This post was published on the now-closed HuffPost Contributor platform. In the Robin Hobb diversity thread yesterday, there was some discussion about whether or not a female Han Solo character can work. Its 2023, the Harry Potter fandom is still growing strong, and it doesnt seem to be going anywhere anytime soon. Although the novel was inspired by the true story of a secret document that changed the course of the Western World, the more personal story of Theresa's search to be more than the women of her time was inspired by literary rebels such as those below. Though Hester Prynne, who is condemned by her Puritan neighbors for having a child out of wedlock, is sometimes seen as a victim, she manages to survive with dignity and faith throughout, which we think makes her pretty darn powerful. How do you get more evil than a woman whowants to make a coat out of adorable puppies that she steals from a former schoolmate? Chekhov has a way of disabusing us of our specialness, of making us realize that our problems are, in fact, just like everyone elses. Robin Hood is a legendary heroic outlaw originally depicted in English folklore and subsequently featured in literature and film. 62. Discover your next favorite show with the ultimate Streaming TV guide and watchlist. They are usually hard to outsmart and they are skilled at what they do. Scarlett is extremely vain and selfish, but she's also intelligent and passionate. She has a much darker past, and she definitely isnt one of the elite. Cleopatra (Antony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare): It's safe to say that it was not typical for a woman to lead an entire empire on her own. Here are a few of the most dynamic women who have graced the pages of literature, leaving a. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Jane Eyre (Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte): Jane seeks independence, something essentially unheard of for a Victorian woman. The Redemption of Althalus, by David Eddings This post, at #12, was originally published March 3rd.] Lyra Silvertongue, His Dark Materials trilogy. In time, I would acquaint myself with the Civil War-era sisters growing up in genteel poverty in Louisa May Alcotts 1868-69 Little Women (after Beth dies, there are three); and after that, the many geometries of women, sisters and friends, as well as meddling aunts and ineffectual mothers, in the 19th-century novels of Jane Austen. After all, words are the most powerful weapons of all. 3y. Chantal Joffe's Me, Em and Nat (2020), Oil on board Chantal Joffe, Courtesy of the artist and Victoria Miro. Maxine Minniver. Treasures of Knowledge, is Carmen Isabella Sandiego. Still, while he was on Angel, Doyle was a rare but also lovable geeky rogue! For the wide range of personality traits we find in these great female characters (and the audacious actions theyve performed), these women have earned their titles as the best female characters in literature. Chioma Ebinama's Untitled (2020), watercolor and sumi ink on paper. Unfortunately, not all thieves have such a heart of gold. She's evil, but she has an intensity and an ambition that rivals her husband's. If you are looking for an entrance into this exciting genre, the recommendations below will give you a great start. Learn how your comment data is processed. A Texas outlaw in the 19th century, Belle Starr (born Myra Belle Shirley) lived a bandit's life, associating with unsavory folk such as Jesse James. Other examples of this include, at one end of the tonal spectrum, Albees maternal exorcism, Three Tall Women, which returned to New York in 2018 in a Tony Award-winning production starring Laurie Metcalf, Glenda Jackson and Alison Pill; and, at the other, Pedro Almodvars tender, three-generation tribute to female solidarity, Volver, his 2006 film set in small-town Spain and Madrid. Usually called feminist literary criticism, it studies how early writings condoned the oppression of women because men dominated society. At the dawn of the Middle Ages in Europe, when monasteries ruled over kings and men marched to war to pillage and rape, the life of any young peasant woman was worth less than a well-fed pig. Matilda Wormwood is a fictional character from the 1996 comedy fantasy film Matilda. She began her life of crime as a common pickpocket. His signature plot elements are here, as our most of his preferredcharacters (never mind that their names differ from book to book). No big deal. Countess Elizabeth Bthory de Ecsed aka The Blood Countess (Tragica Historia by Lszl Turczi): Although the legend of The Blood Countess has now reached mythical proportions, she is first mentioned in this Jesuit scholar's work. It is common for female thieves to be a nuisance to the antagonist of a novel, and even sometimes to the protagonist as well. But my main character, Theresa, decides to face that fate. Her father even calls her his son, and she would rather be a professional writer and live with her sisters forever than get married and have to leave them. The Forty Elephants carried out the largest British shoplifting operation between the 1870s and the 1950s. As the search for her mothers murderer continues, one thing becomes clearthe more Tina sees, the less she knows. The killer was never identified. Meowth. In the turn-of-the-20th-century Russian original, we meet Olga, the eldest, who works in a grinding job as the local schools director and regrets not getting married; and middle sister, Masha, who was married young, to a man less intelligent than herself, and regrets that choice, too. Since March is Womens History Month, weve 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, weve realized that many of them are fictional. Shakespeare provided the template around 1606 with Macbeths hurly-burly-predicting Weird Sisters witches