Favorite Literary Character of all time?

Question

Mine's a toss up between Gandalf,(yes, way before the movies came out, I might add) and Dorian Gray.
Yours?

Answer 1

Hamlet and his friends.

I once had a professor who asked us, after every Shakespeare play we read, Which character would you like to have tea with at the Immortal Tea Party. I didn't like the professor, and I didn't like his class, so when he called on me one day (and I hadn't read the play), I smarted off: "I don't even wanna go the the Immortal Tea Party."

And so, of course, that lousy professor has had his revenge for all these years: I can't get his ridiculous question out of my mind.

So if I could have some literary characters join me down in Tennessee for some good country-fried catfish caught in Richland Creek, and hush puppies, with plenty of Jack Daniels (or Lynchburg lemonade), here's who I would invite:

Hamlet, to keep the party going with his wit, his flair for the dramatic, his spark, and (yep) his intellect and (deep down) good character;

Mercutio (from Romeo and Juliet), to mix our drinks, to remind us of who we are, and to keep Hamlet in line;

good old Falstaff, to tell a lot of stories and pinch the ladies, until he drank himself to sleep;

Rosalind (from As You Like It)--well, just because she's Rosalind;

Prince Hal (from Henry IV) to relax, listen, play horsehoes, and add a little class--before he goes to war in Iraq (or wherever);

Portia (from Merchant of Venice) to keep Prince Hal humble by being the smartest one there and letting everyone know she is (she'd be against the war);

Petruchio and Kate (from Taming of the Shrew), 'cause you gotta have one pair of quarreling lovers;

Beatrice and Benvolio (from Much Ado about Nothing) so Petruchio and Kate don't get all the attention, and they might provide a little background music from the movie;

Bottom (from Midsummer Night's Dream), to represent hard-working people with a dream and an ego to match;

Caliban (from the Tempest), to represent the under-represented class, so Bottom can feel superior (and maybe bring a little home-made hooch from the hills around Lynchburg);

Othello, for pride and dignity, and Lady Macbeth to let him know that pride and dignity alone ain't enough;

Cordelia (from King Lear)--well, just because she's Cordelia, and maybe she'll bring the Fool along to keep us enteretained and embarrassed;

and Viola in a pants suit (from Twelfth Night), to add as much spark to the party as Hamlet would, and remind him how he's a cad for the way he has treated Ophelia.

Yep, we're gonna have a rip-roaring time--and plenty of Jack Daniels!

So, you want to know my favorite literary character. Hamlet, of course, and I think he deserves something better than an Immortal Tea Party. He's the king that Denmark never got, and the President the US never had sense enough to elect. He could be the life of the party, and (in a side conversation) represent the life of the mind.

O, what a noble mind . . . .
The courtier's, soldier's, scholar's, eye, tongue, sword;
The expectancy and rose of the fair state,
The glass of fashion and the mould of form,
The observed of all observers

(Truth be told, rather than giving a party, I'd rather go to Granny Vaughn's family reunion with all the Renfros and the Beechams down in Banner, Mississippi, including the spinster school teacher Miss Julia Mortimer, from Eudora Welty's Losing Battles, but you asked for literary characters, not a whole literary family, and I couldn't begin to separate out just one of that clan--not even Miss Julia.)

(Then if I could have a whole military unit it would be the young geniuses in an intelligence unit from William Wharton's Midnight Clear that spends Christmas Eve with a German platoon in World War II, but I'd have to have the whole unit. And make it New Year's Eve, and call off the war!)

Then there would be Owen Meany (from John Irving's Prayer for Owen Meany) and Saleem Sinai (from Salman Rushdie's Midnight's Children) and Jody Baxter (from Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings' The Yearling), and Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn, and the Mouse and His Child (from Russell Hobban's children's book of the same title)--but they couldn't drink Lynchburg lemonade, could they? so

Hamlet it is

(and his friends)!


So there Dr. L_______, I've answered your stupid question, but in my own way (now leave me alone). And I hope I've answered jamestheconfidentloser's, question too, but in my own way.

Much obliged, james tlc, for the question. You've helped me allay a ghost from the past.

And you're right about Y!A. It's a muse you can use to spark writing you otherwise would never do! So, thank you.

Answer 2

A short list...

Gandalf (Lord of the Rings)
Marco Polo (Gary Jennings' The Journeyer)
Edmund Dantes (The Count of Montecristo)
Willy Wonka (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory)
Aureliano Buendía (One Hundred Years of Solitude)
Hercule Poirot (any Agatha Christie's books)

Answer 3

Hmm I like Dorian Gray at the beginning of the book, but began to get quite frustrated with him later on, for obvious reasons.

I would have to say Howard Roarke from Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead.

Answer 4

It's a tough call for me. I find I tend to like the most characters that are children. I like Alice from Lewis Carroll's Wonderland, Dorothy from L. Frank Baum's Oz, Jim Hawkins from R. L. Stevenson's Treasure Island, and Mowgli from Rudyard Kipling's Jungle Book.

Answer 5

Rhett Butler-Gone With The Wind

Answer 6

I have 2: The first is Roland from The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I read all of those books and felt like I knew him... and he reminded me of my Grandpa, who was a real life cowboy.

Also, the priest from The Power and The Glory by Graham Greene. He was an amazingly complex character- a flawed hero who believed he was unworthy of God's love and forgiveness, but he was a truly good man. Excellent book.

Answer 7

Dorian Gray was the first that came to mind to me... another close one is Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing

Answer 8

Doc from Cannery Row
Trashcan Man - The Stand

Answer 9

Anita Blake (vampire hunter novels by Laurell. K. Hamilton)
Margaret Hale (North and south-the film i'm afraid)
Dante (Working for the devil)
Remy and Dexter (This lullaby)
Princess Meryl and princess Addie (The two princesses of Bamarre)

there are many more but i dont want to bore you or anything.:)

Luv Alice in Wonderland

Answer 10

Either Sidney Carton [[A Tale of Two Cities]], Holden Caulfield [[Catcher in the Rye]], or Jonas [[The Giver]].

Answer 11

Without a doubt for me that would be Atticus Finch from To Kill A Mockingbird....an honest, humble man with the heart of a hero.