It’s the most wonderful time of the year!—if you’re
under the age of 11, can still pull off getting free candy from strangers and
was not severely traumatized at the age of 4 when your older brother made you
watch Stephen King’s IT (rightfully on the list mentioned below), thus making
you adverse to all things remotely spooky. But enough about me.
Everything’s coming up Halloween this week and in honour
of the spookiest day of the year, this bookish babe is taking a look at some of
literature’s favourite creeps and freaks, with the help of the Huffington
Post’s 50 Scariest Characters from Literature which you can check out for
yourself here:
Frankly, I think that some of these guys have been
drastically misunderstood. Take Miss Havisham. Ok, so the whole
“haven’t-changed-out-of-this-in-20-years” look is kind of gross, and the
feasting table with the maggots and the rot is less than appealing. But let us
not forget that the woman was left at the altar during a time before the power
female, when women were only good to be wedded and bedded, I imagine that would
be a pretty traumatizing thing. More than anything else, I find myself feeling
bad for Miss H and her desperate desire to live vicariously through her young
and desirable Estella. She represents a state of total devastation and
rejection, and the only thing frightening about it is the thought that we might
one day end up anything like her.
And then there’s Heathcliffe, the classic Byronic
hero but hardly one I would consider “scary”. I think brooding is the more
appropriate word, and a quality of appeal for every woman who loves herself a
mysterious bad boy. Despite any poor little fluffy bunnies getting sadistically
nailed to fences, I think the darker side of Heathcliffe is drastically
overshadowed by the bitter and tortured man in love with a woman he will never
have but who will haunt him until his death. Like Miss H, my inclination is to
pity him as another victim of life’s tragedy, though I may not necessarily run
to give him a hug.
So here’s a bit of a stretch, but some food (or
candy) for thought: Frankenstein, monster or merely misunderstood? To the
audible gasp of many, I would argue the latter. Think about it. The man is made
of the random parts of various other entities, crudely stitched together by
some wacko scientist who, lest we forget, is not a talented seamstress. People
run with fear because he looks like an undead Ken doll crossed with Chucky,
both of which probably take a toll on the guy’s self esteem. He didn’t choose
this life, he was made for it, and maybe he figures that it’s better to embrace
what people see than to live feeling crappy about it all the time. Really,
little Frankie probably just craves acceptance and love like the rest of us.
Though I wouldn’t necessarily recommend giving him a hug either; he may just
crush you by accident.
Doesn't he look warm and approachable?
But don’t get me wrong, there are definitely those
characters who give credence to why one might be wary of Fright Night, those
who would wrack up dozens of awards at the Monsters Association’s annual Scare
Convention. Though as the post rightly suggests, not all are bloody or savage
or even physical attackers. You have your staples of course, the big D (Dracula
for those less acquainted) who reminds us that the Twilight and CW vampires who
could learn to control their bloodlust for the right woman are total crap, and
the true nature of the vampire is to be savage and hungry and hella dangerous.
However, even Dracula has his appeals: he’s foreign, dark and mysterious, and
the act of drawing in his victims often seems to mirror the art of seduction.
This has obviously made it easy for modern media to confuse the two, having
vampires engage more in the seductive aspect of their allure than the “oh yeah
we eat people” part. Dracula, however, reminds us of the latter, that once he
has you in his lair, what follows is slightly short of a sexy, 14A love scene.
Then there are some new additions to the fold, like
J.K Rowling’s Dementors, sufficiently scary in their soul purpose in life
(because they suck out your soul…get it? I do appreciate a good play on words).
I think that pretty much covers it. However, I was both shocked and pleasantly
surprised me was Huffington Post’s number one pick for the Scariest Literary
Character: Big Brother. What makes BB so
scary is that arguably, it is the most realistic one in the list, especially
considering the ever continuing “advancements” of the technological age. There
are now tracking devices on mobile phones that can detect and record the number
and content of calls made and received by cellular users. Google Earth has
given us a way to view people on the street and virtually spy on different
neighborhoods, even ones we ourselves have never visited. Social media outlets like
Facebook prompt people to expose more of themselves and their lives to millions
of online strangers than ever before, making it too easy for anyone to keep
constant tabs on another person. The most frightening thing about the prospect
of Big Brother is that Orwell may have been spot on with his future
predictions, and we are on the uphill trek towards the peak of Winston’s
nightmare.
But without a doubt, the award for the most
ridiculous entry on HP’s list is Christian Grey. The BDSM businessman creation
of an apparently undersexed and eccentric housewife who treats women like play
things but allows them to consent to such treatment beforehand through
contractual agreement. Until the plain and homely Ana Steele changes his nature
and shows him real love and blah blah blah blah: revealing that Christian Grey
is nothing more than (gasp!) a man, and the only part of him likely to keep
company with the monsters in the closet is his silk grey tie.
Meet Jamie Dornan: recently cast as Christian Grey in the upcoming 50 Shades movie
He doesn't look so scary now, does he?
