meaning than all other books, but simply part of the broad literary canon.

The Bible is indeed a unique book in that it is indeed considered a sacred texts by a great many. I don't see this as any reason to take it out of literary discussion or automatically include it. While many theists or believers may indeed take the position that the Bible is a book above all books, I would presume that just as many would be adverse to discussing the Bible as literature. However, I would guess that it is because the Biblical texts are such a central part of Western culture that many avoid them or don't even think to include them when talking of "desert island books", the "greatest stories", the "greatest poetry", etc... It is interesting just how many readers express such shock and surprise when they truly do sit down and read the Bible as literature for the very reason that it often is quite different from what they thought it was.

The Bible, I would add, is also unique in that it is not a single book or text but rather a collection or compendium of often brilliant texts (histories, fictional narratives, lyrical poetry, aphorisms, visionary poetry) compiled by a single culture the Hebrew people (two cultures if we count the "New Testament" as a compendium of texts accepted as canonical by the early Christian Church)... As a result, there are but few books that can possibly rival the Bible... and many of them are compendiums or collections in themselves: the Mahabharata, the Arabian Nights, the collected works of Shakespeare, the great classical compendiums of Chinese and Japanese poetry etc... Of course if were to compile a similar collection of history, fictional narrative, and poetry (The collected plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, Thucydides and Herodotus' histories, Plato's Republic, the poems of Sappho, Theocritus, etc... and the Epics of Homer) we might start to really rival the Bible... and we might also recognize the work for what it is.


I agree with you. Or you agree with me. I'm not arguing about the merit of the Bible as a part of Western literary heritage.

I'm simply saying that citing it in threads about general literature tends to divert the thread. As we are so neatly demonstrating.

[Jozanny]

It could be argued that many great works are essentially a rewriting of Judeo-Christian themes, even if not consciously. Hamlet is, after all, a martyr to a moral corrosion of state power, if anyone has seen the recent production with Patrick Stewart as Claudius. The topic question intrigues, but remains nearly impossible to answer, because most of us would frame it against the backdrop of Western tradition.

I'd select Oedipus. He represents not only the first tragic figure, but represents the need, in our culture, for a hero, whether fallen our not. We tie our fate in the west to the emperor.

[oshima]

While he's not my personal favorite, I would say that Achilles is the western hero archetype par excellence.

[Jozanny]

While he's not my personal favorite, I would say that Achilles is the western hero archetype par excellence.

Not as Brad Pitt portrays him :D. I recently saw Troy and it was one of the best bad over the top melodramas I've seen out of Hollywood, in terms of contemporary classicism.

[Travis_R]

The character I remember the most is probably Humbert Humbert, as his full psycological portrait is painted on the pages which bring him to life. Lolita as well, but less so.

[DanielBenoit]

For me, Falstaff will always be a personal favorite. As will Leopold Bloom.

Also, I think Odysseus beats out Achilles as the Western hero par excellence, almost no secular character has been represented by so many different authors, from Homer to Dante to Joyce (in the character of Bloom). The figure is almost a secular Christ in that he is used to reflect aspects of the author, for Odysseus has been presented as a man of action to a man of necessity, from a Reinissance man to a political Machiavellian, from the ordinary hero to the mythical legend. He somehow encompasses a certain major part of our Western mythology (in a very general sense) and may be the most memorable secular character alongside those of Shakespeare and Cervantes.

[caesar]

Huck Finn
Most characters in David Copperfield
Protagonist in Notes from Underground
Raskolnikov
Don Quixote
Protagonist in The Tell-Tale Heart (Edgar Allan Poe)
Roderick Usher in The Fall of the House of Usher (Edgar Allan Poe)

[MarkBastable]

It could be argued that many great works are essentially a rewriting of Judeo-Christian themes.

Or it could be argued that the same themes tend to crop up in all story-telling.

[prendrelemick]

I have no problem discounting The Bible and its leading characters as contenders here. Whatever they did, or represent, its such a boring read, I struggled to finish it.

Of the many suggestions above, Sherlock Holmes seems to be the most memorable, with his iconic deerstalker and pipe.

[country doctor]

The character I remember the most is probably Humbert Humbert, as his full psycological portrait is painted on the pages which bring him to life. Lolita as well, but less so.

interesting...the doc agrees that he was quite the literary character...and lolita wasn't chopped liver when developing a character either...

[callipygias]

My #3 and #2 have been mentioned (Judge Holden & Raskolnikov), but my #1 favorite character is without doubt Thomas Sutpen, from Absalom, Absalom!

