I remember reading a book years ago – I can’t remember who it was by, what it was called, or what it was even about (bear with me!). All I can really remember is that it was written in the first person, and it was about a woman who was beautiful and witty, with a great job. All her friends were beautiful and witty, and also had great jobs. And that was really it. At some point the heroine found herself in mild peril, at which point it became apparent that she was not only beautiful and witty, but also brave.Which is where I stopped reading.
There was nothing to hook me into the story – no foibles, character quirks or situations I recognised. Everyone had razor-sharp cheekbones and “silvery” laughs – it was all was too glossy, too perfect for me to relate to.
Which has set me wondering – what do we look for in a female protagonist? Let’s have a look at some who have proved popular so far...
1. Bridget Jones from Bridget Jones’ Diary by Helen Fielding
Oh dear. Not beautiful (at least not in her own eyes), occasionally
witty. Goodish job. Wine-swigging, fag-smoking, calorie-counting
obsessive. Disaster magnet. Tummy control issues. Far too attracted
to bad boys for her own good. But we love her.
2. Maggie Walsh from Angels by Marian Keyes
Staid, sensible, “good with money” (although not to her own standards)
and with a personality described by one of her sisters as “plain
yoghurt at room temperature”, Maggie Walsh is no one’s idea of a wild
child. And yet we cheered her on as she jetted off to Hollywood to
prove everyone wrong with her adventures, and never really thought too
much, at the end of the book, about how those adventures weren’t that
wild.
3. Emma Woodhouse from Emma by Jane Austen
Now, Emma is beautiful. And rich. And meddlesome. And a bit of a
snob, in fact. But those characteristics only make the situation
funnier when Emma’s slightly smug attempts at matchmaking spiral out of
control, and she’s forced to confront her own feelings. Plus,
underneath that snobby exterior Emma is ultimately very sensitive to
the feelings of the people around her, which makes her much more
endearing.
So, after this whistlestop and slightly generalised tour of female literary characters, it seems we like flawed women, women who buck the trend, and women who either have to come down off their pedestals or dig themselves out of tricky situations with guts and imagination.
Female characters have come a long way since Emma’s day – now they have to progress in their careers, raise families, have friends, find love, be occasionally fabulous and have personal lives, which means the situations are only going to get trickier and the books more interesting.
But what do you look for in a female protagonist? Who are some of your favourites, and why? Let us know in the comments!
Photo by DasLive, Flickr.