whose descendants have inspired any number of updates, most of them gently comedic, like 1993s Hocus Pocus or Charmed, the WB series that debuted in the late 1990s in which three comely sisters with special powers and glossy dark hair run around San Francisco protecting the innocent from evil beings. The female thief in this series is strong, smart, and powerful. His overeducated yearners who dream of lives filled with love and meaning appear reconfigured in 1980s Manhattan in Woody Allens Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), and also in 1970s Mississippi in Beth Henleys Crimes of the Heart (1979) and again in 1990s London in Wendy Wassersteins The Sisters Rosensweig (1992). They face many adventures and obstacles whilst they continue their smuggling and thievery. Chaucer didnt mean to make the Wife of Bath as big of a character as he did. Even his fantasy novels, with their large casts of characters, starred a lone adventurer overcoming great hardship to reach his goal. [Editors note: In celebration of the holidays, were spending the next two Tuesdays by counting down the top 12 Flavorwire features of 2012. Not one bit. Conspirators? Sarah J. Maas (Goodreads Author) 4.19 avg rating 980,573 ratings. Giacomo Campiotti . The first novel in the Rogues of the Republic series is The Palace Job, and it heavily features a female thief, though this is still a theme across the series. Educators, B&N I live in the US with my husband, daughter, and dog. The Tales of Einarinn is a fantasy series by Juliet E. McKenna. Kate (Ma) Barker led the Barker gang of her sons and rose to infamy as the FBIs Public Enemy Number One. This series takes place in a world in which magic is only for the rich and powerful. This version of Eddings archetypical rogueis Althalus, a skilled thief, temporarily down on his luck, whogets mixed up in the business of gods and men when he agrees to steal a magical book for the wizard Ghend. Jane Austen thought that no one would like Emma Woodhouse, but the true villainess of her novels is Isabella Thorpe from Northanger Abbey . We think. Half of the legendary duo Bonnie and Clyde, Bonnie Parker met Clyde Barrow in 1930, and, when he was sent to jail soon after on burglary charges, she smuggled in a gun that he was able to use to escape. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. Though some of these villains may have redeeming qualities, you could never love them. Center, Shipping & Some thieves you love to hate, while other thieves you just plain love. Never camp, despite her Gothic surrounds, she takes a scalpel to the skin of the every day., Hermione Granger, the Harry Potter series. Itadds another layer of intrigue with a setting in a nation facing turbulent times, one that has recently suffereda less-than-peaceful regime change, putting a questionable theocracy in charge and leaving behind a sizable population of bitter, stewing ex-nobles. They evaded the FBI and the police until 1934 and in the process set free five prisoners from Eastham State Prison in Texas, killed three police officers, and kidnapped a police chief. Her dead Body wears the smile of accomplishment, The illusion of a Greek necessity Flows in the scrolls of her toga, Her bare Thats our kind of girl. A gentleman thief, gentleman burglar, lady thief, or phantom thief is a stock character in fiction. But this time, rather than following the typical Heros Quest, his ever-present sidekick scoundrel/thief takescenter stage. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. Itsthe first in a series that focuses on the trials and tribulations of a group of con men who call themselves the Gentlemen Bastards, operating out of a sort of mystical, magic-infused alternate Venice. Chekhov gets under our skin because he locates the banal emptiness and solipsism of our self-soothing rhetoric (to be in the moment, to tend your own garden). Last fall, the visionary Brazilian director Christiane Jatahys medium-bending version, What if They Went to Moscow? half of which played out live, the other half onscreen came to the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and in June, Gerwig returns to the stage as Masha opposite Oscar Isaac in a New York Theater Workshop production, directed by Sam Gold. She prefers trousers to skirts. This novel follows Kell, a young magician who can travel between four parallel universes. So, where my Lady Han Solos at? Which is to say that all of these characters, whose lives seemed more real than my own, were, to an extent that I wasnt fully aware of, bound up in my own self-creation. Your email address will not be published. She would be at home in a present-day crime dramayet her story takes place in 1887. This word is reminiscent of la "belle dame," a charming villainess who is the subject of John Keats' poem La Belle Dame Sans Merci (the beautiful woman without pity). It is an exciting genre that is full of action, twists, and excitement. 1. In a literary world of good versus evil, theyre so solidly on the side of evil that you dont feel fooled or lured in by their wicked ways. This charming thief made his debut in DisneysTangled,during which he falls for Rapunzel with the swing of a frying pan. No single perspective holds the entire truth; everyone, in the end, is deserving of empathy. Trademark, Do We keep tuning into their adventures with each new installment to see if they get away with it. Dressed in a froth of sugary pink Molly Goddard tulle (or The Vampire's Wife florals, or blood-red Lanvin, or vintage Alexander McQueen), Villanelle, the Russian psychopath who steals every scene in Phoebe Waller-Bridge's continent-hopping thriller, is as stylish as she is deadly. Emma Woodhouse, but she has an intensity and an ambition that rivals her husband 's a... 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