Hello Readers,
I’m one of the new interns at Beaufort and I will be writing under the pen name BEAUlores Umbridge, a nod to my least favorite character in the Harry Potter series. Why? You might wonder. Because, despite being one of Harry’s main antagonists, Umbridge is an incredibly fascinating character to read about. She’s ruthless and power-hungry, but she hides all of her horrible motives under a love for the color pink and kitten plates. She is the quintessential unlikable antagonist, but think about how dull the stories would be without her.
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Some of my favorite characters in literature also serve as relatable role models. Hermione Granger (who is easily the antithesis of Umbridge in every possible way) is the brains behind the trio, is exceptionally compassionate, and is constantly seeking equality. Elizabeth Bennet from Pride & Prejudice is an independent thinking, voracious reader who turns down two marriage proposals during a time when marriage was pretty much a necessity for women, simply because she refuses to settle. We often read to find characters we can understand, or as C.S. Lewis says in Shadowlands “We read to know we are not alone.”
And yet…There is something oddly fascinating when reading about the lives of characters we cannot and do not want to relate to. While she can be interesting to read about, Dolores Umbridge is an antagonist in the book series, and as such, she is expected, at least on some level, to be unlikable. It’s the protagonists in stories who are the ones we usually root for. And this is what I really want to talk about today: the unlikable protagonist.
What happens when the character we’re supposed to root for and relate to is someone we cannot stand? Enough times we end up closing the book before it’s finished, but there are times when an unlikable protagonist is so interestingly complex that such a character stays in our head long after all of those likable heroes and heroines have faded from memory. Emma Bovary, Anna Karenina, Humbert Humbert from Lolita, Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights, and Amy Dunne from Gone Girl are all characters we would never want to be friends with in real life. They’re characters who, as we read their stories, only make us angrier and angrier because of the choices they make, and yet we continue to read their stories anyway because they fascinate us. Because isn’t that the other reason we read? To learn that not everyone sees the world the way we do.
Classic, goodhearted heroes and heroines will always be well-loved. They’re the characters who, if real, we’d be best friends with. But without some unlikable characters, their stories are boring. And sometimes we need a reminder that not everyone is good and predictable. And when this happens, the unlikable protagonist finds a spot on our bookshelves.
Until next time,
BEAUlores Umbridge