[country doctor]

My #3 and #2 have been mentioned (Judge Holden & Raskolnikov), but my #1 favorite character is without doubt Thomas Sutpen, from Absalom, Absalom!

a memorable character indeed...one of faulkner's finest w/o a doubt...

[Mag Master 21]

•Holden Caulfield, The Catcher in the Rye, J. D. Salinger, 1951
•Ignatius Reilly, A Confederacy of Dunces, John Kennedy Toole, 1980


These were the first two I thought of.

[misterreplicant]

Personally, Oliver Twist.. But just because of a play I was in, in 5th grade..

[country doctor]

flem snopes was quite the character from faulkner's imagination...he might not get all the attention that some of his other characters do, but he doesn't have to take a back seat to any of them either...

just an unbelievably interesting character...and very believable too...

[simon239]

Going to throw out a plug for Miss Havisham from Great Expectations simply because the images of her in the midst of all her wedding day garb and flying at Pip aflame are some of the strongest I have had whilst reading a novel. Although admitedly I havn't read nearly as many books as other around here so this could change when I start working my way through.

[iamnobody]

Probably already mentioned, but my vote goes to Don Quixote.

[LongBlade]

Probably already mentioned, but my vote goes to Don Quixote.

Oh! I love that character.

But probably Sam Gamgee. And definitely Frodo Baggins, Gandalf, Aragorn, and etc.(*Their all from LOTR.)

[Desolation]

It's really kind of hard to argue with Luke's suggestions of God, Jesus, Moses, Satan, et al, from the Bible. I mean, really, who could even compete?

Anyways, Biblical beings aside, I'd like to nominate a few Tolstoy characters...Pierre and Andrei from War and Peace, and Levin and Anna from Anna Karenina.

Nietzsche's Zarathustra also seems to have made a pretty decent impact on the Western World. That might just be one of those personally memorable characters, though.

[kiki1982]

I think Faust deserves a shot.

[First thoughts]

I'd probably have to go for Dean Moriarty, though there's an endless list to choose from. Prince Andrei, Jay Gatsby, Leopold Bloom, Sam Gamgee, Atticus Finch, McMurphy and Melquíades, are all also excellent mentions

[aliengirl]

Anyways, Biblical beings aside, I'd like to nominate a few Tolstoy characters...Pierre and Andrei from War and Peace, and Levin and Anna from Anna Karenina.




Pierre is one of my favorite characters although it was difficult to understand him sometimes. I also agree about Andrei, Levin and Anna.

[Armel P]

I don't know if plays count but if they do, nothing beats the tie between Romeo and Juliette.

If plays do not count, I would have to say Don Quixote.

These are characters that truly ring and have rung in the ears of millions, throughout so many countries and over such a long time.

[Desolation]

Pierre is one of my favorite characters although it was difficult to understand him sometimes. I also agree about Andrei, Levin and Anna.

I love Pierre. I'm only 350 pages through the book, but whenever there's a battle scene, I can't help but think, "Man, I'm tired of reading about people getting blown up, I want to see what happens to Pierre during the next dinner party!" He never ceases to entertain me.

[Snowqueen]

Here are my few memorable characters.

Mephistophilis - Doctor Faustus
Dorian Gray - The Picture of Dorian Gray
Heathcliff - Wuthering Heights
Joe Gargery - Great Expectations
Levin - Anna Karenina
Billy Buck - The Red Pony
Bathsheba Everdene - Far from the Madding Crowd
Emma - Emma

[fjkdsi]

well my choices have been mentioned but Raskolnikov, Humbert Humbert and Levin.
I dont know if you want to read the whole Karenina novel if you are just studying characters. I think that Anna was good but in comparison to the all time great characters of prose, she doesnt really live up. Levin is really excellent though.
I think Raskolnikov (or almost any of the main characters in Dostoevskys famous works) and Humbert Humbert are must reads for studying characters.
For various reasons not as many female characters have been mentioned, its really tough me for me to pinpoint truly amazing female characters off the top of my head. Maybe Elizabeth Bennett?

[Three Sparrows]

Dunya in Crime and Punishment.

[Kant]

Since this is an individual question, I will answer individually.

The way I read I place myself in the novel. This means that I can hear, see, smell, touch, and sense things as one of the characters themselves. This makes nearly every protagonist and antagonist in every book memorable to me, so long as the work is worth the cost of admission.

