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Top Ten Tuesdays: Top Ten Jerks In Literature

Or, as they put it on the hosting blog: "( all those jerky guys in books..those who truly WERE asshats and those who just acted like one but could be quite loveable)"
Please visit The Broke and the Bookish to see more lists of jerks in literature.

There are no loveable jerks on my list, although some of them are protagonists (which, as we all know, is no guarantee that we will like the guy. Just witness Humbert Humbert in Lolita (who I couldn't include as I haven't read the book yet).
  1. Professor Snape from the Harry Potter books. He may have been a troubled hero, but he was also a huge jerk with a huge chip on his shoulder against Harry’s father that he took out on Harry.
  2. Draco Malfoy from the Harry Potter books. Some people are just born mean. Add jealousy to the mix and you get Draco.
  3. Holden Caulfield from The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. The worst kind of jerk: a whiny one.
  4. Hamlet from the play by Shakespeare. Another whiny jerk I wish would get over himself. Drove his girlfriend to suicide.
  5. Mr. Collins from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. A sanctimonious, obsequious, stupid jerk.
  6. John Willoughby from Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen. A hypocritical jerk.
  7. Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. A batshit crazy jerk.
  8. Rochester from Jane Eyre. A selfish jerk who tries lure Jane into a false marriage so he can keep her as his mistress.
  9. Dorian Grey from The Picture of Dorian Grey by Oscar Wilde. A narcissistic, pleasure-seeking jerk who uses his beauty as a blind to fool peple.
  10. Mr. Wednesday from American Gods by Nel Gaiman. An evil jerk who tricks the hero, Shadow, into making a great sacrifice.
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Comments

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said…
A nice classic list. Good books with bad guys. Thank you!

Here's my list of Top Ten Jerks in Literature. I hope you will stop by.
May 10, 2011 9:47 am
Anne said…
Great list, I am planning on reading The Picture of Dorian Grey soon, looks like I have an interesting character to look forward to reading about.
May 10, 2011 10:32 am
KarenSi said…
Heathcliff, Dorian Gray and Draco Malfoy all made my list too. Definitely agree with Holden and Mr Collins. Great list.
May 10, 2011 12:02 pm
Anonymous said…
I had Iago on my list but Hamlet is an excellent choice! A whiny, self-obsessed and over-indulged selfish individual. Nothing to like there at all!
May 10, 2011 12:17 pm
Birdie said…
bwahahahaha
Great list! I know exactly how you feel about Hamlet--I feel the same way about Victor Frankenstein.
May 10, 2011 2:12 pm
Suey said…
There's a few on your list I'd want to defend! And a few that made my list too! :)
May 10, 2011 2:22 pm
Lisa said…
As with many of the lists today, Snape and Malfoy also made my list.
May 10, 2011 4:04 pm
George said…
I was glad to see Holden Caulfield on this list. You could also add any of the male characters from John Norman's GOR series.
May 10, 2011 4:24 pm
llevinso said…
I put Lord Henry from Dorian Gray on my list actually. Not that I don't think Dorian was a jerk, but I actually think he turned quite EVIL and I wanted to stick to truly jerky people on my list.
May 10, 2011 4:50 pm
kayerj said…
ahh . . . Rochester, he was a jerk--but I loved him, as Jane did. That is the one thing I didn't like about the new movie. Rochester was too nice and too handsome. Fun list. kaye—the road goes ever ever on
May 10, 2011 4:59 pm
Rachel said…
I agree with almost every selection on your list and the ones I didn't are just because I haven't read them. You picked some great douchebags!

Rachel-Endless Reading
May 10, 2011 6:40 pm
Skye said…
Someone described Hamlet as an emo freak somewhere, and it made me laugh. Yeah, he was a jerk.
May 10, 2011 7:25 pm
Anonymous said…
Mr. Collins for sure even though I've only seen the mini-series but if he's anything like that in the book, ick!
May 10, 2011 8:10 pm
gabrielreads said…
I also had an American Gods character on my list, although I picked Internet Kid. I swear, I wanted to punch him for most of that book. I actually liked Wednesday but the computer god got on every last one of my nerves.
May 10, 2011 9:28 pm
LBC said…
I have Rochester on my list as well. He is a real creep with the wife in the attic and all.

I'm a new follower of your blog.

Check out my list here.
May 10, 2011 11:10 pm
gautami tripathy said…
I am kind of nodding with your choices!!

Here is my Top Ten post!
May 11, 2011 2:43 am
Dorte H said…
Well, I quite like Hamlet (if anyone told me to take revenge by killing the king I´d probably also procrastinate for ever), but the major jerk of them all is Angel Clare from Tess of the d´Urbervilles. I remember being sooo angry when I read that story.
May 11, 2011 3:55 pm
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