Famous Fictional Heroines

cmckenziemitchinson · Sep 30, 2007

Hi All!
I'm trying to come up with a list of heroines from literature. I need about 6 or 7 characters who are well-known and have strong personality traits, good or bad, which can be easily found in women today. My villian is going to choose his victims because they remind him of certain fictional heroines. Problem is, my so-called 'most memorable heroines' may not be memorable to someone else. So, what do you think? Which fictional females stand out to you?
Thanks,
Christy

JoNightshade · Sep 30, 2007

Jane Eyre!
Guenevere
Mmm, any of the fairy tale ladies-- my favorite is Beauty.
Dorothy

Marlys · Sep 30, 2007

Scarlett O'Hara
Cathy Earnshaw
Daisy Miller
Lizzie Bennet
Lily Bart
Madame Bovary
Eliza Doolittle
any of Shakespeare's female characters: Juliet, Lady Macbeth, Gertrude, Beatrice, etc.
Anna Karenina
Maid Marian

WendyNYC · Sep 30, 2007

Hester Prynne
Isolde

WendyNYC · Sep 30, 2007

Oh, and Jo from Little Women.

Carmy · Sep 30, 2007

Jane Marple

shakeysix · Sep 30, 2007

willa cather

herself, or alexandra bergson if she has to be fiction. -s6

Sandi LeFaucheur · Sep 30, 2007

Rebecca de Winter
Cathy (in Wuthering Heights)
Mrs. Rochester (in Jane Eyre)
Mrs. Danvers (in Rebecca)

JoNightshade · Sep 30, 2007

WendyNYC said:
Oh, and Jo from Little Women.

Now why didn't I think of that one?

Marlys · Sep 30, 2007

More recently:
Bridget Jones
Clarice Starling
Kinsey Milhone
V.I. Warshawski

JoNightshade · Sep 30, 2007

This isn't a novel, but I've always admired Sarah Connor in the Terminator movies.

wordmonkey · Sep 30, 2007

Not a heroine per se, but I'd add Irene Adler

Kathie Freeman · Oct 1, 2007

How about Nora from Ibsen's A Doll's House, or Eliza Doolittle?

WendyNYC · Oct 1, 2007

JoNightshade said:
Now why didn't I think of that one?

Doesn't every female writer consider herself to be like Jo? I certainly did! And, of course, Meg from A Wrinkle in Time.

Calla Lily · Oct 1, 2007

Mary from On the Beach
Florence Dombey from Dombey and Son (tied for most annoying, weak, whiny heroine ever)

Mary Russell (From Laurie R. King's Sherlock Holmes series)

SHBueche · Oct 1, 2007

Frankly, my dear, I DO give a damn. I'll second Scarlett O'Hara.

Richard White · Oct 1, 2007

Rowena and Rebecca from Ivanhoe

(Too bad this is limited to literature. I would have nominated Emma Peel from the Avengers or Sara Jane from Dr. Who to this list.)

zenwriter · Oct 1, 2007

Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables gets my vote.

hazellsephine · Oct 1, 2007

Thursday Next from Jasper Fforde's works. <<favorite, not famous. My bad. Worth reading, I think.

TB4me2000 · Oct 2, 2007

I vote for Elizabeth Bennet, Jane Eyre, Guinevere, Scarlet O'Hara, Jo March, and...oooh! Nancy Drew! And one of Shakespeare's leading ladies. Ophelia or Helena or Hermia, maybe? Helen of Troy?

It gets more difficult when you come to favorite heroines that you're not sure if others (i.e. the whole wide world) know. Like Charlotte Doyle. I loved Charlotte Doyle when I was younger.

musilian · Oct 2, 2007

robert musil
the judge from stranger in a strange land

althrasher · Oct 2, 2007

HECK YES Clarice Starling!
Too many women in liturature are pansies, though. *See Ophelia*. We need some more ass-kicking chicks. I liked Alanna of Trebond, but she's not that well known.

writin52 · Oct 7, 2007

Florence Nightingale

scarletpeaches · Oct 7, 2007

She wasn't fictional.

First one who sprang to mind was Scarlett O'Hara. A few others who've been mentioned here, I've never heard of, and given how much I read, I'd be surprised if a great percentage of the population had heard of them either.

Melisande · Oct 8, 2007

Barbara Havers in Elizabeth George's mystery novels.

Sergeant Flora, from "The Loevely Sergeant" by Alan Burgess

Marylda, from "The Laird And The Lady" by Joan Grant

Guess that these characters might not be famous, but they sure do stand out to me!

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