There are, however, characters who remain with me and on whom my life is based. This may sound weird, since we are talking about fiction, but some characters are good. And since it is fiction, they can be good to the point of obsurdity.

Sam Damon and Ben Krisler from Once an Eagle, Gus McCrae and Cpt Call from Lonesome Dove are my main for good guy characters

Long John Silver from Treasure Island and Courtney Massengale from Once an Eagle (I love that book. It is the only one I read at least once a year) are my antithesis characters. In fact, if I call someone a "Massengale" or "Courtney" there is no higher insult, though most people don't get it.

For readers, I imagine Legolas, Gimli, Aragorn, Hector, Achilles, Candide, Dr. Jekyll, and Winston would be memorable. (List incomplete)

[tscherff]

the book with the most interesting characters of all time has to be catch 22. although all are not all looked at in depth, they are the most unique characters in literature.
certainly yossarian is tops
but what about
milo minderbender--the worlds greatest entrepreneur
major major major major--he was only in when he was out
the soldier in white--just switch the drip from out to in
mcwatt
snowden
doc deneka
dunbar
nately
nately's whore
the chaplain
wintergreen

i could go on. almost every character in the book is fascinating and unique. sometimes it is who are they which can be just as interesting as what are they.
not a character study, but a study of characters!

[PSRemeshChandra]

Memorable characters from literature can mean characters whose everything we remember vividly far after years and years of reading the book. There have been quite a few of such characters the whole world have wept with, heartily laughed with and profoundly thought with. The first to come to mind is Jesus Christ, the saviour of human soul. Even though a compilation, The Bible is a great literary creation full of many more memorable characters including Moses, Lazarus, Mary, Magdelena, Yohannan, Peter and of course Judas. Victor Hugo's Jean Val Jean was the first character the world properly wept with. And the world heartily laughed with Cervantes' Don Quixote and Sancha Panza. Elizabeth and Darcy were whom the world once wanted to be. Brahm Stoker's Count of Dracula still haunts the world. Raskol Nikoff's inner sufferings still crushes the heart. Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes is a universal thrill. Charles Dickens' portrayal of his characters was like making a full-length film. Oliver Twist and Faggin and Bumble and Bill Sikes will never go from this world. The most playful character the world saw was Mahabharatha's Krishna. Odessius and Herculis stand like lone pillars erected against time by Homer. And The Vicar of Wakefield, The Mayor of Castorbridge, The Count of Montichristo, The Hunchback of Notredam, Ivan Illyicch and Silas Marner will always be with us.

[mishima]

As far as philosophisers go:
Kashiwagi - The Temple Of The Golden Pavillion
Zeitblom - Doctor Faustus
Oskar- The Tin Drum

[fb0252]

Richard III should get a mention.

[Motherof8]

Characters from David Copperfield and Mill on the Floss.

[mtpspur]

Memorable ot me means public awareness to the point where even if the book has NOT been read a person knows 'something' about it--therefore I present Sherlock Holmes, Frankenstein, Dracula and Tarzan of the Apes. Hamlet but only for the To Be or Not to Be speech.

[Ser Nevarc]

Ahab of course

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

It's still Jesus.

[kev67]

Anthony Powell invented many great characters in his Dance to the Music of Time series, but the most outstanding were Kenneth Widmerpool, Charles Stringham and Pamela Flitton/Widmerpool.

I used to love Captain Call from the Lonesome Dove series.

Having recently read Great Expectations I would nominate Lady Havisham and Estella for hard as nails female characters; and Tess Durbeyfield from Tess of the d'Urbervilles, who I am reading about now and who is as tough as nails in her own way.

[Venerable Bede]

One of my favourites is Claude Frollo from Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame. His scheming, passionate and diabolical character remains one of the most memorable to me.

[seaofmilktea]

Humbert Humbert and the girl are definitely strong characters.

But the first things that came into my mind were Anthony Blanche and Sebastian Flyte from Brideshead Revisited. Especially because the actors in the tv adaption look just like how one would imagine the characters to look.

[papillondemai]

1. Cain, The Bible
2. Caleb Trask, East of Eden
3. John Valjean, Les Miserables
4. Randle McMurphy, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
5. John Russell, Hombre
6. Jesus, the one in the chapter titled The Grand Inquisitor in The Brothers Karamazov
7. Huckleberry Finn
(Not necessarily in the order given)

[coeus]

For me, in no specific order:

Sherlock Holmes
Sydney Carton
Humbert Humbert
Hester Prynne
Gandalf
Holden Caulfield
Atticus Finch
Scout
Judge Holden
Harry Flashman
Jean-Baptiste Grenouille
Equality 7-2521
Lisbeth Salander
Robert Neville
Tom Ripley

I'm sure there are more, but those are off the top of my head.

