Most Horrible Character

[The Comedian]

Anna Karenina. I couldn't wait for her to be gone.

*raises his glass in cheers!* I couldn't bear this book because of my disdain for this character -- whine, whine, whine, all the while getting what she deserves.

[sixsmith]

I couldn't stand Igantius in 'A Confederacy of Dunces' which is rather problematic given the entire novel is just him railing against everyone and everything.


Tommy in 'Seize the day' annoyed the crap out of me. (Why people don't consider this a very minor work from Bellow is beyond me).


But my gold medal annoying character is without doubt Raskalnikov. A literary whinger to beat all comers.

[Chilly]

Frankenstein's monster is particularly devilish when he has been shunned by society as is Mr Hyde, so they would probably be mine.

I'm sorry, I disagree about Frankenstein's monster. In fact, Frankenstein himself bothered me much more. It was his fault and he wouldn't admit it, then he doesn't fix the problem when he can. The monster, on the other hand, was a good person and only did the things he did because it was the only thing left for him.

[amarna]

Erika Kohut, main character of Elfriede Jelinek's "Piano Player", was pretty obnoxious.

[five-trey]

Pyotr Petrovich Luhzin from Crime and Punishment. I hated how arrogant and sleazy he was. I found Svidrigailov an interesting character so I didn't really hate him, despite the fact that he is the more despicable.

Other notables:
- Lavinia Mannon from Mourning Becomes Electra.
- Madame Defarge from A Tale of Two Cities
- Daisy Buchannan from The Great Gatsby

[Emil Miller]

In a book that has a number of horrible characters, Felicia Ballshotte is easily the most objectionable person in Emil Miller's Pro Bono Publico.

[PoeticPassions]

Other notables:
- Lavinia Mannon from Mourning Becomes Electra.
- Madame Defarge from A Tale of Two Cities
- Daisy Buchannan from The Great Gatsby

I quite agree with Daisy. She was such an unlikeable character.

[amalia1985]

Roger Chillingworth from Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter
Madame Defarge from Charles Dickens' A Tale Of Two Cities
Bernarda Alba from Lorca's The House Of Bernarda Alba

[LitNetIsGreat]

I'm sorry, I disagree about Frankenstein's monster. In fact, Frankenstein himself bothered me much more. It was his fault and he wouldn't admit it, then he doesn't fix the problem when he can. The monster, on the other hand, was a good person and only did the things he did because it was the only thing left for him.

Yes I have great sympathy for him at the start, but once rejected he certainly pushes and goes over the boundaries with the whole women and children killing thing!

[Gretchen]

Nastasya Filipovna from Dostoevsky's The Idiot.

[Jeremiah Jazzz]

Most of William Faulkner's characters like Jason Compson and most of the Bundrens are such horrible people. The ability to create such a rotten character is an incredible skill, which is why I like Faulkner. I also despise Malachi Mulligan in Ulysses, ugh...

[PabloQ]

Cathy from East of Eden was pure evil. Morally corrupt, loveless, soulless. She shoots her husband and deliberately doesn't kill him so that he'll remember her hatred of him long after she's gone.

[jocky]

Dont know if this one will count, but how about the computer HAL from Arthur C Clarke's '2001 A Space oddysey' ? Now there was a character that set your teeth grinding. It was a cathartic moment when he had his transistors removed.

[five-trey]

Nastasya Filipovna from Dostoevsky's The Idiot.

I'm reading it right now and, I've got to say, her and Ganya annoy me to no end.

[Dark Lady]

I think it's interesting that some of the characters mentioned are, I think, intended to be awful by the author but some perhaps aren't.

I would say characters like Jason Compson and Frankenstein's monster (and Frankenstein himself) are meant to be nasty. They're intended to promote thought but not sympathy.

However, I don't know if characters like Anna Karenina and Heathcliffe are meant to be utterly unsympathetic. I got the feeling I was supposed to like them despite the fact they were despicable. But I didn't. They ruined the novels for me to a greater or lesser extent.