Some of the most influential and interesting people in the world are fictional. Sherlock Holmes, Huck Finn, Pinocchio, Anna Karenina, Genji, and Superman, to name a few, may not have walked the Earth (or flown, in Superman's case), but they certainly stride through our lives. They influence us personally: as childhood friends, catalysts to our dreams, or even fantasy lovers. Peruvian author and presidential candidate Mario Vargas Llosa, for one, confessed to a lifelong passion for Flaubert's Madame Bovary. Characters can change the world. Witness the impact of Solzhenitsyn's Ivan Denisovich, in exposing the conditions of the Soviet Gulag, or Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom, in arousing anti-slavery feeling in America. Words such as quixotic, oedipal, and herculean show how fictional characters permeate our language. This list of the Fictional 100 ranks the most influential fictional persons in world literature and legend, from all time periods and from all over the world, ranging from Shakespeare's Hamlet [1] to Toni Morrison's Beloved [100]. By tracing characters' varied incarnations in literature, art, music, and film, we gain a sense of their shape-shifting potential in the culture at large. Although not of flesh and blood, fictional characters have a life and history of their own. Meet these diverse and fascinating people. From the brash Hercules to the troubled Holden Caulfield, from the menacing plots of Medea to the misguided schemes of Don Quixote, The Fictional 100 runs the gamut of heroes and villains, young and old, saints and sinners. Ponder them, fall in love with them, learn from their stories the varieties of human experience--let them live in you.

The Fictional 100

Ranking the Most Influential Characters in World Literature and LegendBy Lucy Pollard-Gott

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2009 Lucy Pollard-Gott, PhD
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4401-5439-3

Contents

Illustrations......................................................xiAcknowledgments....................................................xiiiIntroduction.......................................................xv1 Hamlet...........................................................12 Odysseus (Ulysses)...............................................93 Don Quixote......................................................144 Eve..............................................................215 Genji............................................................266 Oedipus..........................................................317 Don Juan.........................................................358 Chia Pao-y......................................................409 Sherlock Holmes..................................................4410 Arjuna..........................................................5211 Adam............................................................5912 King Lear.......................................................6313 Shahrazad (Scheherazade)........................................6714 Achilles........................................................7115 Job.............................................................7616 Heracles (Hercules).............................................7917 Aeneas..........................................................8318 Othello.........................................................8619 Beowulf.........................................................9020 Sita............................................................9321 Christian (Bunyan's Pilgrim)....................................9722 Perceval (Parzival).............................................10023, 24 Romeo and Juliet............................................10325 Alice...........................................................10926 Medea...........................................................11327 Electra.........................................................11728, 29 Troilus and Criseyde........................................12130 Noah............................................................12531 Huckleberry Finn................................................12832 Lin Tai-y (Black Jade).........................................13433 Frankenstein....................................................13734 Jean Valjean....................................................14235 Werther.........................................................14936 Aladdin.........................................................15337 Madame Bovary...................................................15638 Siegfried (Sigurd)..............................................16139 Hlakanyana......................................................16540 Cinderella......................................................16941 Gulliver........................................................17342 Carmen..........................................................17843 Agamemnon.......................................................18144, 45 Tokubei and Ohatsu..........................................18446 Wakdjunkaga.....................................................18747 Beauty (Belle)..................................................19048 Candide.........................................................19349 Draupadi........................................................19650, 51 Tristan and Isolde..........................................20052 Golem...........................................................20553 Anna Karenina...................................................20854 Okonkwo.........................................................21255 Sancho Panza....................................................21656 P'an Chin-lien..................................................22057 Hsi-men Ch'ing..................................................22458 Ukifune.........................................................22759 Pinocchio.......................................................23160 The Wife of Bath................................................23561 Jane Eyre.......................................................23962 Captain Ahab....................................................24363 Shakuntala......................................................24764, 65, 66 Ivan, Alyosha, and Dmitry Karamazov.....................25167 Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde...............................................25668 Antigone........................................................26069 Hunchback of Notre-Dame.........................................26470 Emma............................................................26871 Pulcinella (Punch)..............................................27172 David Copperfield...............................................27473 Scrooge.........................................................27774 Panurge.........................................................28275 Natasha Rostova.................................................28676 Peter Pan.......................................................28977 Hester Prynne...................................................29478 Bigger Thomas...................................................29779 Efran..........................................................30180 Superman........................................................30681 Sir John Falstaff...............................................31082 Uncle Tom.......................................................31483 Dorothy Gale....................................................31884 Bhima...........................................................32385 Joseph K/K......................................................32686 Willy Loman.....................................................32987 Dorian Gray.....................................................33488 Ivan Denisovich.................................................33889 Invisible Man (Ellison's).......................................34190 Tarzan..........................................................34591 Rip Van Winkle..................................................35092 Scarlett O'Hara.................................................35393 Long John Silver................................................35794 Natty Bumppo....................................................36095 Botchan.........................................................36496 Marili, the Doctor-Man..........................................36797 Colonel Aureliano Buenda.......................................37098 Palm-Wine Drinkard..............................................37499 Holden Caulfield................................................378100 Beloved........................................................382Notes..............................................................386Suggested Readings.................................................433Index..............................................................461

Chapter One

Hamlet

To be, or not to be.

These are the most famous words spoken by any literary character, as familiar to those who have never read Shakespeare or seen his plays performed as to the millions who have. As Marjorie Garber put it, "No one ever really reads Hamlet for the first time now; we've heard it all before in bits and pieces."

Indeed, the experience of reading Hamlet's words is a bit like browsing through Bartlett's...