[ennison]

Fred the left handed coal man who always got the change wrong

[Vota]

Conan.

[Darcy88]

Julien Sorel, Stavrogin, Colonel Aureliano Buendia, Shakespeare's Cleopatra, Lord Henry, Dean Moriarty, Judge Holden.

[Maria May]

Roland Deschain

[Nate]

stephen dedalus

[Pen Name]

Sherlock Holmes.

Interesting how so many people have answered with more than one character, which suggests they don't think any of the characters stand out more than others.

[Lykren]

Prince Genji, Leopold Bloom, Elizabeth Bennet, Jia Bao-yu (I'm not finished with the first volume of The Dream of the Red Chamber yet, but it's shaping up to be pretty epic already).

[coeus]

Sherlock Holmes.

Interesting how so many people have answered with more than one character, which suggests they don't think any of the characters stand out more than others.

There are so many great characters in literature, I knew I wasn't going to be able to answer with just one. I thought I would give 3 or 4. I ended up listing 15. :) And my inability to choose a single character does indeed mean that one does not stand above the others in my mind. That doesn't mean that they don't stand out as a group above other characters. I think the more interesting part of this thread is seeing the range of characters people have chosen. I'm sure people don't agree with some of my choices, just as I don't agree with some of theirs.

[Kyriakos]

Two by me:


Gregor Samsa (Metamorphosis-Kafka)

Akaky Akakievic (The Overcoat-Gogol)

Surely there are many others, but those two seemed very unique to me. Both insect-like in singificance in the stories.

[JuniperWoolf]

Oliver Haddo.

[stlukesguild]

I'm amazed at the number of characters put forth that have me thinking "Who?" "What?"

It seems to me that the most memorable characters are those that we can describe in great detail... not merely characters in a good narrative/novel/play/poem. In other words... I would think of those characters who virtually "live" beyond the boundaries of the original text. Satan, Jesus, Odysseus, Hamlet, Don Quixote and Sancho, Huckleberry Finn, etc...

[quidoftullamore]

Stephen Dedalus
Pilate Dead from Morrison's Song of Solomon
Huck Finn
Holden Caulfield
Dilsey from The Sound and the Fury

[DystopianGypsy]

Harry Haller from Steppenwolf.
Lisbeth Salander from The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.
Charlie from The Perks of Being Wallflower.

Those characters will always have a place in my heart!!!

[WICKES]

Dickens was a genius at creating memorable characters- Bill Sykes, Scrooge, Pickwick, Micawber.
Sherlock Holmes is great, also P G Wodehouse's Jeeves, Evelyn Waugh's Apthorpe, Anthony Burgess' Enderby, Twain's Huck Finn etc

Harold Bloom would say Falstaff and Hamlet.

[Yulehesays]

Leopold Bloom is the most complete literary character I have ever encountered.

[bookowskee]

Ivan Karamazov

[Kyriakos]

^Ivan is not the protagonist of the book though, he gets mentioned/presented far less than Alyosha. Although i find him to be more interesting.

In the same vein, a secondary character in the Possessed comes to mind, Kyrilov :)

[Lykren]

Alongside Bao-Yu of The Dream of the Red Chamber, which I am currently reading, Wang Xi-Feng has to be one of the most amazingly sophisticated and true-to-life characters I've ever come across. I'm not sure that even Bao-Yu is as well developed, seeing as how she seems to get more time in the novel.

Has anyone else read The Dream of the Red Chamber? What did you think of it?

[Bustrofedon]

Levin - Anna Karenina


Sadly my answer was taken.

[*Classic*Charm*]

Levin- Anna Karenina Sadly my answer was taken.

I have never understood the affinity people have for this character.

[Ecurb]

I couldn't pick one. However, I've just been glancing through "Last Chronicle of Barset" (available on line on this very site) by Anthony Trollope. One can seldom enjoy oneself more than in the company of Septimus Harding. Those who have read the Barchester series will remember him for turning down the position of Dean, and resigning as the Warden of the Hospital. Here, at the end of Barchester Towers, Mr. Harding introduces the new warden:


Few men, however, are constituted as was Mr Harding. He had that nice appreciation of the feelings of others which belongs of right exclusively to women.

