The 5 Strongest Female Characters From Literature We Can’t Stop Being In Awe Of

 A little sass, a whole lot of badass—they may be fictional, but they can still give us a masterclass in being #bossbabes, in the truest sense! Fiery, feisty, and intelligent, these ladies were all about breaking norms, rewriting rules, speaking their mind, and making just the life choices they wanted, unapologetically. Here are the five classic female characters from literature who can teach us a thing or two about feminism and womanhood…

 

Elizabeth Bennett

Pride and Prejudice

 

The Jane Austen novel may have come out in 1813, but Lizzie, easily among the strongest women in literature, continues to set some serious goals for all womankind. Not one to follow antiquated ideas or regressive traditions, uncompromising when it came to her self-respect, and a crusader of women’s rights at a time when the world wasn’t particularly ‘fair’ to her sex, she breaks stereotypes and shatters glass ceilings all the time. Equipped only with a quick wit, wry sense of humour, and will of steel. You can’t not love this one!

 

Jane Eyre

Jane Eyre

A character set in 1847 but still relevant (and inspirational!) on so many levels! The Charlotte Brontë protagonist could have started out as an angry rebel, but soon turns into a sensitive, fiercely independent young woman, who doesn’t mind rejecting status-elevating, financially-stabilising suitors, for love, principles and values. Even better, she doesn’t let social constraints or pressures and her position as a governess get into the way of achieving what she wants. She wants it, she works for it, she gets it.

 

Josephine March

Little Women

Published in 1868 and often considered an auto-biography of sorts by Louisa May Alcott , the novel’s main lead is Jo—a strong-willed, confident woman, and a complete contrast of what women in the 19^th century were supposed to be!  She wants to go and fight in the Civil War alongside her father, is clumsy, fiery, opinionated and argumentative,  doesn’t like staying at home, is not interested in marriage, loves reading and writing, and even has a job! What’s not to love?!

 

Anne Shirley

Anne of Green Gables

She was among the OG sass queens! Outspoken, with the sharpest tongue in town (which she puts to use rather unsparingly!), our heroine is endearingly flawed. Instinctive, spirited, and without much care for social rules and norms, she learns to achieve her goals without losing herself in the process—just the strong, intelligent character women were often told not to be!

 

Anna Karenina

Anna Karenina

Leo Tolstoy’s female lead was proof that it is okay to have flaws (scandalous ones at that, even for today’s times!). She was a beautiful, aristocratic woman, married to a man she respected, but never loved. And in pursuit of love outside of the marriage, she breaks many a convention, gets into an adulterous affair, is socially outcast, only to be driven to self destruction, and eventually suicide.