Top Ten Troubled Women in Classic Novels

 



Top Ten Tuesday is one of my favourite weekly list-y things to read. It is hosted by the people over at The Broke and the Bookish and today's topic is "Top Ten favourite characters in [whatever genre you choose]". So I decided to go with my Top Ten Troubled Women in Classic Novels. It does not mean that I like and admire all those women, but rather that I found their characters and development interesting to observe. Some I like more than others; some I despise and some I symphatise with. Okay, here goes:

 

1. Anna Karenina from "Anna Karenina" (Leo Tolstoy) - one of the most famous female characters out there, Anna has trouble finding her place in society and finding balance between the wishes of her heart and the unforgiving social norms.
2. Emma Bovary from "Madame Bovary" (Gustave Flaubert) - both Anna and Emma have always been strongly associated in my mind, as Emma too would prefer life away from "boring" husband and decides to follow the whims of her heart.
3. Rebecca Sharp from "Vanity Fair" (William Makepeace Thackeray) - there is a woman that can send shivers of anger and despise right through your body. Probably one of the most famous climbers of the social ladder in literature.
4. Margarita from "The Master and Margarita" (Mikhail Bulgakov) - Margarita is a character who also knows that she is married to a wrong man, but unlike the previous three characters, she is portrayed as strong and courageous woman instead. She is so certain she is doing the right thing that readers are drawn to rather admire her.
5. Sarah Woodruff from "French Lieutenant's Woman" (John Knowles) -  nicknamed "Tragedy", Sarah is a really complicated character, mayhaps a little ahead of her time. She spends many of her days gazing out at the sea, and it is commonly thought that she is waiting for the French Lieutenant.
6. Daisy Buchanan from "The Great Gatsby" (F. Scott Fitzgerald) - a spoiled brat (excuse the expression); a woman so shallow she has hard time figuring out what it is that she wants.
7. Frances "Franny" from "Franny and Zooey" (J. D. Salinger) - one of the members of Salinger's Glass family, featured in many of his stories. Being a 20-year old college student, Franny is searching for her spiritual self and it is not easy for her to find.
8. Charlotte Haze from Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov) - Lolita's mother. The woman forces Humbert Humbert into marriage while refusing/incapable to see how he despises her; she is also unable or unwilling to see her husband's interest into her teenage daughter.
9. Arwen Undómiel from "The Lord of the Rings" (J. R. R. Tolkien) - elf Arwen has a tough decision to make - she loves a man; the problem is, elves' lifespan goes tens and tens of times beyond that of men. Arwen feels pressure from her father to be "sensible" and take a ship away from Middle-Earth, and remain immortal.
10. An honourary mention - The Madwoman in the Attic from "Jane Eyre" (Charlottë Bronte) -  no comments needed here. She is clearly very troubled :)