The Deliciously Twisted Literary Character Hall of Fame

October 29, 6:21 PMBook ExaminerMichelle Kerns

Previous Next

1 comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Book Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Villian, schmillian--most literary villians are monotonously alike: they stay true to their own villianous code of honor (murder, steal, cheat, perform the Cruciatus curse on underage wizards), cultivate weird personal habits/clothing/laughs, and have a tendency towards longwinded, condescending speeches right when a quick thrust with the dagger would get the job done before the Hero arrives to muck it all up. They know they're evil and they wallow in it.

What really raises the hackles of readers are those characters who are knee-deep in horror, yet don't seem to notice and wouldn't think it was a problem if they did. They'll smilingly carve their victims to pieces, all the while calmly explaining why it's better in the end; then, they wipe the knife and walk away with a perfectly clean conscience.

These characters aren't so much immoral as amoral. They make traditional villians look as quaint and harmless as kittens, and when a reader meets one, they know it from the cold shadow of fear that pervades their every scene. Here is my list of the most deliciously twisted literary characters of all time.

 

O'Brien from George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four

Poor Winston Smith thought O'Brien was a fellow rebel until he finds himself enjoying torture in the Ministry of Love at O'Brien's hands and listening to equally torturous lectures on the Party's goals to eliminate all individualism. In between "reeducation" sessions, O'Brien even has the gall to tell Winston that he reminds him of himself--except, of course, that Winston is insane, ha. ha. O'Brien has always made me feel practically frozen with fear, particularly when he calmly whips out the rats in Room 101.   

 

Mrs. Danvers from Daphne du Maurier's Rebecca

Mrs. Danvers is the perfect servant; too bad the woman she serves has been dead for years and she makes everyone else's lives a living hell if they forget it. Rebecca is certainly the pinnacle of gothic mystery and romance: it manages to be well-written, suspenseful, and brooding from the beginning to the end. And Mrs. Danvers' obsessive devotion to her dead mistress--and her obvious antagonism to the new Mrs. de Winter--is the best part.

Cholly Breedlove from Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye

If you've not read The Bluest Eye, I highly recommend it; I think it is one of the best things Ms. Morrison has written. However, be prepared: it's a disturbing and emotional story that you will not soon forget.

The character of Cholly Breedlove is at once pathetic and despicable. On the one hand, it's impossible to not sympathize with his abortive attempts to make a life for himself and his family beyond discrimination and the traumatic experiences of his past. It's also impossible though, to cut him any slack when he expresses his love for his vulnerable young daughter by raping her. (By the way, I've not given anything away by telling you this--Ms. Morrison tells readers what happens in the story in the first paragraph; that she could do this and still create a book of such power speaks to her immense talent.)

 

Jame Gumb/Buffalo Bill from Thomas Harris' The Silence of the Lambs

The part that got me the most from The Silence of the Lambs was when weirdo Jame Gumb is thinking about his little basement hell and remembering the women he had taken down there and left shut up in rooms to die and how they would scream a lot at first and then, later, stop.... And I thought up until that point that making a skin suit was bad enough.

Some of you will wonder why I didn't include Hannibal Lecter here. Frankly, the movie ruined his character for me--I found Anthony Hopkins strangely attractive in the role (freakish, I know), though I disagree with the pairing of Chianti and liver; I think a nice Burgundy would have been a much better choice.

 

Madame Defarge from Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities

Never have knitting needles been so ominous.

As with a lot of these unbalanced characters, Madame Defarge does deserve a modicum of sympathy; after all, a large portion of her family had been horribly used, then murdered by French noblemen. Madame Defarge, however, reinvents good old-fashioned revenge into a terrifying new creature.

 

Tom Ripley from Patricia Highsmith's The Talented Mr. Ripley

Tom Ripley is talented indeed--it's not everyone who could murder in cold blood, lie monstrously without  batting an eyelash, and then brazenly impersonate the former friend he slaughtered. Ripley is the ultimate amoral character, and Highsmith's suspenseful novel is the perfect foil for him. I listened to this book on audiotape and was so stressed out by some suspenseful bits, I had to stop the tape and build up some strength before going on.

 

Annie Wilkes from Stephen King's Misery

Book lust gone wild. A note to all of you lit geeks out there: when chopping the foot/finger/etc. off of your favorite author ever seems to be an acceptable way of dealing with frustration over their latest work, you probably need to calm down just a bit.

 

Teddy Brex from Ruth Rendell's A Sight for Sore Eyes

Ruth Rendell is one of Britain's most highly acclaimed suspense and mystery writers. Her books take readers into the heads and lives of psychologically deviant individuals, and young Teddy Brex is one of the most memorable.

Teddy is obsessed with beauty and orderliness and will go to any lengths to control everything, and everyone, around him. 

 

Napoleon from George Orwell's Animal Farm

O.K., so Napoleon isn't a human character, but by the end of Animal Farm he may as well be, and his despicable twisting of the Farm's rules to his own end is as deceitful and malicious as any man--or pig for that matter--can get.

"All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others": Sounds like a good reason for pork roast to me.

 

The Thenardiers from Victor Hugo's Les Miserables

Probably one of the most horrendous couples in literature, the Thenardiers lie, cheat, steal, mistreat everyone within reach, force poor Fantine to get an unflattering haircut and become a prostitute--and do it all with a little self-righteous smile.

Can you think of some truly deviant character I've missed? Tell me! Leave a comment or direct deviant communications to michellekerns@surewest.net

If you're an avid fan of book lists (and I know few lit geeks who aren't) try another one of the Book Examiner's eccentric offerings:

10 best books for treating Harry Potter withdrawal

10 best books to read while screwing off at work

Pardon me, but are you dead? 10 classic kitsch murder mysteries

Beyond Strunk and White: best books for modern writers

10 books that will scare the hell out of you

The Book Examiner's ultimate guide to pairing alcohol and literature: read, drink, and be merry