Arm in arm they walked into the inner quadrangle of the building, and there the five old men met them. Mr Harding shook hands with them all, and then Mr Quiverful did the same. With Bunce Mr Harding shook hands twice, and Mr Quiverful was about to repeat the ceremony but the old man gave him no encouragement.

'I am very glad to know that at last you have a new warden,' said Mr Harding in a very cheery voice.

'We be very old for any change,' said one of them; 'but we do suppose it be all for the best.'

'Certainly--certainly, it is for the best,' said Mr Harding. 'You will again have a clergyman of your own church under the same roof with you, and a very excellent clergyman you will have. It is a great satisfaction to me to know that so good a man is coming to take care of you, and that it is no stranger, but a friend of my own, who will allow me from time to time to come in and see you.'

'We be thankful to your reverence,' said another of them.

'I need not tell you, my good friends,' said Mr Quiverful, 'how extremely grateful I am to Mr Harding for his kindness to me,--I must say his uncalled for, his unexpected kindness.'

'He be always very kind,' said a third.

'What I can do to fill the void which he left here, I will do. For your sake and my own I will do so, and especially for his sake. But to you who have known him, I can never be the same well-loved friend and father that he has been.'

'No, no, sir,' said old Bunce, who hitherto had held his peace; 'no one can be that. Not if the new bishop sent a hangel to us from heaven. We doesn't doubt you'll do your best, sir, but you'll not be like the old master; not to us old ones.'

'Fie, Bunce, fie! how dare you talk in that way!' said Mr Harding; but as he scolded the old man he still held him by his arm, and pressed it with warm affection

In "Last Chronicle", Mr. Harding is an old man. He always loved playing his violincello, but in his old age could not longer do so. IN one of Trollopes greatest scenes, when nobody else is at home, Mr. Harding takes down the cello case and fondly strokes the wood of his beloved instrument. It's one of the purest examples of Trollope's genius, and my almost boundless affection for Mr. Harding increases the poignancy of the scene.

[Oedipus]

Kullervo from the Kalevala

[luhsun]

Agree with st lukes.
My memorable character would be sima yi.
Or hari seldon.
St paul with his endless efforts(my favourite is his way of soliciting donations from the corinthians) would be my theist choice, not that i am a christian ;-)

[prendrelemick]

Squire Western.
John Self.
Huckleberry Finn.
Mrs Bennet.
Gollem.

Otherwise I agree with Wickes - Dickens has a hatfull of characters.

[*Classic*Charm*]

Tess Durbeyfield

[Snowqueen]

I would like to add a few more.


Andrei Bolkonski from War and Peace

Cathy Ames from East of Eden

Jean Valjean from Les Miserables

Bill Sykes from Oliver Twist

Shylock from The Merchant of Venice

[Matthew Brown]

Don Quixote has been mentioned here a few times already. It's obvious why. The phrase "tilting at windmills" is referenced so often. It's one of the most enduring images ever written.

There are some characters that have yet to be mentioned and are very obvious. They've probably been overlooked because they are from children's stories. Peter Pan. Winnie the Pooh. Alice. They are as recognized and beloved as any other characters written.

[desiresjab]

I am going to go with most famous is most memorable, and make it easy on myself. I don't count biblical characters. In no particular order:

Scrooge
Sherlock
Huck
Santa Claus (wasn't biblical)
Hamlet
Bilbo/Frodo Baggins
Gandalf the wizard
Gulliver


For my personal tastes, I remember Herzog with excrutiating detail. I think that is my favorite character study.

[Whosis]

John Steinbeck has written some of the most memorable characters there have been in The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden. Characters that are well-named also have lasting power.

[Sido]

Well, for me it’s Rebecca form Daphne du Maurier’s novel Rebecca. What I find most interesting about her, is that she never once appears in person throughout the novel. By the time the story begins she is already long dead and the only way we ever get to know about her is through the perspectives of the other characters. Yet from the beginning, it is 'she' that keeps us captivated. And at the end of the book it is 'she' that we remember the best.

[Whosis]

I think Buchannan from The Great Gatsby for his admiration of a friend that tied characters together and Tom (I think?) from The Grapes of Wrath for having trouble not interfering with the law. Steinbeck wrote great characters.

[gar_nichts]

Absolutely Coriolanus.He is a giant stood peerless even among his fellow Shakespearean creations,being one of the greatest tragic heroes to date.His insight is so profound that people might find it terrible or disturbing,but Coriolanus remains a perfect example of mature characterization.