Image via The Broke and the Bookish
In this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, it’s all about the haters. Which literary characters do you love, but other readers don’t–or vice versa?
I think that this is a great topic, because I’ve always gravitated toward characters with an edge, whether they’re bad boys in romance novels or super villains in comic books. Nobody likes a goody-two-shoes, after all!
My top ten list features men, women, and the occasional dragon or anti-christ who have betrayed–even murdered–those closest to them. However, all in my mind have redeemable qualities and justifications for their actions. Call them awful, selfish, ruthless, or evil, but you certainly can’t call them one-dimensional!
Carey Mulligan as Daisy (Image via Wikipedia)
So-Called “Selfish” Women
1. Daisy Buchanan from The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
2. Edna Pontellier from The Awakening by Kate Chopin
3. Medea from Medea by Euripides
Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff (Image via Wikipedia)
Debatable “Leading” Men
4. Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
5. Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
6. Meursault from The Stranger by Albert Camus
The Malfoys with Bellatrix (Image via Harry Potter Wiki)
Villains Better Than Heroes
7. The Malfoys from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling
8. Smaug from The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
9. Lady Macbeth from Macbeth by William Shakespeare
10. Satan from Paradise Lost by John Milton
Heathcliff should have been on my list!
Yep, he’s the ultimate bad boy!
Haha, you did a pretty good job of listing characters I couldn’t stand :p Though, I can see how there might be something in each of them worth giving a second glance!
My TTT.
Haha thanks for commenting!
Heathcliff was on my list to. But I do love Smaug. 😉
Who doesn’t love Smaug? He’s fire and death! 😀
i have never been able to get into Wuthering Heights long enough to know if I like or dislike Heathcliff lol. My TTT
LOL I guess that’s how I feel about Mr. Darcy! Not a big Austen fan!
I much prefer Mr. Knightley to Mr. Darcy 🙂
Loving your list! The Malfoys are a great addition. As someone who doesn’t hold any warm fuzzy feelings about them, I also fall into the camp of appreciating the complexity of their characters and how you can’t just call them villains (or at least not where Draco or Narcissa are concerned).
Agreed! That’s the tragedy behind Draco–he could have been using his powers for good had he been raised and encouraged in the right environment!
Oh YAY! You get double points for Heathcliff and Holden (both made my list as well).
http://100greatestnovelsofalltimequest.blogspot.com/2016/03/top-five-characters-i-dont-get-five.html
Haha thanks! They’re popular characters whether you love or hate them!
While I found Daisy very immature, I realize that she’s so necessary to The Great Gatsby for so many reasons, and I think that Carey Mulligan’s portrayal of her in the movie remake was very spot on!
I agree! Mulligan was fantastic!
I love that you have the Malfoys and Smaug on your list! The Malfoys are such interesting characters to me, because while they are villains, I do have sympathy for them! Great list 😀
Thanks! I have major sympathy for all of them!
I put Draco on the like side for me because I think I was always just intrigued by him and his family. I also for some reason liked Holden where I know there are many who didn’t like the book in general. Great list! 🙂
So true! Thanks! 🙂
Oh, I totally agree about Satan in Paradise Lost!
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