10 of the Most Powerful Female Characters in Literature

[microrobert]

10 of the Most Powerful Female Characters in Literature

Since March is Women’s History Month, we’ve been thinking a lot about the women who have had positive and lasting impacts on our lives — and perhaps not surprisingly for a bunch of literary geeks like us, we’ve realized that many of them are fictional. For all the hullabaloo about the dearth of strong female characters in modern culture, thankfully there are some wonderfully powerful, kick-ass maidens that have inspired us with their strength, self-discovery, and incredible brilliance over the years.

Click through to see our list of ten of the most powerful female characters in literature, and then be sure to pipe up with your own suggestions — we’ve chosen the ten who resonate most deeply with us here, but since there are many more than ten strong ladies in literature (thank goodness), we want to know which ones blow you away on a daily basis.

http://flavorwire.com/265847/10-of-the-most-powerful-female-characters-in-literature

[Comte Arnau]

Anglocentric world... :tsk:

I didn't like that list at all. With all those meh recent 'wild girlie' characters. Bah... (Well, I exaggerate. Hawthorne's lady and maybe Hua Mulan can be rescued.)

I'll choose my own ten:


Medea, by Euripides. Never betray a Greek lady!! Now that is a powerful character. :)

http://w0.atrapalo.com/common/photo/espe/56087/0/tic_0_296.jpg

(Sophocles' Antigone could substitute her any time)


The puta vieja Celestina, that bawd, aww what a rich female character. Spaniards boast so much about their Don Quixote that they tend to forget they have this magnificent masterpiece which is by no means far from Cervantes' one.

I've always pictured her the way Picasso painted her:

http://html.rincondelvago.com/000500740.jpg


Catherine, from Wuthering Heights. Ok, I tried not to include English characters, as the rest of the world will already do it, but this book will always be a masterpiece of English literature for me. It might be due to my Scorpio nature, a constant fight between reason/mind and passion/heart, but when the imagery of England comes to my mind, I picture those barren windy moors.

http://hauntedhearts.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/wuthering-heights-bantam-1974-detail1.jpg?w=470


Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Another kind of power, the one of the average provincial woman. French masterpiece for me.

http://www.leninimports.com/isabelle_huppert_madame_bovary_uk_dvd_cover.jpg


Dante's Beatrice, from the Divine Comedy and the Vita Nuova. When power resides not in strength, but in guiding the soul of a man lost in hell.

http://englishare.net/World%20Lit/Dante-Beatrice-Giovan-Battista-Comolli-Milan.jpg


I thought about a Swedish character... and no, no Lisbeth Salanders, please. Pippi Langstrump, that was a badass. A girl living alone with a horse and a monkey, dressing like that and not being taken by the social services? You just don't see that these days.

http://s.cdon.com/media-dynamic/images/product/000/558/558792.jpg


I can't leave Scandinavia without including Ibsen's Nora from A Doll's House in the list, if it wants to be a serious list.

http://ibsen.net/image/11973/1/11973_1.jpeg


I could have included several ones from Russian literature. But if there is one who deserves it, that is The Mother, by Gorki. I wish I could ever write a character who could move half the way that one does. :(

http://focusfeatures.com/uploads/image/mediafile/1278969333-e0ab202d67752661ac0e974c2ab25787/950.jpg


Finally, I had to include one from my literature. But I still can't decide between Mila in Solitude, Marta in Terra Baixa (called Martha of the Lowlands in English) or the Natàlia "Colometa" in La Plaça del Diamant (called The Time of the Doves in English), so I include the three of them.


http://editor.enciclopedia.cat/medies/FOTO/FG004034.JPGhttp://2.bp.blogspot.com/_582qJ89qMP4/TMSDW2TgjQI/AAAAAAAAAPg/flaO26mfmt8/s1600/desnudo-Solitud2.jpg
http://guiadelociobcn.com/ociofreewp/wp-content/uploads/foto-marina-3-420x236.jpg
http://www.kalipedia.com/kalipediamedia/lenguayliteratura/media/200704/18/literaturauniversal/20070418klplylliu_403.Ies.SCO.jpg

[mymy]

I will add a few, that comes first on my mind.

The first female character what comes on my mind is Sonya Marmeladova from "Crime and Punishment". I dare to say that her character had lot of influence on me, and developing of my personality.
When i'm saying this, i don't mean on her religious views, nor on her professional status, but on structure of character, personality. Weak and strong in the same time.

http://fc07.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/228/2/8/sonya_marmeladova_by_SiVkiN.jpg


Second one would be Marguerite Gautier, from "The lady of the Camellias".

http://profile.ak.fbcdn.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/71099_147687219516_4694970_n.jpg



Nana, in "Nana"... Beautiful and tragic.
http://www.tulumba.com/mmTULUMBA/Images/bk/zBK342150EA166_250.jpg

And then Margarita, from "The Master and Margarita" (I am invisible and i am free)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/00/%D0%9C%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80_%D0%B8_%D0%9C %D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0_% 28%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2 %D0%BA%D0%B0_%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0_ %D0%90%D1%80%D0%B1%D0%B0%D1%82%29.JPG/444px-%D0%9C%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B5%D1%80_%D0%B8_%D0%9C %D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B8%D1%82%D0%B0_% 28%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2 %D0%BA%D0%B0_%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%B0%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0_ %D0%90%D1%80%D0%B1%D0%B0%D1%82%29.JPG

Anna Karenina in "Anna Karenina"

http://knightleyemma.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/av1.jpg

Lolita (i don't support behavior, but character in book was well described)
http://thesleeplessreader.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/lolita.jpg

All those characters made me "feel with them" and be involved in descriptions absolutely. All of them could be described as negative and tragic, sinful women, but all of them posses great power, on different ways... Even when they look weak, they are extremely strong... in some cases, strong after deaths.


I know many people would choose women who are examples of morality and courage, but in my opinion, that's not the point... A courtesan type can be same powerful as warrior or perfect mother type.

[Talvi]

Well someone has merged the 2 threads and I feel its all weird now.

[mymy]

Well someone has merged the 2 threads and I feel its all weird now.

Yes, i merged those threads, because both of them was about same link... And we already talked about favorite female characters.

http://flavorwire.com/265847/10-of-the-most-powerful-female-characters-in-literature