» Fab Faves: Female Literary Characters » GirlyBubble

I’ll admit unabashedly that I’m an English major. Not only that, I consider myself a semi-feminist. Which is why I decided to combine those two aspect and compile a list of my favourite female literary characters from novels, the Bible, and plays. And this is all thanks to Tiffany’s post for giving me this idea.

Novel Characters
- Brett Ashley from The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway — Here’s a character who’s promiscuous and sleeps around, but for some odd reason, I LIKE THAT. I mean, really, I don’t like people who sleeps around the town, but Brett is something else. Her character breaks all gender roles to an extent, and I approve of that. A woman’s place is NOT in the kitchen, and Brett shows that . . . well with her lifestyle. XD

- Jo March from Little Women by Louisa May Alcott — Come on, she’s a writer, headstrong, opinionated, and made of much win.

- Sula Peace from Sula by Toni Morrison — She’s like Brett in which she’s pretty promiscuous and sleeps around. Heck, she even sleeps with her best friend’s husband, and the husband leaves the wife! Yeah, that’s really low of Sula, but Sula’s a prime example of a scapegoat character. She’s the catalyst for bringing her town’s citizen to shape up and act good themselves, but in the end she suffers.

- Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery — The best way I can describe Anne is this: She’s one fiery and energetic girl. I love the way she bashed Gilbert on the head when he called her “Carrot”. She’s so loyal to her friends, and come on, she’s intelligent and very imaginative.

Biblical Characters
- Esther from the Book of Esther — When I read this, I couldn’t help but think that she was one brave woman! Hiding her true heritage when she married the king is not an easy feat, I’m sure, since if she was discovered, she’d be sent to the guillotine.

- Ruth from the Book of Ruth — I was struck by her loyalty to her mother-in-law, Naomi. The way she selflessly said she’d follow Naomi to the end of the Earth. Nice. And she got rewarded for marrying Boaz later. At first when I read this, though, I was wondering just what was the point of this particular book, but then when I saw that she was David’s great-grandmother, it made sense.

Play Characters
- Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing — This happens to be my favourite Shakespearean comedy, and Beatrice is made of many wins. She’s sarcastic, witty, and gives Benedick a hard time. I mean, come on, that quote she says, “I had rather hear my dog bark at a crow than a man swear he loves me,” is just brilliant.

- Cordelia from King Lear — I suffered through both Hamlet and Macbeth before coming to the conclusion that I considered King Lear as my favourite Shakespearean tragedy. Cordelia, King Lear’s youngest daughter refused to brown nose her father like her two older sister did, and because of that, she was disowned. Later, King Lear discovered the true natures of Cordelia’s sister and went through hell. Moving on, Cordelia wins more love from me, for not only refusing to boost her father’s ego, but she proves to be the most loyal by coming back to her father’s side at the end.

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