Even in classic fiction, we had the good guys and the bad guys. We want to celebrate the classic heroes and heroines in fiction that we have all fallen for. Heroes and heroines have evolved over the years, but our selection remains as timeless as their stories. Read more about our favourite classic heroes and heroines in classic literature below.
Anna Karenina | Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Anna Karenina is the key to a much broader story of Russian society. She is trapped between the choices she has made at the beginning of the story with her marriage to Karenin and then the choices she will be forced to make later on in the story. It would be very easy to write Anna Karenina off as someone that is just devastatingly unhappy, however, she really is an example of someone who will not choose a path simply because it is easy. She lives life to the full, with passion and recklessness, her plight is made considerably worse as her indiscretions are acceptable in men and not women. She is not looked to as a role model for her actions, she is however respected for her courage to live her life outside of what is expected and accepted in her society. She has the boldness to be true to herself when everything is stacked against her.
“If you look for perfection, you’ll never be content.”
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina
Jo March | Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
Jo March is a strong and wilful young woman struggling with her strong personality. She is the second oldest of the four March sisters.
Set in a time where women’s lives were restricted to staying at home, Jo represents the possibility of another type of life. She makes you think anything is possible for a woman. Jo is creative, strong-minded and independent and Louisa May Alcott made Jo March the kind of woman that every woman of that time and nowadays aspire to be.
“I may be strong-minded, but no one can say I’m out of my sphere now, for woman’s special mission is supposed to be drying tears and bearing burdens.”
– Louisa May Alcott, Little Women
Jane Eyre | Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
Jane is described as plain, she even describes herself as “poor, obscure, plain and little”. Throughout the novel we see Jane, an orphan is brought up by her Aunt who treats her cruelly, and is sent away to a charity school. As Jane grows older she is hired as a governess where she meets and falls for the brooding Mr Rochester, they are forced apart by the fact the Rochester is still married and keeps his insane secret wife locked in the attic.
Jane Eyre is a strong role model in classic literature because she proves that despite an awful upbringing, with a lot of work and determination you really can better yourself to make the best life you can. Jane’s resistance to gender and class conventions are the main focus in the story.
“I am no bird; and no net ensnares me: I am a free human being with an independent will.”
― Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
Sherlock Holmes | The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
Sherlock Holmes meets the definition of a heroic character because of his courageous acts throughout the series. He spends hours of his day cracking cases that make the world a safer place, and impacts his surrounding by doing positive things and removes all havoc caused by Moriarty, Sherlocks arch-nemesis.
Sherlock Holmes is determined and persistent by always following up on a case. Each solved case results in a neutralised villain and stops the progression of crime that has already caused immeasurable amounts of destruction. In all the cases he has encountered, Sherlock has never left a case unsolved. For that, he is a literary hero keeping old London safe and sound.
“You have a grand gift for silence, Watson. It makes you quite invaluable as a companion.”
― Arthur Conan Doyle, The Complete Sherlock Holmes
Heathcliff | Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights is not a hero in the true sense of the word, but that doesn’t mean he is a villain either. We would just call him an anti-hero. Throughout the novel, he is not entirely likeable but he is tortured by his love of Cathy. He should be a hero, but the way his life has taken him has made him so full of revenge and hate. Most romantic heroes in classic literature are cold and cruel in the beginning but they then become much more loving towards the end, Heathcliff however, does not. We still view him as a hero as for the most part of Wuthering Heights, we understand his plight regarding Cathy.
“If he loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn’t love as much in eighty years as I could in a day.”
― Emily Brontë, Wuthering Heights
Strider/Aragorn | The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
To Tolkien, Aragorn is a hero in The Lord of Rings series. This is because he is one of the few characters that resists the temptation of the One Ring. We see Aragorn through the eyes of the Hobbits through the series, he is deemed a hero because he saves them from the Ringwraiths, if we saw him from the perspective of Gollum, who was captured and interrogated by Aragorn (discussed not shown in the novels), we would see him as a villain.
In the end, he fulfils his destiny to become king and unites the people of Middle Earth. He is a hero across the many definitions of the word. Saving Hobbits, a good prince and a brave and resistant fighter.
“Not all those who wander are lost.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
Be sure to browse our classic fiction here at World of Rare Books. Fall for these and more classic heroes and heroines in fiction.