What are some books that have a strong female character as the protagonist?

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Originally Posted by blp

Depends whether the thread starter meant strongly characterised or characterised as strong, doesn't it?

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Yes -- it wasn't clear to me that it could have been meant this way. Thanks :)

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Originally Posted by Lulim

Yes -- it wasn't clear to me that it could have been meant this way. Thanks :)

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The thread starter meant a female protagonist who is also a bodybuilder :goof:

Haven't thought of it like this .:svengo:

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Originally Posted by keilj

The thread starter meant a female protagonist who is also a bodybuilder :goof:

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Mmm. Well there's a surprise.

Million Dollar Baby?

The first one I thought of is Helen Graham The Tenant of Wildfell Hall , by Anne Bronte.

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Originally Posted by Lulim

I don't agree that Lily Bart is a strong female character -- quite the opposite. Or did you have some other female character of the novel in mind?

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I believe she is a strong character, though she doesn't triumph. She does what she can to survive, to achieve what she believes is her place in society through the means she has learned are the appropiate means to do so; she makes mistakes. She's human, but not weak. Like all tragic heros, she realizes her mistakes at the end. She's a wonderful character.

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Originally Posted by blp

Depends whether the thread starter meant strongly characterised or characterised as strong, doesn't it?

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Yes, it very much depends on this. A strong character, male or female, may not be one who triumphs. For example, both Hamlet and Macbeth do not triumph. Would anyone say these are not strong male characters? Is Willy Loman in DEATH OF A SALESMAN a weak character?

All female characters by Nicci French.
Also, Jane Eyre, Elizabeth Bennet in "Pride and Prejudice", and Anna Karenina

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Originally Posted by aliengirl

Oh, how can we forget Portia from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice and Viola from Twelfth Night. Both are very strong characters concerning that Shakespeare belonged to a patriarchal age.:cool:

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Oooo, oooo! And Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing!! :banana:

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Originally Posted by kiki1982

Can Jane Eyre be missed out here?

Hardy's Tess of the d'Urervilles has a strong character too. As does Far from the Madding Crowd.

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Bathsheba Everdene and Jane Eyre both have strong characters. Helen Graham in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall also has a great moral power like Tess to face the evils of the world.

Well! Let's throw in Catherine the younger and Nellie from Wuthering Heights too then.

Anna Karenina committed suicide .

Maggie Tuliver from The Mill on the Floss was considered inspirational in her time.

If you want an early example of a strong lead woman how about the play The Roaring Girl by Thomas Middleton and Thomas Decker

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Originally Posted by myrna22

I believe she is a strong character, though she doesn't triumph. She does what she can to survive, to achieve what she believes is her place in society through the means she has learned are the appropiate means to do so; she makes mistakes. She's human, but not weak. Like all tragic heros, she realizes her mistakes at the end. She's a wonderful character.

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Agreed. It would have been so easy for her to have behaved as everyone else in her society did, and carried through the half-hearted attempts to marry a rich husband. She also withheld the letters which could have helped her out of her desperate situation earlier. She tried to survive by working her way out of her troubles, albeit a futile attempt, but she did not resort to behaving like Bertha, or betraying her when it would have been so easy to do.

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Originally Posted by kiki1982

Can Jane Eyre be missed out here?

Hardy's Tess of the d'Urervilles has a strong character too. As does Far from the Madding Crowd.

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This was my thought as I was reading through the first string of answers.